Through our Viewpoints series, Riveron experts share their opinions on current topics, business trends, and industry news.
Let me say this upfront: For those in hospitality and lodging sectors, your property management system (PMS) isn't just a front desk software. It's your financial engine. Or at least—it should be.
Too often, I walk into a property where the hotel PMS is treated like a box-checking tool. It books rooms and closes folios, but doesn't drive decisions. That's a problem.
Because when you trace the pressure points in hotel operations—margin leakage, delayed closes, frustrated owners—you usually land in the same place: the PMS.
Margins Begin at the System Level
Let's start there. A poorly integrated PMS doesn't just create operational friction for your hospitality or lodging business. It eats away at margins.
When advising hotel businesses, I have seen these margin issues happen when:
- Rates don't sync properly with third-party platforms (OTAs)
- Guest data doesn't flow into the CRM
- Manual rate overrides break pricing integrity
That's not just hotel PMS inefficiency. That's lost revenue, duplicate labor, and silent cost escalation.
One client I worked with had six properties running on different hotel property management systems, all with outdated integrations. Room rates would update in one system but lag in the other, causing undercut pricing on both direct bookings and third-party sites. That pricing misfire cost them $237K in just one quarter. And no one noticed until the variance report came out.
If your team is spending time fixing what your hotel PMS should've automated, it's not a software problem. It's a strategy issue.
Month-End Chaos? It's Not Just a Finance Problem
For accounting teams working in hospitality organizations, when month-end starts to feel like a fire drill, the property management system is often the quiet culprit.
This looks like: Controllers chasing folios. Reconciliation gaps. Manual workarounds just to tie out occupancy with bank deposits.
This isn't sustainable.
If your hotel PMS doesn't cleanly connect with your GL, POS, or back-office systems, you're not closing—you're patching. And when financial data feels fragile, so does every forecast that follows.
A clean month-end should never rely on memory or guesswork. Yet I've seen controllers keep shadow Excel tabs just to bridge gaps between the hotel PMS and what actually hit the P&L. Instead of providing oversight, they're improvising.
What Owners See (Even If You Don't)
For hospitality and lodging managers, owners rarely ask about your tech stack—until something goes wrong. But owners take notice when:
- Financial reporting lags behind expected timelines
- Margin narratives are inconsistent
- Performance roll-ups across properties feel cobbled together
If the hotel PMS can't deliver reliable, consolidated insights, owners lose confidence—not just in the data, but in the operating team behind it.
And that breakdown doesn't just erode trust—it delays decisions. I've seen investment committees pause reinvestment plans because the numbers "felt soft." That has a cost.
What I Ask Hospitality Clients Before a System Review
Whenever I support hospitality organizations with a portfolio review, I start with five simple questions:
- Can you view margin by room type or channel without a manual download?
- Is your hotel PMS feeding actuals into your reporting tools?
- How much time is your team spending each week cleaning exports?
- When was the last time you evaluated your hotel PMS architecture as part of your P&L?
- Do property owners get clarity or complexity from your reports?
If the answers aren't clear, we don't start with scrutinizing the tech vendors. We start with the strategy.
Treat It Like a Lever, Not a Line Item
Here's the shift I believe in: Your hotel PMS should be a C-suite conversation, not a back-office decision. If you're running a hospitality portfolio or advising one, ask yourself:
- Can I trust my hotel PMS data to reflect true margins?
- Are my systems talking to each other—or are we bridging gaps manually?
- Can I confidently stand behind the numbers I present to ownership?
If the answer is "not quite," it's time to reframe
the role your hotel PMS plays. Because it's not just a system
decision, it's a strategy call.
Final Thought: I've seen firsthand how
overlooked systems quietly shape outcomes in the hospitality
sector. A hotel PMS isn't glamorous—but for finance and
accounting leaders, it's where margin integrity begins. When
it's treated like a cost center, the technology behaves like
one. But when you treat it like a strategic lever? That's when
you start seeing gains that actually show up on the P&L.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
