Guest satisfaction is top priority in the hospitality industry. This is even truer in this day in age with social media and other online outlets, where customers can post reviews that can be viewed by thousands of potential customers instantly. Imagine paying for a room in a hotel, and the air conditioner does not work, or ice machine is broken, or there is no hot water in the shower. These are facts of life for facility and maintenance managers of hotels and resorts.

What is a hotel maintenance management system?

Hotel maintenance management system is an effective way to streamline hotel and resort maintenance operations. Hotel maintenance management software is an all in one solution from asset maintenance software to work order software

Helps manage daily inflow of hotel maintenance requests

The help desk is on the front lines when it comes to keeping guests happy and communicating their requests. Depending on the size of the facility, hotels can receive up to 300 requests or more in a given week. Without proper records, maintenance requests at this volume will become difficult to track. Almost all hotel maintenance management systems today come with a maintenance request portal where staff members or even guests can submit tickets and hotel facility and maintenance managers are notified in real time. A hotel maintenance management systems ensures that the request is recorded, the right people are notified, and that the status of the request can easily be reported on.

Improves response time for hotel work orders

A mechanical, electrical or plumbing failure can be a hotel maintenance manager’s worst nightmare. In times like these, fast response time is crucial.  Hotel Maintenance management software can be configured so the right people are notified when these situations occur. Notifications can be sent out by email, and alerts are received on mobile devices, like smart phones and tablets.  Responsiveness is vital to creating customer loyalty and satisfaction and a hotel maintenance management systems can help.

Helps you to keep up with hotel preventive maintenance

One of the biggest benefits of having a computerized maintenance management system in place is it allows you to keep up with necessary preventive maintenance. Having a pool closed, or an elevator out of service does not sit well with paying customers. When there is an established preventive maintenance program in place the chances of this happening is reduced. The purpose of a planned maintenance program is to reduce breakdowns and emergency repairs on critical equipment.  Studies show that having a proper asset maintenance software such as a CMMS can extend the life of assets by 20%. It is also known that performing scheduled maintenance is far less costly than reactive repairs. Without planned preventive maintenance, reactive repairs increase and so do costs. Guests’ satisfaction also takes a hit when facilities are not up and running as expected. Remember, the advertisement did not mention, “The air conditioner only works sometimes.” For more info on preventive maintenance read our post on common PM pitfalls and how to avoid them.

Minimizes hotel equipment downtime

This point is directly related to the points already mentioned above, but worth emphasizing. Having a hotel maintenance management systems software in place, allows maintenance managers to have a standardized preventive maintenance plan and ensure that tasks are being performed according to the manufacturer’s recommendation and industry standards. When failures do occur, and repairs are needed, the hotel maintenance management systems notifies maintenance technicians and contractors instantly. They are able to respond faster, and resolve the problem sooner. Ultimately, downtime equates to unhappy guests. A maintenance management software can help minimize this.

Improves hotel scheduling and planning

The more maintenance requests that come in the more important scheduling and planning becomes. If you are running a small bed and breakfast, using your Outlook calendar is probably sufficient. But if you are overseeing a hotel that can house 100 or more guests, you might need something more robust. Most maintenance software applications come with a calendar module or dashboard which allows managers to easily schedule service requests, preventive maintenance, inspections, and repairs. If there are multiple users at different levels, calendar dashboards are an effective way to communicate what is planned for the day, week, or month. For larger operations involving multiple technicians and contractors, the importance of having scheduling capabilities increases.  Facility and maintenance managers need real time viewing of schedules and the ability to update, reschedule, and assign tasks based on what resources are available. What’s more, a hotel maintenance management systems can be configured so that changes and updates notify contractors and technicians in real time.

Improves hotel efficiency and reduces costs

We’ve already seen that having a hotel maintenance management systems in place can lower costs by reducing repairs and breakdowns. In addition to this, maintenance software allows managers to keep an eye on the health of hotel maintenance operation and make better decisions.  This is difficult to quantify in dollars, but can be a huge cost saver. Managers can establish KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and view these metrics on easy to read dashboards or through graphical reporting tools. Some of these include; number of overdue and critical work orders, employee utilizations rates and performance, maintenance costs over time, repair history and costs on equipment, asset depreciation, inventory levels, and contractor response time and costs. Ultimately, a an asset maintenance software like hotel maintenance management systems can be a hotel facility manager’s best friend. 

Hotel maintenance management system summary

If you manage a single hostel or a bed and breakfast, hotel maintenance management system is probably not right for you. But if you have a hotel or resort with 100 or more units, or oversee multiple locations, a computerized maintenance management system is definitely worth looking into. The key to an effective maintenance program is the ability to automate manual processes, plan work orders and perform regularly scheduled preventive maintenance. Hotel and resort managers can accomplish this by implementing a hotel maintenance management systems software solution. Through a hotel maintenance management software, hotel and resort managers can manage and respond faster to maintenance requests, reduce downtime of equipment and facilities, better utilize staff and contractors, reduce costs, and ultimately be able to live up to their customers’ expectations (and go beyond). 

About The Author

Jonathan Davis

Jonathan has been covering asset management, maintenance software, and SaaS solutions since joining Hippo CMMS. Prior to that, he wrote for textbooks and video games.
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