Choosing a PMS for a small hotel or homestay in India

What a PMS is

A property management system, or PMS, is the software that runs the daily work of a hotel or homestay: the room calendar, reservations, check-in and check-out, guest bills, payments, cleaning and reports. It replaces the diary, the Excel sheet and the chain of WhatsApp messages.

Features that matter for a small property

A small property does not need every feature a 300-room hotel uses. It needs the basics to be quick and reliable.

• One calendar that shows every room and every booking at a glance.
• Calendar sync with Airbnb, Booking.com and the other sites you sell on.
• Quick check-in and check-out that works on a phone.
• Guest bills with extra charges, and payments by UPI, cash and card.
• Housekeeping status, so the desk knows which rooms are ready.
• Separate logins for staff, with limits on what each person can see and change.
• Simple reports: occupancy, money received and expenses.

Questions to ask before you pay

A free trial is the best way to answer these. Use it with your real rooms for a week, not with sample data.

• Is the price in rupees, and is it per property or per room?
• Can I pay monthly, and what happens to my data if I stop?
• Does it work on a phone without installing anything?
• How are Airbnb and Booking.com connected, and are prices synced or only dates?
• Can my staff log in without seeing the money reports?
• Who helps me set it up, and how do I reach them?

About GST

If your property is registered for GST, ask how the software calculates tax and whether its bills meet the GST invoice rules. Confirm the rates and the invoice format with your CA; do not rely on a software vendor's word alone.

Start small

Begin with the calendar and bookings, then add bills, then staff logins and housekeeping. Moving everything on day one makes mistakes more likely; moving one part each week lets your team learn without stress.