Front office software

The front office is the customer-facing part of a hotel. It’s traditionally centered around the front desk (or reception desk) but recent trends have hotels getting rid of front desks and offering more personal or contactless ways to check-in. The front office is often the first impression someone gets when they enter a property.

In some ways, this software sits at the heart of a hotel and is what many people think of when they think about a property management system. It is what’s used to manage everything from reservations to room assignments to check-ins and check-outs. It’s also used for billing, tracking loyalty members and for guest profile information that front-desk staff needs to deliver personalized guest experiences.

While the front office focuses on connecting with and servicing guests, the hotel back office is the administrative center of the property. Back-office team members generally include those in accounting, IT, HR, record keeping, payment processing and many other functions that work to support hotel operations.

The software used by your front desk staff should simplify the everyday tasks done by your staff. Your software should be able to take payments, assign rooms, manage check-ins and replace many of the manual tasks affiliated with a hotel’s front desk. It should be intuitive and easy to use with streamlined automations so that your staff can spend less time looking at a screen and more time helping guests. The software should be fast for immediate updates, cloud-based (or, like Mews, cloud-native) and secure so only those needing access to sensitive data can see it. Finally, front desk software should be flexible enough to adapt to the unique needs of your property, your staff and your guests.