If you’ve been exploring hotel software for the past few years, you might have noticed that there are lots of them out there. And lots of vendors.
Some vendors may offer an official integration with your Opera Hotel System, while others are designed without integration in mind.
That being said, it's not always necessary to have an integration with your Property Management System (PMS). In fact, some systems can function perfectly fine without any integrations.
So, without getting too technical, let's take a look at what integration with your PMS system means and when you need it.
Table of Content
What is PMS Integration?
A PMS integration enables an external platform or system to access and share information/data between it and your PMS. This tight relationship reduces troublesome redundancies, manual interventions and maximizes operational efficiency.
How Does Integration with Opera Hotel System Work?
Well, first let's take a moment to dig into what your hotel system includes. Generally, the core components in a PMS are:
Central Reservation System - Holds all the information about your room inventory, dates, availability etcetera.
Channel Management System - Synchronize reservation data between your PMS and external distribution channels. The channel management system may sometimes not be included in the PMS package.
Front Desk Management - Helps your employees to manage room and perform duties such as check-ins, check-out, etc.
Housekeeping and Maintenance - Assign tasks to housekeepers and the maintenance team.
Back-end Management / Reports - Set up employee shifts, track and analyze operational reports.
Now as you may have already figured out. Your PMS contains a lot of information. Most of the third-party technology solutions require access to some of these data to fully function - and to do that, they generally use two-way integrations.
A third-party software provider can build an oracle hospitality PMS interface by being an:
Integration Partner Program - Ability to integrate with vendors using legacy hotel Opera PMS.
Oracle Hospitality Integration Platform (OHIP) marketplace vendor - Ability to integrate with OPERA Cloud users.
At Metasphere, we’re an official Opera Integration Partner. So, this means that we’ve passed Oracle’s extensive review process criteria and can offer opera certified interfaces to Opera PMS.
How Long Does the PMS Integration Process Take?
The length of the Opera PMS interface process can vary depending on which third-party solution you need to integrate and other factors such as:
Legacy system or OPERA Cloud User - Cloud PMS have a much quicker and simplified integration process.
On-premise or Self-hosted - In almost all cases, on-premise deployed Opera PMS is more complicated to integrate with third-party applications as you have your own IT infrastructure. It often requires a high degree of customization, and the integration process is lengthier.
Single- or Multi-property PMS - It is more difficult and costlier to integrate systems with multi-property PMS, as it often requires vendors to aggregate data across different properties into a centralized database.
Why Is an Interface With Opera Hotel Software Important?
Three key factors make it worthwhile for hotels to go for a technology vendor with integration to their PMS systems. These factors include: Better synchronized data, better guest experience and less manual work. Let’s take a quick and detailed look into each of these benefits.
1. Synchronize Data
For many technology solutions within the hotel industry, it is an absolute necessity to have an interface to your PMS system.
An interface ensure that the vendor has access to your data in real-time, as well as, historical insights and future data which minimizes the risk of data discrepancies.
When you have 2-way interfaces with your vendor, they can make changes to the information that is in your system in a real-time.
For example, at Metasphere. Our clients using our hospitality CRM software can access real-time sales statistics of key guests for all their global properties available in a centralized database. Instead of having to manually go through every single hotel PMS data. Without integration to each hotel's PMS, this would be virtually impossible.
2. Improve the Guest Experience
In an earlier blog post, we discussed how the digitalization of hotels is changing the traditional guest journey. As you are well aware, this shift is transforming the guest experience with innovative features and services that are paving the way for a new era in hospitality. And this is influencing they way guests interact with your hotel.
The single point of contact is no longer necessarily within the hotel's property. Instead, a guest may be in contact with the hotel through a Chatbot, pre-checking in at home, and order room service contactless via a hotel ordering system - And when you use technology solutions across guest journey, it's important that they work together in unity. Why?
Well, just think about if a guest decides to pre-check-in at home and all of these information and time spent is not recorded anywhere in your PMS - then the guest likely have to repeat the same processes when they arrive at the property.
3. Reduce Manual Intervention
A PMS interface to hotel opera system eliminates the need for any time-consuming manual work. Especially if you have a 2-way interface. In those situations, all data are automatically transmitted to your third party vendor and vice versa. The changes that you make in their systems are automatically pushed to your PMS system.
When Is Not Necessary to Have a PMS Interface?
Okey, so we get it now. There are plenty of advantages to have an interface to the hotel’s PMS. But is it really necessary in all situations? Well actually, there are times when it might even be redundant. So, let's break down some situations when you might be okay without any integrations.
1. Standalone Third-Party System - If the solution that you want to purchase is a complete standalone system, then it might not be required to have an interface with your PMS. For instance, these solutions could be anywhere from an autonomous robotic floor cleaner to a digital signage.
2. Data Doesn’t Have to Be In Real-Time - Some solutions don’t have to process the data in real-time in order to operate efficiently. The data transfer could be performed in a separate way using automation technologies, scheduled data synchronization and a different data infrastructure. One example, being our very own Self Check-In Hub system that can function seamlessly in hotels without any PMS interface.
3. The Solution Doesn’t Utilize the PMS Data - Though it is always important to have a PMS interface, some technology solutions in the hospitality industry are admittedly less advanced than others. One tip is to check how much data from your PMS the system actually requires. It might just need a connection with your POS or website. Hence, a PMS interface would not be necessary.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Below we’ve compiled a list of FAQs surrounding PMS and interfaces:
What Is Opera System in Hotel?
Oracle’s Opera Property Management (PMS) is a comprehensive solution for managing hotels. It helps hoteliers manage reservation, housekeeping, and other administrative tasks.
It is - by far - the world's largest PMS system and is operated by thousands of hotels globally. The PMS can be used in larger property chains, small independent hotels to big properties.
How Does Opera Cloud Hotel System Work?
Opera Cloud PMS is a powerful web-based and mobile-enabled management system. It is very different from the Opera on-premise hotel solution. The Opera Cloud PMS is built using a layered approach and is maintained in the cloud infrastructure.
As a result, the PMS can be accessed on any PC or mobile device - without any restrictions.
Aside from its cloud-based data architecture, Oracle has made integration easier with their Oracle Cloud Marketplace, where hotels can download apps to their PMS in an instant.
What Is the Difference Between One-Way and Two-Way Interface?
One-way interface receive information from the PMS system, but cannot communicate back to it. Two-way interface, on the other hand, allow third-party systems to both receive and input data into the PMS.
When it comes to finding the right integration, you´ll be better off if you use a two-way interface.
Where Can I Find More Information About Oracle Hospitality Integration Platform?
You can find the product documentation for Oracle Hospitality Integration Platform here.
Conclusion: Why PMS Interface With Opera Hotel System Is Important
Opera Hotel System is a PMS interface that provides a complete solution for hotels of any size. It has all the features needed to manage a hotel, from guest management to housekeeping management- related functionalities.
A PMS interface is important because it can help hotels in many ways. We covered three core advantages in our articles:
Advantage #1: It ensures that all data are synchronized and real-time updated.
Advantage #2: It helps hotels deliver a seamless guest experience across all facets of the digital guest journey.
Advantage #3: It reduces the manual intervention needed. As changes in the PMS systems are pushed to the third-party vendor solution and vice versa.
But even though it is advantageous to have an interface to a hotel's existing PMS interface, there are instances when it may not be needed. These include: when your third-party solution function as a standalone system, when there is no need to access the hotel’s data in real time, when the solution doesn’t need to utilize the hotel’s PMS data in order to function.
We hope that you found this article interesting. At Metasphere, we have an official verified integration with Oracle’s Opera Hotel System. We also have alternative solutions for hotels that use other PMS vendors that don't require any interface and are easy to deploy and cost-effective. Feel free to book a free demo with us and let us show you how to leverage our interfaces to grow your hotel's business.
A PMS interface to hotel opera system eliminates the need for any time-consuming manual work. Especially if you have a 2-way interface. In those situations, all data are automatically transmitted to your third party vendor and vice versa. The changes that you make in their systems are automatically pushed to your PMS system.