Best Motel Software Of 2024

By Riddhiman Roy, Market Analyst at SelectHub

If you’re still using traditional hotel management methods to run your motel, you might be missing out on a lot of opportunities. Managing any hospitality business in 2022 without software is like using sticks and stones to light a fire. It’s primitive and inefficient. With motel software, you can market, manage and maintain properties using a centralized platform. No more drowning in paperwork, running around putting up flyers and ads, and sweating bullets during year-end audits.

In this guide, we’ll discuss the benefits of implementing motel software and key features you can expect. We’ll also equip you with comparison and pricing strategies and leave you with a set of questions to get conversations going in the right direction internally and with vendors. Let’s get to it.

Executive Summary

• Motel software lets you market, maintain and manage short-term rentals.
• It helps create personal websites and distribute property information across sales channels.
• You can use an integrated calendar to track upcoming reservations, front desk tasks, check-ins and check-outs, and housekeeping.
• You can connect with external payment gateways, hotel management tools, CRM, BI, payroll systems and other property management tools to create a perfect business stack.

• What Is Motel Software?
• Primary Benefits
• Key Features & Functionality
• Software Comparison Strategy
• Cost & Pricing Considerations
• The Most Popular Motel Software
• Questions To Ask
• In Conclusion

You can post your room rent, availability, description and other information on multiple ILS, GDS and listing channels. Native channel managers allow you to distribute channel-specific content and pricing. Access a list of bookings from every channel and define custom rules to accept or reject an application.

Advanced platforms offer native reservation software to accept direct bookings. It helps you avoid paying commissions and fees for bookings through third-party channels. A few solutions also let you design marketing campaigns, gift coupons and personal websites.

Simplify Management

With every workflow under one roof, you can track booking, check guests in and out, process payments and schedule housekeeping from a unified dashboard. The platform tracks tasks and sends real-time notifications to keep you on top of activities and upcoming events.

Motel solutions also create a repository of your business documents, expenses and income, making year-end audits a walk in the park.

Increase Accuracy Across All Fronts

Motel software is the singular source of information for you and your team. Front desk staff can note down customer orders and distribute them to concerned departments. It helps avoid double reservations and overbookings by automatically blocking reserved rooms and adding a buffer period between reservations for housekeeping and maintenance.

You can automate invoicing and guest communications like sending welcome emails, location guides and ancillary service information. Specify rules for automated reporting on KPIs like profitability, occupancy, online engagement, guest feedback and more.

Enhance Guest Experiences

Due to the pandemic, traveler experiences are no longer driven by pricing and cost efficiency but by safety and hygiene. 80% of customers look at health and safety protocols before choosing a hotel, and 93% prefer hotels that outline their safety measures. This data depicts that hospitality businesses must have stringent hygiene and cleanliness measures to stay competitive, reassure guests and fulfill their expectations.

To adopt this safety-first strategy, it’s crucial to have reliable motel software that can track housekeeping, create checklists to meet hygiene standards and maintain records for accountability.

Key Features & Functionality

Software Comparison Strategy

The hotel management software market size is $6,521 million in 2022 and is expected to grow at a 10.72% CAGR by 2027. Due to this growth, the market has various options based on features, deployment modes, distribution channels and business scales. It’s tough to point to a single solution that can fit every size and type of hotel and motel. You need to find a platform that suits your operations without complicating matters with undesired features.

Before starting the evaluation process, having a personalized requirements checklist and budget is beneficial. Start by identifying pain points in your motel's workflow and which features will best serve your business.

Here are a few pointers to keep in mind while devising your requirements checklist:

• Deployment Mode: On-premise systems require you to deploy the software on proprietary servers. You have room for unlimited customizations, but it requires heavy investment in IT infrastructure and personnel. On the other hand, vendors host SaaS solutions on their servers. You don't need to spend on runtime and maintenance but get limited control over the software architecture and functionalities. Carefully identify the difference between cloud and on-premise deployment and choose a model based on your budget, IT infrastructure and expertise.
• Business Scale: If you’re managing a single property, a platform that can handle booking, front desk, housekeeping and reporting will suffice. But for a motel chain, franchisee or multi-location properties, you’ll need enterprise systems that can manage separate property accounts and offer robust reporting for recording and analyzing data.
• Team Size: Most solutions offer a limited number of team members onboarding. Identify staff members requiring access to the platform and look for software that can onboard them and provide adequate HR tools to track and manage their activities.
• Usability: You must understand that a software’s usability directly affects your productivity. If the interfaces aren’t intuitive, you have to spend most of your time getting used to the new platform instead of managing operations. Choose software with intuitive interfaces and adequate training material.
• Connectivity: Make sure the platform connects with external modules and your existing software stack. A few useful connections are CRM, business analytics, ERP, reservation systems, front desk modules and more.

Once you’ve prepared the checklist, move on to research user reviews online, contact industry peers and request product demos to get a holistic understanding of the product and how the vendor operates.

Cost & Pricing Considerations

The pricing of motel software varies from vendor to vendor. Most cloud-based motel solutions are available via a monthly subscription. Prices start from around $20 to $30 and can go up to $150 per month.

For on-premise motel software, you need to pay a lump sum for purchasing the software license. A few enterprise platforms also have commission-based pricing where the vendor doesn’t charge you for using the platform but takes a cut of your sales and revenue.

A few vendors also charge for additional factors like:

• Installation and configuration
• Product training
• Onboarding team members
• Adding new sales channels, ILS and OTAs
• Additional support

We recommend preparing a budget for software and additional features and looking for a system that fulfills every requirement without going over the budget. It’s easier said than done, and you must carefully consider your options and research the market to find an ideal solution.

The Most Popular Motel Software

Take a look at some of the popular options available to get a reference point in your evaluation process:

eZee Absolute

eZee Absolute is a robust property management software (PMS) that can handle every hospitality business, including motels, hotel chains, bed and breakfasts, vacation rentals, and more. It provides a free trial plan and charges users beyond that based on the number of rooms and features. The basic plan offers property management features, while advanced plans provide channel managers and booking engines. The key features include:

• Mobile app
• Website builder
• Housekeeping and maintenance
• Front desk module
• Rate management
• Reputation management
• Point of sale
• Revenue management

Stay on top of every business process with the mobile-optimized platform.

WebRezPro

WebRezPro is a hospitality software that supports front desk management, omnichannel marketing, direct booking, housekeeping and reporting. It offers a built-in accounting module with features like vendor onboarding, multi-property trust accounting, automated payables and receivables, and point of sale invoicing.

It offers custom quotes for each customer based on business size and desired features. Its capabilities are:

• Front desk module
• Booking engine
• Self-check-in kiosks
• Housekeeping
• Group and rate management
• Accounting
• Reporting

Use an integrated calendar to track every front desk and housekeeping activity.

Cloudbeds

As the name suggests, Cloudbeds is a cloud-based hotel management platform that can handle motels, hotels, bed and breakfast inns, vacation rentals, and campgrounds. It charges users based on the number of rooms and features desired.

A native payment processor connects to your bank account and processes guest payments without external gateways. It’s important to note that Cloudbeds only offers API access with the top-tier plan, which means you can’t design custom integrations with starter plans. A few of its noteworthy features include:

• Booking engine
• Channel manager
• Integration marketplace
• Revenue management
• Housekeeping and property management
• Payment processor

Record finances, track KPIs and identify growth hacks using a centralized dashboard.

Questions To Ask

Use these questions to start conversations internally with your team and identify your requirements:

• What are the major pain points in your operations?
• How can you use the software to tackle your problems?
• Which business areas can automation improve?
• Which integrations do you require?
• Which marketing channels do you use and intend to use in the future?

Use these questions to start conversations with vendors:

• What are the support options and their average response time?
• Do they provide implementation and onboarding training?
• What are the hidden costs?
• Is the system mobile-optimized?
• Is the platform PCI-DSS compliant? Does it encrypt data transfers?

In Conclusion

Implementing an effective motel solution can help you improve your room’s visibility to guests worldwide, simplify daily activities, and accurately record finances, interactions and documents. While selecting the right solution, you must identify your business-specific requirements, prepare a budget and find the ideal option that aligns with your operations and growth plans. Hopefully, this guide can direct you toward the best motel software that adds value to your business. Happy selecting!