The Central Guest Profile: The Foundation of Hotel Digitization
A central guest profile is widely regarded as the “holy grail” of hotel digitization because it forms the basis for comprehensive guest knowledge. It is not merely a desirable feature; it is the essential building block for nearly every activity along the customer journey. From enhancing service quality to streamlining processes and enabling personalized sales efforts, the central profile is the primary driver of value. Many hotels still rely on their PMS to store guest knowledge and must transfer this information when switching providers.
The Challenge of Data Loss During PMS Changes
During a PMS migration, guest knowledge especially stay history often cannot be fully transferred to the new system. This gap leads to a reduced ability to provide high-quality service for returning guests. Despite the importance of preserving data, hotels frequently face the risk of losing valuable history due to system incompatibilities.
Manual Data Cleansing: A Costly and Inefficient Practice
Hotels often use a system change as an opportunity to manually “clean up” their data. While the intent is to start fresh with accurate information, this manual cleansing requires significant effort. Given the current labor shortages across the industry, such extensive manual work is neither realistic nor sustainable.
The Need for Automation in Data Transfer and Cleansing
The ideal solution lies in fully automating data transfer and data cleansing. A reliable process must ensure that all future reservations and associated guest information are transferred correctly. More importantly, all existing guest knowledge must remain intact and accessible instantly within the new system.
Expert Guidance and dailypoint™ as a Migration Partner
To guarantee a smooth PMS transition, hotels should work with an experienced consultant. dailypoint™ provides a strong foundation for PMS migration, offering some of the most advanced two-way interfaces with leading property management systems. Its connectivity to a broad range of hotel technology partners further supports seamless integration.
Reevaluating the Role of PMS in Modern Hotel IT
Before selecting a new PMS, hotels must examine their entire IT ecosystem. This includes identifying existing interfaces, planning future system integrations, and determining which platform will manage the central guest profile across all systems. In today’s modern IT landscape, the PMS is no longer the central component. Instead, it forms part of a larger ecosystem in which CRS, PMS, and CDM solutions work together in harmony to deliver optimal performance.