[SPONSORED CONTENT] Track – a TravelNet Solution, a hospitality software solution that modernises and simplifies all aspects of property management operations, addresses why it can be so hard to make room and energy for an upgrade – and why you must.
Feeling mired in the day-to-day?
There comes a point in the evolution of a business when it’s tempting to shift into neutral and coast. Following a lucrative stretch, the temptation is even greater. As the saying goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. But during a downturn, you might shift into wait-and-see mode.
This begs the question, if neither upturns nor downturns are the right time to make a change, then when is?
Your property management software often gets the “someday” treatment. It doesn’t not work, and hey, you’ve learned its quirks. You’re making good money, your owners seem content, and every metric that matters appears to be holding steady. Let’s do it next year, you think.
We call this “minding the store”. At best, it leads to complacency. At worst, it could mean losing share to a hungrier competitor.
The cost of waiting could be steep
“Minding the store” refers to owner-operators who don’t believe they can carve out the time, capital, or energy for a high-consideration purchase, especially technology. The research, the sales pitches, the disruption, the learning curve. It’s a lot, so they put it off for another year. And another.
Don’t let yourself get stuck in this mental mire. If growth is a goal, and your PMS is more than three to five years old, you’re missing out on some awe-inspiring tech. The cloud has untethered us from our desks and day planners. Triggers and automations save shocking amounts of time and help deliver world-class service to an increasingly global and demanding pool of potential guests.
Proprietary technology is going the way of the dodo. Standards-based tech is cheaper, much faster to develop, and easier to learn and support. The past five years have seen massive changes in integrations, flexibility and features.
Growth companies see the writing on the wall. They don’t want to be the lonely shop on the corner with the faded sign. They want to understand the game as it’s being played now and figure out how to win it. Once they do, everyone else will be a distant second.
If you’re not ready to coast just yet, now might be the ideal time to investigate a new solution. Yes, the process takes time and effort, but as we’ve seen, the industry can and does change quickly. How can you become more agile and flexible without making a move?
What’s new, exactly?
If you haven’t looked at Track within the past couple of years, then we’ve got some catching up to do.
TrackPMS has long been capable of handling most day-to-day operations for a short-term rental company. A diverse slate of software integrations has always been, and continues to be available to fill the needs and preferences of customers who only use Track as a core PMS.
Starting in late 2020, we undertook to improve and expand Track’s native functionality to be a truly comprehensive solution. A big step in that direction was the acquisition of Rented, an industry-leading revenue management platform, in July 2022. Since then, we’ve been hard at work developing two cutting-edge features: TrackDistribution and TrackPayments.
TrackDistribution is a channel management platform that incorporates years of customer feedback and software development know-how. With time-saving features like batch editing, it’s never been easier to push new or edited listings out to all your channels. Enterprise customers like VTrips are already raving about the built-in reviews management feature, which lets you manage guest reviews from across channels without leaving Track.
TrackPayments is another ground-up solution that solves for a sticky set of problems, especially the confusing and costly fee structure of payment processors. Straight-forward, transparent pricing makes it easy to know exactly what your payments cost you. Chargeback management has also been a thorn in the side of PMCs, but TrackPayments can alert you to payment issues right away, including flags for suspicious activity or fraud.
Of course, the same modules you would expect to find in an enterprise-class PMS are still there. Housekeeping and maintenance, for example, or the guest and owner portals. Our trust accounting is still the best in the business.
What about business disruption?
Making a big change always carries some risk. That’s true no matter what the market conditions are. But there’s a flip side, which is the risk of inaction.
Assuming profitable and sustainable growth is your goal, a soft market presents a real challenge. How do you cut costs without losing revenue? How do you grow revenue without adding value? And how do you add value without increasing costs?
That’s what being stuck feels like—an equation that doesn’t add up no matter how you figure it.
But there’s a missing variable, and that’s technology. Properly applied, it creates efficiencies that cut costs for you while adding value for guests through improved service and responsiveness.
Everyone in this business has a horror story about a rough implementation. We’ve heard them all, and we’ve responded with a process that doesn’t only smooth out the kinks. It will get you excited because you won’t believe what a modern hospitality platform can do. And once you put these tools to work for you, you’ll wonder why you waited so long.
Give us a chance to dazzle you, and you’ll see the opportunity to shift into another gear while your competitors are stuck in neutral. Don’t just mind the store. Build a better one with TrackSuite.
Spring is a great time to research and plan for a fall implementation. Reach out to us at tnsinc.com/demo and catch a glimpse of your future.
