PMS buying checklist
Choose a hotel PMS with an operating-day test.
Bring one realistic reservation, one exception and one shift handover to the demo. A complete workflow is easier to judge than a long list of feature names.
Use this checklist to compare software against your own hotel's or hostel's work. It is a demonstration and rollout framework, not a vendor ranking. Record each item as demonstrated, planned, dependent on external access or outside scope, and keep the evidence with your decision.
1. Prepare a small, synthetic property pack
List your sellable categories, private-room units, dorm-bed pools, staff roles and reservation sources. Create fictional guest examples with the same kinds of dates and party sizes you handle. Do not send real guest identity documents or financial records for an introductory demonstration.
Separate requirements needed for the first operating day from improvements that can follow later. If payroll, a restaurant, monthly residents, locks or accounting exports matter, name them explicitly and ask for separate scope confirmation.
- One normal room stay and one normal dorm-bed stay, if both apply.
- An extension, a date change, a cancellation and a maintenance issue.
- A deposit, an outstanding balance, a refund and a corrected document.
- A reception user, a housekeeping user and an authorized manager.
2. Demonstrate one complete operating day
Start with availability and create the reservation. Assign the physical room or bed, check in, record the agreed charge and evidenced payment, issue the relevant document, check out and complete cleaning. Have the next shift explain what remains outstanding from the screen.
For mixed properties, repeat the flow with a bed and with a room. Confirm that the same unit can cover the stay, or that a required move is explicit. Then repeat an action or submit a competing request for the final unit to see how conflicts are handled.
3. Test permissions and exceptions
Log in as each real staff role. Check who can view a balance, record a payment, approve a refund, change an allocation or correct attendance. Ask to see the actor, reason and original value after a correction rather than accepting a silently edited record.
Turn a clean room unavailable for maintenance, leave a payment outcome unresolved and create a leave conflict on an overnight shift. The demonstration should show an understandable status, a responsible person and a permitted next action.
4. Confirm external services and total cost
Request a written list of the included provider routes, required accounts, property authorization, supported features and acceptance steps. Check OTA room-versus-bed mappings, payment evidence and notification delivery separately. A simulator demonstration and a live accepted integration are different evidence.
Compare setup, recurring charges, third-party fees, onboarding, training, support hours, backup storage, export and exit assistance. Ask what changes if the number of properties or users grows. Do not treat an unapproved estimate as a fixed commercial offer.
5. Reconcile migration and rehearse recovery
Before cutover, compare future reservations, current guests, assignments, deposits, open balances, readiness and maintenance with the source records. Agree who owns the final data change and ensure only one system publishes the property's live channel inventory.
Ask for a restore rehearsal with reconciled records and a named incident contact. A successful backup message does not demonstrate that the property can recover usable bookings and balances. Agree how staff work during an outage and how changes are reconciled afterward.
- Record what will be imported and what will remain in the old system.
- Approve property policies and document examples before real use.
- Define who can stop cutover and the conditions for returning to the previous setup.
- Obtain the data-export format and support responsibilities in writing.
6. Apply the same standard to AU-PMS
AU-PMS has a local demonstration for private rooms, dorm beds, billing, housekeeping and staff workflows. First-client onboarding is upcoming. Its marketing site does not establish live operating acceptance or activate external services.
Use these examples to review AU-PMS as well as any other option. Keep missing access, planned functionality and unapproved property policies visible until there is evidence that the requirement is met.
Questions to work through.
What should I ask during a hotel PMS demo?
Ask the vendor to complete your own reservation-to-checkout example, then show a conflict, an unresolved payment, a staff-permission boundary and a recovery process. Record the outcome and dependencies rather than marking a feature present because it appeared on a slide.
What should be confirmed before a hotel goes live?
Confirm property data and policies, reconciled reservations and balances, staff access and training, accepted provider connections, a demonstrated restore process and an identified incident contact. The exact acceptance plan should reflect the property's operating requirements.
Practical software guides
Choose around your operating day.
Understand the workflows, compare scope and prepare a useful demonstration.