28. January 2025

The benefits of integrating your PMS and Task Management system

Picture the scene: you’re working on the front desk, and you have a long line of guests waiting to check in. Like, really long. 

You’re not sure if their rooms are ready yet: your housekeeping team’s updates aren’t on your system, and you can’t contact them without seriously disrupting your workflow - and ignoring the people in front of you. 

What’s a front desk team member to do? 

Integrate your PMS and your task management system, and situations like this will become a thing of the past. 

Say goodbye to worrying about running operations smoothly, delivering a great guest experience, and keeping your team happy. Instead, you’ll enjoy improved operational efficiency, a better guest experience, and maximised revenue. 

We’re sure we don’t need to tell you that these benefits are particularly important today; slimmed-down teams, smaller budgets, and the need to keep guests coming back instead of going somewhere else are the new normal, and hotels that manage to work with these conditions are coming out on top. 

Today, we’re going to find out why integrating your PMS and your task management system is a must-do. Here’s what we’re going to cover: 

Introductions to PMS and Task Management Systems  

The benefits: seamless operations 

The benefits: improved guest experience 

The benefits: better communication

The benefits: data-informed decisions 

Ready? Let’s get started. 

Introduction to PMS and Task Management Systems 

Let’s run through some quick definitions first. A PMS and task management system are both vital tools to have at your disposal, but there are some key differences between the two.  

What is a PMS? 

A property management system is like a Swiss army knife; it helps with everything from reservations to room allocation, payments, guest data, and more. 

Choose wisely, and you’ll enjoy streamlined manual tasks, automated processes, and more time to spend on the important things.

What is a Task Management System? 

A task management system does what it says on the tin: it helps you to organise and prioritise tasks across teams. 

In a hospitality context, this looks like coordinating your housekeeping, maintenance, and front desk teams, so everyone knows what to do and when to do it, and is able to easily communicate with other teams. 

The benefits of integrating your PMS and Task Management System 

Now we’ve got definitions out of the way, let’s jump into why it’s so important to integrate the two. 

Seamless operations 

Traditionally, working in the hotel space has involved a lot of manual activity. 

And with manual work comes room for human error: think notes for the front desk team being misplaced or buried under another piece of paper, misunderstandings between teams, and data being inputted incorrectly - or not at all. 

Fortunately, in recent years technology has streamlined a lot of manual work in the hospitality industry. Apply the right tools and tech, and your staff will be able to keep operations efficient and grow revenue.  

Let’s say a guest has a broken lightbulb in their room. Pre-technology they might report it to housekeeping. The front desk is empty, so housekeeping leaves a note. With luck, this note is picked up and delivered - by hand - to maintenance, who are in another part of the building. If the team’s unlucky, the note gets missed and the lightbulb doesn’t get fixed. 

Neither of these outcomes are operationally efficient - but it’s how things used to run until task management systems and PMSs came along. 

Now, housekeeping can digitally log a repair request as soon as it’s made. The repair automatically gets sent to maintenance, and the team can input any additional information in the notes until the issue is resolved and change the status of the room to Out of order. 

Improved guest experience 

Real-time updates like we’ve just mentioned also improve the guest experience. How? Well, faster updates lead to faster response times - meaning issues are solved at the drop of a hat, and processes don’t get in the way of the guest experience. 

Let’s take the example we opened this blog post with. If our frazzled front desk worker knew exactly what progress the housekeeping team had made, they could either check guests in early (ticking the surprise and delight box) or smoothly direct them to the restaurant or lobby to wait. Much better than standing in a line for hours on end, suitcases in hand. 

Better communication 

Just as important as guest experience is staff experience - after all, the global hospitality industry’s still in the grips of a staffing crisis. 

Communication that takes staff out of their workflows, or has the potential to be miscommunicated, doesn’t make for a smooth and happy work environment for your team. 

If you connect your PMS and task management system, teams that work in sync are able to communicate more efficiently - take our example of housekeeping, the front desk, and maintenance working together above. 

It’s also incredibly useful for management - they can see what everyone’s doing at a glance, and quickly assign or deprioritise tasks, without making the team feel micromanaged or interrupted. 

This is a significant change from the frequent check-ins, phone calls, and messages that would previously interrupt a team’s day-to-day.

Adding a task management system to the hotel’s tech stack gave housekeeping and maintenance a centralised platform to see task overviews. Photographs of issues replaced lengthy written reports - easier for maintenance, and for the person logging the problem. 

Data-informed decisions

Both task management systems and PMSs are excellent at gathering data: 

PMSs: centralised system for managing bookings, guest profiles, occupancy trends, revenue & profits, accounting reports, billing, and payment processing 

Task management systems: manage and assign team members' workloads, keep track of activities, capture issues, report on cleaning time per room & per employee, measure staff productivity, optimise shift schedules and track efficiency across different periods of time

Have both tools in your arsenal, and you’re looking at comprehensive analytics that inform the best possible decision-making. You’ll have the answers to questions like: 

How big your team needs to be at a certain time of the year 

Where each team member should be working, and when 

Where you could be saving money, and where you’re spending too much

How best to spend your budget   

The better-informed you are, the better decisions you can make. Simple. 

PMS and task management integration: final thoughts 

Integrate your PMS and your task management system, and you’ll be the leader of an operationally efficient, profitable hotel that delivers a great experience for your guests - and for your staff. In other words, it’s a no-brainer. 

Sold? We bet you are. If you want to experience the benefits that come with an integrated PMS and task management system, check out Sweeply and Mews’ integration.