The success of the hospitality industry relies on just one thing – customer satisfaction. You might boast of the best facilities, best property, excellent staff, and unparalleled service, but it just takes one wrong step from your end for the customers to pack their bags and go somewhere else. In the age of social media, it has become even more important to satisfy your customers and make sure they never get a chance to complain about anything.

One bad online review can spell disaster for your hotel. Hotel maintenance management managers of a hotel have to constantly be on their toes to make sure that the shower has hot water, the Internet and television are working properly, the lamps work etc., and that all the issues, no matter how small, are immediately addressed.

Maintenance managers can get a helping hand through Computerized Maintenance Management Software (CMMS), which helps in streamlining hotel maintenance management activities and operations. Let us look at 6 ways CMMS programs can help improve hotel maintenance management.

1. Asset Tracking

Efficient maintenance is not possible if you are not aware of the equipment and assets present in the hotel and where they are located. Additionally, you need to know the location and details of spare and replacement assets too. CMMS system allows the hotel maintenance staff to store and gather crucial information regarding all the assets that vary from computers, TV sets, kitchen products, toiletries, etc. They can produce detailed reports and maintain data concerned with purchase, safety and regulatory compliance, transfer and preventive maintenance. Once you can track the assets, maintenance will automatically get more efficient.

2. Improved Response Time

Hotel maintenance management mostly includes tasks related to electrical, mechanical or plumbing failures. Either of these can put the maintenance managers into the stress mode and in such cases, quick response time becomes the priority. CMMS allows maintenance managers to configure and adjust the settings in such a way that the right people get notifications about the emergencies. These notifications can either be sent out via an e-mail or alerts that can be directly received on their smart mobile devices, like their phones or tablets. This facilitates a quick response, which the customers appreciate and increase customer satisfaction.

3. Preventive Maintenance and Minimized Equipment Downtime

Asset management software allows managers to create regulated preventive maintenance plans to ensure that all the required tasks are carried out as per industry and manufacturer’s standards. CMMS informs technicians as and when assets need repair work or if there is any failure. This allows the team to respond immediately and get the issue sorted quickly. This translates into reduced downtime.

4. Repeat Business

If your services are really good and the customers are happy with what you offer, you can expect to get their business the next time too. Most of it depends on your facilities and response to different issues — does the HVAC system work properly, is Internet available, what are your dining options, how fast you fix an issue etc. If customers face any issue at any time of the day or night, it’s crucial that their problems are fixed quickly. Performing preventive maintenance is crucial for minimizing potential problems. Repeat business is really important for every hotel.

5. Improved Scheduling and Planning

If you run a small BnB or homestay business, then probably you can handle maintenance requests and carry out planning and scheduling using your Outlook calendar, or even a regular calendar if the number of guests you can entertain is really less. However, if you are a hotel with 100 or more rooms, you will get more maintenance requests. This makes scheduling and planning efficiently extremely crucial. A hotel management software will allow maintenance managers to schedule service requests, conduct regular inspections, and repairs, and preventive maintenance.

Calendar dashboards help in communicating effectively with multiple users at several layers. Improving scheduling and planning become more necessary when your operations involve multiple contractors, vendors, and technicians. CMMS offers real-time viewing of schedules which is accessible from any location. Furthermore, managers will get the ability to reschedule, update and assign tasks based on the available assets. You can configure CMMS in such a manner that any updates or changes will notify the concerned technicians in real time.

6. Reduced Costs, Increased Profits

CMMS reduces downtime and required repairs, which means the overall costs also go down. It also prolongs the life of the machine and prevents minor problems from becoming major issues that will cut deep into the company’s pockets. The facility asset management software ensures that your inventory is up-to-date with no unnecessary items such as double-order spare parts, which are wasted expenses. You can increase maintenance productivity, maximize staff efficiency and ensure safety — all of which tangibly or intangibly translate into increased profits.

If you haven’t implemented CMMS in your hotel, you know what to do now!