Enterprise Resource Planning systems (ERPs) are becoming increasingly popular with hotel management companies that are looking for full portfolio financial oversight with modern tech advantages.
ERP’s are attractive because they are built as a consolidated platform, and can often replace multiple other software types.
The rub when it comes to implementing an ERP for a hospitality business is that it can be expensive and time-consuming to build out the common functionality that hoteliers need, like PMS & POS integrations, Daily Report functionality, and even the USALI hotel-specific accounting standards. Let’s first take a look at the overall advantages of ERP software and then see how some of the most well-known systems stack up for hospitality.
Advantages of an ERP
ERP software provides a broad range of functionality to replace multiple separate software, with popular modules like financial management, procurement, contract/document management, inventory management, and more. They are typically cloud-based and include advanced features like automations and workflows. ERP’s differ from accounting software in that they often provide additional modules, functionality, and their automations tend to be more advanced.
Some stand-out features include:
- One consolidated system/ one login
- Consolidated reporting
- Greater accuracy as a single source of truth
- Automations that reduce labor
- Reduced manual errors
- Advanced security
- Rich dashboards
4 Best ERP Software for Hotels
Hoteliers looking at ERP’s are often interested in the rich financial functionality such as portfolio-wide reporting visibility, budgeting, forecasting, and business intelligence to enhance overall profitability. These tools enable management companies to more accurately track performance, make financial predictions, and develop strategies to drive performance.
The following software all include robust reporting, analytics, advanced security, and configurable dashboards to streamline data analysis and inform decision-making.
1. HIA Software
HIA Software, product of Hotel Investor Apps, is at the top of the list because it is the only software that offers full ERP functionality and is purpose-built for hospitality.
HIA is a true-cloud ERP designed for the complex demands of hotel management. Its financial management includes advanced hotel accounting, business intelligence, and enterprise modules like purchase orders, expense management, fixed assets, and more.
The system is designed with unlimited budgets, forecasting, pre-built hospitality reports. The system has customized hospitality dashboards by role with portfolio wide and property performance metrics. HIA also has pre-built hospitality integrations like automated PMS and POS data feeds for revenues, as well as payroll, tax, live bank balances, AP Automations and more.
These pre-built hospitality features make it easier for management teams to hit the ground running in a new software without waiting months or years for these features and integrations to be built.
Additionally, the workflows and automations help to streamline tasks, improving efficiency and reducing human error. HIA also has a full-functionality mobile app for productivity on the go. In terms of software foundation, HIA is built on the Acumatica platform, which is the highest rated ERP in Usability on the global software ratings website G2.
2. Oracle NetSuite
Oracle NetSuite is perhaps the most well-known enterprise resource planning (ERP) software solution designed to manage finances and operations.
This global software firm serves many industries and is not specifically designed for hotels, but it is a robust cloud-based solution for integrated financial management, orders and procurement, inventory, customer data, and more.
Customers can add on modules that work for them, like CRM for sales, Human Resources (HR) for employee records, service, marketing digitization, and much more. Having all these modules in the same database helps ensure accuracy.
That said, as a general ERP, the system would need to be customized to offer hospitality functionality.
3. Sage Intacct
As a modern, cloud-based financial management software, Sage Intacct is built for business accounting and its functionality is broad enough to serve a wide swath of industries.
Sage Intacct has significant multi-entity and global consolidation capabilities to consolidate data across an organization. The visual dashboards help stakeholders monitor financial performance and the ability to pull in bank balances helps the organization keep an eye on its cash balances across entities. Additionally, the ability to transact in multiple currencies also helps organizations with properties outside of the US consolidate their finances.
As a general ERP, the system would need to be customized to offer hospitality functionality.
4. Microsoft Dynamics
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is a modern, cloud-based ERP that can provide an organization with a single point of financial truth.
Its comprehensive suite of financial tools such as budgets and financial planning, fixed assets, cash-flow forecasting, multi-currency and more, help to streamline processes in an organization. The in-depth business analysis, reporting, and KPI’s in real-time help to accurately track costs.
The system helps to unify financials and operations across an organization and drive efficiencies. Users can take advantage of visual representations of operational areas and access cost information for data based decisions.
As a general ERP, the system would need to be customized to offer hospitality functionality.
The Overall Best ERP Software for Hotels
Each of the above solutions could work for a hospitality organization to consolidate financials into a unified view across the portfolio, and provide the insights that consolidation provides like roll-up reporting on performance, spend, benchmarking, and more.
However, while moving to an ERP system is a great investment in your infrastructure, if the ERP selected isn’t built for hotels or doesn’t have the functionality you need to operate, it can significantly prolong the ROI and benefits from an ERP system due to the level of customization and integration building required.
An HIA customer spells it out,
“When I dig into existing ERPs and ask about hotel-specific things, daily reports, etc., they ask for tens of thousands of dollars to build them out. HIA cut all this out. They’ve already built them.” – Buck Paolino, Principal, Platform Business Advisors
Ready to see why HIA is the best ERP software for hospitality? Schedule a Demo Today
Director of Marketing at HIA
Elisa Fritsch, Director of Marketing at Hotel Investor Apps (HIA), contributes 15+ years of sales and marketing experience from a wide range of corporate to start-up environments. At HIA, Elisa focuses on marketing strategy, content, and leveraging her hospitality industry knowledge to drive growth.
