---
title: How to Choose a Hotel PMS: A 10-point Checklist
description: A 10-point checklist for choosing a hotel PMS: rooms and rates, front desk, folios, housekeeping, the back office, payments, offline, data and support.
url: https://www.tivuzo.com/guides/how-to-choose-a-hotel-pms/
updated: 2026-11-03
---

Guide · 9 min read

# How to choose a hotel PMS: a 10-point checklist.

A practical, weighted checklist for choosing a property management system, and how to test it with a real week of your own bookings.
By the Tivuzo team · Updated 3 November 2026

**Short answer:**
To choose a hotel PMS, check ten things: rooms and rates (including seasons and meal plans), the room planner, reservations and groups, guest billing, housekeeping, the night audit and reports, the restaurant and bar link, the back office (purchasing, stores, accounting), payments and offline working, and your data and support. Then test the two or three best options with a real week of your own bookings before you decide.

## Before you look at software

Write down how your property actually works: how many rooms and room types, how guests book (direct, agents, online), how they pay, who works at reception, whether you run a restaurant and bar, and who does the accounts. The best PMS for a 120-room conference hotel is the wrong PMS for a 12-room guest house, and the other way round.

## The 10-point checklist

- **Rooms and rates**Room types with capacity and extra-person prices; rate plans with seasons; meal plans (room only, B&B, half board, full board); agreed rates for companies and agents.
- **The room planner**A clear view of rooms by night. Can you move a stay by dragging? Does it refuse a clash and tell you which booking holds the room?
- **Reservations**Single and group bookings, source and agent, deposits, cancellations and no-shows, other guests in the room.
- **Billing**Folios with nightly posting, extras, deposits, split billing (room to the company, bar to the guest), invoices at check-out.
- **Housekeeping**Room status shared with reception, tasks at check-out, out-of-order rooms off the planner.
- **Night audit and reports**A nightly close with occupancy, ADR and RevPAR; arrivals, departures and in-house lists.
- **Restaurant and bar**Charge to room from the POS onto the folio; tables and split bills; offline tills.
- **Back office**Purchasing, stores and accounting that share the PMS data instead of re-typing it.
- **Payments and internet**Mobile money, card and cash with references; what still works when the internet drops.
- **Data and support**A database per property, backups, roles, full export, support in your time zone, and a clear price for year two.

## A simple score sheet

| Point | Weight | System A | System B | System C |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rooms and rates | 10 | | | |
| Planner and reservations | 15 | | | |
| Billing and payments | 15 | | | |
| Housekeeping | 5 | | | |
| Night audit and reports | 10 | | | |
| Restaurant and bar link | 10 | | | |
| Back office | 20 | | | |
| Data, support, price | 15 | | | |

Score each point from 0 to 5 and multiply by the weight. Change the weights to fit you: a lodge with long supply lines should weight the back office higher; a city guest house with no restaurant can weight it lower.

## Test with a real week

- Enter next week's real bookings and rates
- Try to double-book a room
- Check in a guest, charge dinner to the room and check out with a mobile money payment
- Close the day and read occupancy, ADR and RevPAR
- Find the stay, the dinner and the payment in the accounts
- Ask a receptionist to do it without help

## Red flags

- The vendor won't let you try it yourself
- Essential modules (POS, stores, accounting) quoted separately at the end
- No clear answer on what works offline
- No full export of your data
- Prices that rise with every room you add

Ready to compare? Read the [hotel management software buyer's guide](https://www.tivuzo.com/best-hotel-management-software/), the [best PMS for small hotels](https://www.tivuzo.com/best-pms-for-small-hotels/) or [book a Tivuzo demo](https://www.tivuzo.com/demo/).

## Choosing a PMS

### What is the most important feature of a hotel PMS?

Accurate availability with a clear planner: if the PMS can't stop double bookings and show who is where, nothing else matters.

### How long should a PMS trial be?

Long enough to run one real week: usually one to two weeks.

### Should my PMS include accounting?

For most independent properties, yes, or at least post to accounting automatically. Re-typing is where errors and lost time come from. See [one system vs separate systems](https://www.tivuzo.com/compare/one-system-vs-separate-pms-and-accounting/).

### What questions should I ask a PMS vendor?

Show me a stay from booking to the ledger; what works offline; which channels you sync with; can I export everything; what year two costs.