If you run a small hotel or B&B, you already know the job is 20% hospitality and 80% spinning plates. Phones ring, housekeeping needs direction, a last-minute booking lands, the card on file declines, and somewhere in there, you still want to greet guests by name. Here’s the good news: you don’t need a massive team or enterprise software to tame the chaos. Prostay is a new, all-in-one PMS designed to shrink everyday tasks into calm, repeatable routines that I call five-minute, guest-ready workflows. If you want the deep dive, the Prostay.com PMS complete guide lays out every feature; today, think of this as your practical hotel PMS guide to what changes on day one.
Why five minutes matter more than any feature list
Small properties excel in warmth and consistency, not in having the most buttons in a system. Every extra minute spent retyping a booking, chasing a payment, or hunting through emails steals attention from guests and staff morale. A modern PMS should take the things you do 20 times a day and compress them into five minutes or less. Prostay’s bias is toward “one screen, one flow” for the big hitters—check-in, room turns, rate updates, and replies so you spend less time toggling and more time welcoming.
The five-minute workflows that clean up your day
1) Five-minute pre-arrival and check-in
Pull up the reservation, confirm details, and send a friendly pre-arrival message (parking, access codes, late arrival steps) right from the booking. If the guest responds, the thread sits on the reservation timeline, not in a staff inbox. On arrival, Prostay issues keys, sets the payment hold, and emails a folio all in one pass. No copy-paste. No back-and-forth.
2) Five-minute housekeeping sequencing
The housekeeping board automatically prioritizes due-in rooms and groups tasks by corridor to reduce walking time. Housekeepers tap “start” and “done” on their mobile devices; you see the live status at the desk. Need a rush clean? Drag-and-drop to the top. The result is fewer “room not ready” conversations and more on-time check-ins.
3) Five-minute payments that don’t boomerang
Set deposits and pre-authorizations by stay length, let the system re-auth for incidentals when needed, and reverse holds at checkout with a click. Receipts land in the guest’s inbox automatically. You’ll spend less energy explaining charges and more time solving real problems.
4) Five-minute “rates and restrictions” control
See pickup, pace, and occupancy on a simple grid. Bump BAR for a busy weekend, enforce a two-night minimum, or close a room type for maintenance all sync to your website and OTAs in seconds. No more midnight logins to five different portals.
5) Five-minute replies that sound like you
Template answers cover 80% of questions parking, breakfast, pet policy, late checkout so any team member can reply in your tone, via email or SMS, right from the reservation. For anything unusual, type once and save it; it becomes a template for next time.
A hotel PMS guide to “what’s in it for small properties”
Fewer double-bookings, fewer apologies. A unified calendar with built-in channel management keeps availability and prices aligned across your site, Booking.com, Expedia, and Airbnb. When a room sells, it disappears everywhere else instantly.
More direct bookings without heroics. The booking engine shows total price up front, offers one or two tasteful add-ons (late checkout, view upgrade), and confirms instantly. You keep the commission and the guest gets clarity.
Cleaner rooms, sooner. Live housekeeping status means you can prioritize what really sells today and stop guessing which rooms are ready. Guests don’t see the board but they feel the difference at 3 p.m.
Less email whiplash. Conversations live on the reservation, not in individual inboxes. Anyone on the team can step in confidently.
Healthier cash flow. Clear deposit rules, automatic holds, and fast reversals reduce disputes and “where’s my refund?” calls.
What changes the first month (a simple, owner-friendly plan)
Week 1 – Map the basics.
Write down room types, standard rates, taxes, cancellation language, and your top ten pre-arrival questions. Gather your best photos (mobile-friendly) and short, honest room descriptions.
Week 2 – Set up the bones.
Load rooms and rates, connect payments, and turn on two message templates: confirmation and pre-arrival. Create exactly two add-ons that don’t slow operations (late checkout and parking are winners).
Week 3 – Flip the switch on direct bookings.
Add the “Book Now” button to your site and test three bookings on a phone start to finish. Make sure totals are transparent and confirmations read like you wrote them.
Week 4 – Sync channels and train the team.
Connect OTAs, do a half-day “what happens when” training (date change, rush clean, deposit reversal, no-show), and place a printed cheat sheet at the desk. You’ll feel the calm next Saturday.
Pricing without stress: guardrails that protect your margin
A lot of owners tell me pricing is the most draining part of the job. Prostay’s rate tools are built for decisions you can trust in under five minutes. Set a minimum profitable rate (your CPOR plus target profit) and tell the system never to cross it. Then choose simple triggers: when occupancy for a date crosses 70%, add £5; at 85%, enforce a two-night minimum. You can still make manual moves, but the guardrails stop silent margin leaks especially on “compression” nights when the town is full and mistakes are costly.
Housekeeping: the quiet lever that lifts reviews (and sanity)
Guests don’t review your scheduling, they review your readiness. Prostay’s mobile housekeeping trims the “dirty but could sell” window by pushing due-in rooms to the top, routing tasks by proximity, and logging quick maintenance notes with photos. Over a month, shaving five minutes off a departure clean across 20 rooms recovers hours you can spend where it matters warm welcomes, quick recoveries, and thoughtful touches at breakfast.
Messaging that creates happy arrivals, not long threads
Pre-arrival kindness beats post-arrival repair. Use a single, friendly template that answers the usual questions (parking, Wi-Fi, breakfast hours, late arrival) and invites a reply. If a guest texts, “Landing at 23:10,” the system tags the reservation as late and adds your night access steps automatically. You’ll see no-shows fall and 5-star “communication” ratings rise without hiring a night shift.
A quick metric set to know it’s working
You don’t need thirty dashboards. Watch these five, weekly:
- Direct share (what % of bookings come through your site or phone)
- Housekeeping minutes per departure clean (shrinking is winning)
- On-time room readiness at 3 p.m. (aim for >90% on weekends)
- Average response time to guest messages (target under 15 minutes during the day)
- Net ADR by channel (after commission protect the floor)
If any of those move the wrong way, adjust templates, rate triggers, or housekeeping priorities not your standards.
Common pitfalls to avoid as you modernize
- Surprises at checkout. Show total price and holds up front; surprises cost reviews and repeat business.
- Too many add-ons. One or two thoughtful options beat a page of upsells.
- Paper as a crutch. Keep a daily printout if you must, but trust the live calendar; double-entry creates double trouble.
- No owner backup. Learn the two or three flows you’ll use most (date change, refund, rush clean). If only one staffer knows them, you’re one sick day from chaos.
The real promise: less juggling, more hospitality
This isn’t about becoming “techy.” It’s about reclaiming time for the things only you can do: remembering names, recommending the coffee shop that roasts on Tuesdays, noticing a birthday and making it special. A great hotel PMS guide should lead you to a system that quietly handles the repeatable work so the human moments shine. That’s the Prostay idea in one line: turn messy ops into five-minute, guest-ready workflows, then get out of the way.
If you’ve been waiting for the “right moment” to move off spreadsheets or a patchwork of apps, pick a quiet week and follow the four-week plan above. By next month, you’ll have fewer spinning plates, a calmer lobby, and a team that meets more guests at the door instead of behind a screen. And when the weekend rush hits, you’ll feel the difference where it counts most: everything just works, and your hotel feels like itself only lighter, faster, and ready right on time.
