Hotel Property Management System Specification Template

Reservations and front desk operations. These are the highest-volume daily workflows and the surfaces that every staff member interacts with. If the reservation lookup is slow, the check-in flow has too many steps, or the folio management is confusing, the front desk will resist adoption. Build and user-test these surfaces first with real front desk agents under time pressure.

Design for multi-property from the start. An independent hotel is a group of one. Chain-specific features layer on top: centralized rate management, brand-standard room type mapping, loyalty program integration, and corporate reporting rollups. The key architectural decision is whether rates, room types, and guest profiles are managed per-property or centrally. For chains, central management with per-property overrides is the standard pattern. Use the [PRD template](/templates/prd-template) to spec the multi-property layer.

Build a basic direct booking engine. Hotels lose 15 to 25% commission on OTA bookings. A direct booking engine that is mobile-optimized, displays real-time availability, and supports rate plans is essential for driving direct bookings. It does not need to be feature-rich at launch. Focus on conversion rate: fast load time, minimal steps to book, and clear pricing with no surprise fees.

Define the data that syncs bidirectionally: rates (by rate plan and room type), availability (room count by type and date), restrictions (minimum stay, closed to arrival), and reservations (new bookings, modifications, cancellations from OTAs). Specify the sync frequency (real-time or near-real-time for availability to prevent overselling). Test the integration by simulating rapid booking scenarios where multiple channels compete for the last room.

Hotels use pre-authorization (holding funds on a guest's card without charging) at check-in, incremental authorization during the stay (if incidental charges exceed the initial hold), and final settlement at check-out. The PMS must support tokenized card storage (PCI DSS compliance) so the card number is not stored in the PMS database. Delayed charges (minibar discovered after check-out) require the ability to charge a stored token within the card network's authorization window (typically 30 days). Validate with the [RICE framework](/frameworks/rice-framework) which payment edge cases to handle in the MVP versus later releases. ---