The hotel and food tech industry have seen some exciting developments recently and the only way to really make the most of them is to make sure your hotel restaurant’s management technology can keep up. Having the most up-to-date Restaurant POS software is essential for the smooth running of any restaurant operation and can help reduce the burden on restaurant managers.

A restaurant point of sale system should manage more than just your table allocations. It should help you diversify your restaurant’s offerings, adjust your floor plans, accept different types of payments and offer the latest contactless solutions.

Having the right Hotel Restaurant POS will ensure you can run an efficient, streamlined business. This will then guarantee that every dining experience is a positive one for your customers, so they spread the word to friends and family.

If you already use a Restaurant POS in your property but are not feeling the benefits of it, it’s probably time you looked to upgrade. Here are the top 5 things to watch out for:

1. It doesn’t integrate with your Hotel PMS

Your hotel and restaurant need to work together if you want to be offering the best experience for your guests. If your restaurant POS doesn’t integrate with the rest of your hotel’s systems, then it’s impossible to run smoothly and efficiently. When you can share the same database, it means all the information on your guests’ requirements and billing are in one place, and you can offer services such as bill-to-room. Make sure the POS you choose can plug into the software already running the rest of your property.

2. Online orders are not consolidated

There are multiple ways guests like to dine these days, and if you’re not able to keep up with their demands, then you need to look at how you can be more flexible. Make sure your Restaurant POS is as mobile as possible, with multiple payment terminals and tableside ordering features. Not only will guests be able to add extras to their orders, it will help waiting staff communicate with the kitchen to get orders right first time.

Some guests will want to order to their rooms and others will want to pick up from the restaurant to go – make sure you can adapt to customers’ changing habits and serve them online. You can save a lot of money and avoid third-party fees by managing your own takeout orders, but make sure these are fully integrated with the rest of your software platform.

For example, Lightspeed Order Anywhere will display your menus on a professional digital layout and lets your customers decide how and when they want to collect their order. It will also help seated customers order and pay at the table straight from their phones. No matter where or how your customers order, all requests will get sent and consolidated in one place, so your kitchen can keep track.

3. It’s not providing you with useful insights

One of the most valuable elements of modern-day POS systems is their ability to transform the data they are collecting at each order and customer touch point and turn this into insightful reports. If your current Restaurant POS isn’t given you instant information on profit margins, end-of-day summaries or your team’s performance, then you need to upgrade to one that will.

Lightspeed Advanced Insights will give you detailed breakdowns of your menu’s performance so you will know which dishes to celebrate (and which to ditch). By tracking customer orders you can build guest profiles to step up your personalized customer service throughout your hotel.  And best of all, you can check in on all your reports from any device, no matter where you are.

4. Your 3rd party orders aren’t integrated

The pandemic and its lockdowns accelerated consumer use of 3rd party online ordering apps such as Uber Eats and Grubhub. Even with everything opening up again, consumers like the convenience of ordering their favorite food to their home… and it’s an additional revenue stream for you.

A modern POS can provide integrations that take any third party orders and add them directly into your POS so you don’t have the juggle different systems or enter online orders separately.

5. Your software hasn’t been updated in a while

This is probably the biggest flag to upgrade your Restaurant POS. If you’re still using the same software you have been for years, it’s probably because it was expensive to install and customize to begin with… but installed, legacy software gets outdated really fast.

Have you noticed that your system seems to be crashing more regularly? Are payments being rejected or delayed? Are transactions feeling sluggish – don’t ignore these tell-tale signs! By moving to a cloud-based POS you can rest assured you are future-proofing yourself.

Automatic updates will easily upgrade your software with the latest features and functionality – whenever it is released. In addition, the frontend interface of your POS can be accessed from any device connected to the internet, so all staff have access to the same information at any given time.

InnQuest is proud to announce our new Hotel PMS Premium Partnership with Lightspeed, a one-stop restaurant POS. Lightspeed will integrate seamlessly with roomMaster Anywhere, to save you valuable time and improve order accuracy in a way that matches your existing workflow.

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InnQuest Hotel Management Software is a leading technology provider for the hospitality industry. For over 25 years, innQuest has combined hotelier experience with innovative technology to deliver an all-in-one solution that empowers hotels to attract guests, drive customer loyalty, and increase profits. Our flagship property management software, roomMaster, helps manage over 5,500 properties across 100 countries. InnQuest develops scalable solutions ranging from a Hotel PMS, Cloud PMS, Channel Manager, Hotel CRM and helps properties enable guests to Book Direct. We believe that everyone deserves a great guest experience, whether they’re staying at a small B&B, a thousand-room resort, or anywhere in between.

Call us today at 1.813.288.4900, or email us at sales@innquest.com. We will be happy to walk you through innQuest’s solutions.