Planet, a global technology leader providing integrated software and payment services, has today announced it is connecting payments with the HotSoft Property Management System (PMS) and Volante’s Food & Beverage (F&B) Point of Sale (POS). This will deliver an enhanced connected commerce experience for hoteliers, all through a cost-efficient single-technology partnership.

The European hotel industry is continuing to gain momentum with Planet’s most recent Intelligence Report showing that European hotel payments are now moving ahead of pre-pandemic levels.

The pandemic accelerated the digitalisation of the hotel industry and consumer expectations are greater than ever. Hoteliers are looking for more ways to wow their guests and are keen to offer a more consistent, personalised, and enjoyable experience.

Planet’s move empowers hoteliers to deliver a truly connected experience for their guests by embedding payments with HotSoft PMS and Volante’s F&B software. This makes for a smoother transition throughout their guests’ stay, from booking to check-in, bar, restaurant and check-out. It means that hoteliers can effortlessly deliver an enhanced level of service across all touchpoints, whether guests choose to pay at the counter or book services to their rooms.

Thanks to the single technology partnership offered by Planet, hoteliers no longer need to communicate with multiple suppliers or manage numerous contracts. At the same time, it relieves the operational and accounting burden with more efficient payment reconciliation across the front office and F&B, lowering error rates and providing access to all KPIs through a single system. Planet’s solution also helps hoteliers ease the pressure on their busy staff by automating time-consuming administration tasks, meaning that staff can reallocate their time to improve the guest experience.

HotSoft PMS’ all-in-one dashboard allows hoteliers to benchmark their hotel’s performance against the market averages. It also forecasts bookings based on industry trends and manages all their daily hotel operations easily, giving hoteliers control of the booking process as well as the guest journey. It implements an end-to-end mobile guest journey including online reservation, mobile check-in, and check-out as well as mobile room keys.

Volante’s F&B POS solution helps hoteliers to streamline all points of sale. The integration of payments helps hotels pick up on-site revenue by making it easy for customers to pay where and when they want. In addition, it generates insights and data on all transactions, stock management and hotel operations to provide hoteliers with a full-picture view of all transactions across a resort.

The move is part of Planet’s busy product and technology innovation agenda, aimed at further strengthening its leadership position in the European hospitality sector.

Discussing the announcement, Tim Goodwin, Chief Product & Technology Officer at Planet, said, “Our connected commerce hospitality platform is designed to bring together previously fragmented systems. This removes friction for guests, ensuring they have a more enjoyable stay while freeing-up time for hotel staff which helps hoteliers overcome some of the staffing challenges they’re facing.

“Connecting payments with PMS and F&B POS enables hoteliers to make decisions rooted in data – quickly and efficiently. We’re giving hotels the tools to deliver an excellent experience for guests, all through a single partnership. Real time access to customer spending preferences, performance and forecasting data is game-changing for hoteliers and their employees.”

Planet completed the acquisition of Hoist including their PMS: HotSoft in December 2021, with the aim to extend its reach in the hotel industry.