Seamless stays and smooth operations: The impact of Zonal PMS on pub accommodation

Pubs with rooms are on the rise. With more than 5,700 pubs with rooms across the UK —equating to around 50,000 guest rooms—and 41% of operators planning to expand their offering, it’s a market full of momentum. Pubs with rooms are perfectly placed to meet the needs of guests who want the charm, informality, and character of an Airbnb, but with the service standards, food, and drink experience only a pub can offer. In the article, Are pubs with rooms the new boutique hotels?, The Caterer recently reported on the growing trend of consumers turning away from budget hotel chains to mid-market pub groups with rooms.

With the right technology in place, pub operators have a unique opportunity to capitalise on this trend—streamlining operations, improving visibility, and delivering exceptional guest experiences from booking to checkout.

One of the most important aspects of Zonal PMS is its ability to enhance property visibility online in the market by integrating directly with online travel agents as well as your own website. A joined-up tech stack which feeds directly into the OTAs, saves a lot of time and makes selling your rooms significantly easier —with real-time availability making it possible to sell rooms right up to the last minute.

The technology also allows you to track customer data, ensuring that the guest journey can be followed from start to finish. This level of insight provides you with valuable information to help tailor and deliver great service to guests.

We recently spoke to some of the Provenance Collection team to find out what benefits integrated technology has had to their business.

More time to focus on your guests

With Zonal PMS teams are freed up to focus spending more time with customers on creating great hospitality experiences for guests, where staff can be out on the floor engaging with customers, instead of spending time on admin. It’s not so much about eliminating tasks, but instead about freeing up staff to do what they really care about – creating great experiences.

Easily manage rooms rates

Zonal PMS enables pub operators to efficiently manage bedroom booking rates, especially across multiple sites. What could take up to 12–15 hours per week can now be handled in just a couple of hours with Zonal PMS —freeing up valuable time.

One system, one experience: service consistency across sites

Utilising one platform to manage your accommodation across your whole estate means that staff training is centralised across all sites, and service is consistent because staff are using identical technology across locations, processes such as booking, check-in, check-out, and billing are streamlined—ensuring accuracy and delivering a seamless guest experience.

Boost F&B sales with table bookings integration

We understand how frustrating it can be for guests to navigate a disjointed booking process—reserving a room, only to have to return to the website and click through again if they want to book a table as well. With the right technology in place, such as a table booking system that integrates natively with your PMS, guests can reserve a table in the pub’s restaurant at the same time they book their room. What’s more you can offer guests the opportunity to purchase optional extras whilst booking their stay and include optional extras such as Champagne, Flowers, Early Check-Ins and Late Check-outs. This not only streamlines the experience but also creates valuable upselling opportunities for food and drink, reduces admin for your team, and enhances the overall guest journey.

Reward and build guest loyalty

Zonal’s loyalty platform can also play a role here in helping venues encourage and reward repeat visits, where points can be collected and offers can be distributed through the platform. For example, hotel guests who stay regularly may earn points for each visit, and as it builds up, they’ll eventually have enough for a for a free stay.

In addition to rewarding loyal guests and driving repeat visits, an integration with Zonal’s loyalty platform can also help you boost guest spend during their visit and boost engagement with both the accommodation and F&B sides of your business. Loyalty rewards accrued from a guest booking a stay with you can be redeemed in your restaurant or bar, and vice versa, with any loyalty balance built from guests eating and drinking in your pub able to be used to pay towards their room during a stay.