December 14, 2024
Written by: The POS Exchange Team
As busy hotel managers know, running a successful hotel is challenging. With so many moving parts to keep track of, it’s easy for operations to get chaotic, especially regarding the hotel’s restaurant. From juggling front and back-of-house operations to managing guest expectations, the challenges abound. Luckily, hotel restaurant POS integration can help. These specialized point-of-sale systems integrate with hotel management software to improve operational efficiency, enhance the guest experience, and simplify restaurant tasks.
In this guide, we’ll explain how hotel restaurant POS systems work, their benefits, and how to find the best system for your hotel’s unique needs. The POS Exchange’s solutions can help you achieve your operational goals and find the perfect hotel restaurant POS system for your property. Our tools streamline the research process and connect you with top-rated hotel restaurant POS systems to improve your restaurant operations.
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A hotel restaurant POS (Point of Sale) system is a tool that allows your hotel to accept payments. There are three essential components to today's POS systems:
There are a couple of different parts of POS hardware. A card terminal is needed to accept credit cards, debit cards, and mobile wallet payments. Other tools include a receipt printer, cash drawer, and scanner to ring up items with barcodes.
the software on your POS allows you to choose from a database of items to charge. Ring up a sale, view customer transaction records, manage inventory, and get analytics and reporting through a POS platform.
After each sale, the POS sends money from the guest's account to your hotel's linked bank account. A hotel POS is NOT a Booking Engine or Property Management System. A point of sale (POS) system, specifically hotel management, is vital in the hospitality industry. It streamlines transactions, inventory management, and pricing within revenue-generating outlets like hotel restaurants and bars. It integrates with a property management system (PMS) to ensure real-time updates and efficient guest experiences.
The POS software is user-friendly, often cloud-based, and compatible with various devices like iPads, mobile apps, and self-service kiosks. It supports payment processing, loyalty programs, and back-office functionalities. The system includes touch screens, barcode scanners, receipt printers, and offline capabilities. Hoteliers can enhance their operations with add-ons and upgrades to meet specific business needs, such as online ordering, self-ordering, and contactless payments.
Overall, a hotel POS system is crucial in enhancing the guest experience, optimizing hotel operations, and boosting revenue in the hospitality business. A hotel's point of sale (POS) system, a booking engine, and a property management system (PMS) are all crucial components of hotel operations. Still, they serve different functions and focus on various aspects of the hotel management process.
A point-of-sale system is primarily used for processing and managing transactions within a hotel's various revenue-generating outlets, such as restaurants, bars, gift shops, spa facilities, and other amenities. It acts as a centralized platform to handle sales and payment transactions efficiently.
A POS system allows hotel staff to process orders, generate invoices, and manage payments for products and services offered within the hotel.
It tracks inventory levels, monitors stock movement, and alerts when supplies need replenishment.
POS systems generate detailed reports on sales, revenue, and inventory, providing valuable insights to analyze business performance. The primary purpose of a POS system is to facilitate smooth and accurate transactions within the hotel's various outlets, ensuring efficient revenue management.
A booking engine is an online reservation system that enables guests to directly book accommodations and services offered by the hotel through the hotel's website or other online distribution channels. It is an interface between guests and the hotel, providing real-time availability and pricing information.
It displays up-to-date information on room availability, rates, and promotions, allowing guests to make reservations based on their preferences.
The booking engine enables guests to make bookings, select room types, and provide payment details securely.
It integrates with various online travel agencies (OTAs) and global distribution systems (GDS), ensuring that inventory and rates are synchronized across multiple platforms. The primary purpose of a booking engine is to streamline the reservation process, increase direct bookings, and maximize revenue by providing an easy and convenient way for guests to book hotel accommodations.
A property management system is the central hub for managing all hotel operations. It is designed to automate and streamline daily tasks related to guest management, reservations, room assignments, billing, and other operational processes.
It stores guest profiles, maintains guest history, and facilitates personalized guest services.
The PMS handles all aspects of reservations, including bookings, modifications, and cancellations.
It manages check-in and check-out processes, assigns rooms, and handles guest requests.
The PMS tracks guest charges, generates invoices, and interfaces with financial systems.
PMS systems provide detailed reports on occupancy, revenue, guest preferences, and other key metrics. The primary purpose of a PMS is to centralize and automate hotel operations, streamline guest services, and optimize efficiency and guest satisfaction.
While a point of sale (POS) system focuses on managing transactions within the hotel's revenue-generating outlets, a booking engine facilitates direct online reservations, and a property management system (PMS) oversees various aspects of hotel operations, including guest management, reservations, and front desk operations. These systems enhance a hotel's overall efficiency and guest experience.
If you don’t have a POS system at your hotel, you’re missing out on the opportunity to capture more sales, help your team run efficiently, and improve guest satisfaction. Here are a few key benefits of implementing a POS system at your property. Accept all payment options. Research shows that only 17% of global card payments will be made using cash by 2022. The pandemic has caused a sharp upswing in the adoption of contactless payment and mobile wallets. Your guests expect to be able to pay using whatever method they prefer:
EMV chip, Apple Pay, gift card, or any other digital wallet option. A POS with fully integrated credit card processing allows you to accept any form of payment. It’s a win-win: your property never misses a sale, and your customer can check out conveniently using their preferred payment method. Improve your guest loyalty program. Many POS systems allow you to gather and organize guest information more effectively.
Transaction records are stored in a database that tells you what a guest purchased, their contact information when they last interacted with your hotel, and any other pertinent details you can use for marketing purposes. Go beyond basic sales data and integrate your POS with your hotel CRM email marketing and different platforms to get a complete picture of a guest’s preferences and customer insights.
Managing a lobby shop or cutting down on restaurant waste? Instead of dedicating staff time to ordering inventory, keeping an eye on the supplies, and monitoring sales, your hotel POS system can be set up to manage inventory for you. Use the tool in your on-site restaurant to see when supplies are low and set up alerts when it’s time to put in a re-order. “Manually reconciling inventory across all the places you sell and store your products is tedious and prone to human error. When your inventory syncs automatically, you know exactly how much stock you have and where it is at any given time,” explained Shopify. “It’s also easy to understand how well each product is selling and create purchase orders based on performance and updated stock levels.”
Track and analyze your sales. Unlike a simple cash register, a POS system can tell you how your hotel is financially doing in real-time. Many POS systems are equipped to provide daily reports on your sales, customer behaviors, and even employee productivity. The same terminal you use to process credit cards can also become the hub for employees to clock in and out. Analyze how your sales compare to the previous month, quarter, or same time last year.
POS systems can do more than just process transactions. They integrate with your existing hotel technology to help your property run smoothly. Look for a POS that has these features. POS Hardware The terminal and other equipment that make up your point-of-sale can be as small as a dongle that attaches to a phone or iPad or as big as a computer screen.
Think about where you are using your point-of-sale if you wish to add a POS system to your room service team to allow guests to pay when their order is delivered to their door, a mobile POS might be the best option. A terminal like the Clover Station or Square Register might be better if you want something to use in your restaurant.
Retail POS systems need a barcode scanner where hotel and F&B outlets may not.
All POS systems must include a card reader to accept major credit cards. POS Software Each POS provider offers a platform to run your hotel’s sales and operations. Look for a cloud-based system that allows the provider to send updates through without any lag time or effort needed from your team. Other software features to look for include:
Does the software have robust and actionable analytics?
is the tool PCI DSS compliant, and can it accept EMV?
can the POS speak to other software in your hotel technology stack? Does it have the right payment processor integrations? Automation: can the POS platform be set up to save your team time?
Can the software be set up to meet your hotel’s needs? Some tools, like Clover, offer a host of third-party apps that you can add to make your POS even more powerful.
These apps configure your POS for whatever aspect of your hotel you’re trying to improve. For instance, the employee schedule can be run through the Homebase app. The KitchenDisplay app fires orders to the kitchen and organizes tickets to reduce errors and help your team serve guests efficiently. Gusto’s Payroll app automates your payroll and removes federal, state, and local payroll taxes to reduce admin and human error. A POS can do many things beyond simply accepting payments and tracking sales.
Toast is the best hotel POS because it can handle many complex operations. Advanced reservation tools like that allow owners to control flow, block reservations, and view cost/profit management reports built directly into the platform. We also found that features like automatic tip sharing and mobile ordering enabled us to manage the complicated requests that come with hotel ownership. Another bright spot for Toast is its excellent customer engagement functionality, allowing for an additional layer of marketing.
We could easily create loyalty programs with set spending and point systems. With loyal customers more likely to stay at hotels for longer and increase spending, strong customer loyalty tools like Toast’s should be a top priority for hoteliers. Toast was also relatively easy to use, primarily thanks to the in-depth tutorial that walked us through the setup process step by step.
We found the entire back-end experience intuitive, so beginners should feel comfortable adapting to Toast at your hotel. The system also has a helpful search functionality, which helps our testers locate features quickly without spending much time figuring it out themselves. This gives Toast’s user experience a leg up over Square, as the POS does not currently offer this capability.
Toast pricing Toast does have a free plan, although, for hotels, it might be too limited, notably needing access to the team management features that allow for scheduling and tip sharing. Luckily, the $69 per month plan isn’t expensive, with transaction fees at 3.5% + $0.15.
For a good reason, the square is one of the biggest names in the POS industry. The point of sale is feature-rich and highly cost-effective, making it perfect for smaller lodgings like inns, B&Bs, hostels, and motels that want to grow into larger businesses. Our research suggests it’s the most potent system for retail businesses and restaurants and the best POS for bars, which is a pretty impressive feat. But this reasonable price tag doesn’t mean Square won’t meet the needs of hotels. For instance, the POS offers lots of hotel-friendly features like “Square Appointments”, which lets users manage bookings and take payments for services.
Square’s hardware is also, in our opinion, some of the sleekest in the industry. First impressions matter – an ancient-looking POS terminal can make even the most stylish reception desks look dated, and Square is the only provider to keep up with Clover regarding aesthetics. When we tested Square out, we found it took quite a long time to search for specific features, like advanced payment splitting tools. This wasn’t helped because there wasn’t a search bar to access features quickly.
Despite this, some functions, like adding items to a tab and customizing floor plans, were straightforward, suggesting that the POS would be valid for hotels with accompanying cafes or bars. Moreover, we didn’t think Square’s features were very versatile, making it less suitable for hotels that require specific payment and ordering functions. However, with the system producing one of the best app stores we’ve reviewed and Square’s support team available 24/7, we reckon this setback can be easily overlooked.
A significant reason Square deserves these accolades is because of its affordability. Square offers a generous free plan with all the features smaller hotels need to get started, like basic stock tracking and sales reporting.
Square’s paid POS pricing plans start at $60 per month, and its transaction fees, which we list below, aren’t as low as other systems.
Making a good impression can go a long way when it comes to hotels. With Clover, you get some of the highest quality, professional hardware to ensure your team isn’t fumbling over a display in front of their guests. For one, Clover offers POS terminals that operate with LTE connectivity. That means that even if your Wi-Fi goes out for some reason, you’ll still be able to get your guests checked in and out of their rooms.
On top of that, Clover offers fingerprint scanning technology for quick and easy staff logins and haptic feedback on devices to cut back on errors. All that to say, Clover is top-of-the-line when it comes to hardware. The software isn’t too shabby either, with an intuitive, straightforward interface in the backend that can provide robust analytics like stock alerts and profit tracking.
With most hotels managing multiple forms of revenue, these tools are essential for helping business owners track their lodging’s performance over time and identify areas to boost profitability. The front end is exceptionally equipped for fast-paced environments thanks to the responsive displays. One user tester in particular commended Clover for its “simple” and “modern” interface and how easy it was to gain insights from performance reports.
Unlike many options on this list, Clover doesn’t offer a free plan, but the $14.95 per month starting price for its Personal Services Starter plan – which lets you manage business processes and take payments through a web browser – isn’t too steep.
However, that price doesn’t give you access to the hardware or the advanced analytics features. You’ll need to opt for an industry-specific hardware and software bundle. Your price will depend on your needs and which hotel function you’ll use to manage it. For example, prices for its retail package start at $49.95 per month, while prices for its full-service restaurant package start at $165 per month.
Lightspeed offers one of the strongest inventory management toolkits on the market, with the POS boasting several specialist features like waste management, low stock alerts, and automatic replacements. Its loyalty program ‘Lightspeed Loyalty’ also offers advanced customer loyalty tools, like omnichannel rewards and customizable loyalty points, making it an excellent option for larger hotels and those looking to franchise.
Unlike rival Square, Lightspeed can be smoothly integrated with your hotel’s property management system, unlocking a wide range of valuable functions like online and QR code ordering, room charging features, and venue management. We didn’t find Lightspeed to be super intuitive when we tested it ourselves.
While its interface is simple and has an appealing contrasting color scheme, one of our user testers needed help to complete basic tasks like filling out customer information, while it shouldn’t take too long for staff to get to grips with this process, if you’re committed to finding a POS with a shallower learning curve, we recommend using TouchBistro or Clover. Lightspeed is a bit pricier than similar systems, too. We will take a look at its pricing next.
Lightspeed offers four paid pricing plans that start at $69 per month. No free tier is provided, and most of its features are reserved for pricier tiers, which makes it a hard value pick against more affordable options.
There’s something to be said for a POS that is easy to use, so your team uses it effectively rather than trying to figure it all out. Fortunately, in our research, TouchBistro was the easiest-to-use POS system, with an intuitive back-end and front-end experience for even the most novice users.
This ease of use primarily comes from TouchBistro’s software being entirely tablet-based, so users are already familiar with the interface in some capacity. Combining that with the flexibility for users makes it a key tool for hotels that may need to be a bit more mobile on the job.
Despite TouchBistro’s perks, one of our users had an issue managing the inventory process, specifically when adding stock to the system and modifying orders. While this probably won’t be a dealbreaker for many hotels, if your business manages complicated or extensive inventories, we’d advise using a POS with more substantial stock management features like Toast or Lightspeed.
TouchBistro pricing starts at $69 per month for the software, with add-ons available for everything from gift cards and marketing to loyalty and reservations. The pricing is standard for this kind of functionality, matching the paid plans of Lightspeed and Toast.
SpotOn is a specialized POS system designed with the needs of food and beverage businesses in mind. With hospitality features that match our front-runner Toast’s and a generous free version available to small vendors, the POS has improved by leaps and bounds since our last round of testing.
SpotOn’s labor management and staff scheduling software sets it apart from the competition, making it a top pick for busy managers with large teams. However, the POSs limited hardware options and lackluster customer support prevented it from appearing any higher on this list.
SpotOn may not be as well known as other providers on this list. Still, it offers just about every capability small to medium restaurant businesses might desire, including flexible stock management tools, stand-out ordering tools like QR ordering, and payment features like bill and tip management. SpotOn even offers reservation features that let customers add themselves to a waitlist from your website or Google profile page, enabling you to text them when their table is ready.
This makes it more ideal for full-service restaurants that rely heavily on bookings than Square and Clover, which offer relatively basic reservation features. On top of its basic package, which has more than enough capabilities for small or single-location businesses like food trucks and cafes, SpotOn offers a host of integrations to stretch its potential even further.
For example, SpotOn integrates with FreshKDS for companies that want to use a kitchen display system (KDS) to connect the front of the house to their kitchen; this gives the POS a leg up over cheaper systems like Zettle, which lack this integration. SpotOn also offers a custom integration called Teamwork, which streamlines employee processes, including staff onboarding, shift management, cost projections, payroll administration, and more. The app takes much of the work out of coordinating staff, which will be a lifesaver for managers juggling busy schedules.
SpotOn’s rock-bottom starting price and affordable processing fees will make it an excellent value for most food and beverage businesses. In fact, due to its free tier and paid packages that offer great bang for your buck, SpotOn is the best value POS system we researched, overtaking our previous frontrunner regarding value, Square.
Epos Now is a versatile POS system combining feature-rich software and professional hardware. Whether getting started with its tablet-based app or a multi-device POS terminal, Epos Now lets businesses skirt monthly fees by paying upfront and offers sophisticated inventory management features to meet the needs of most large, full-scale restaurants.
Epos Now comes into its own when it comes to inventory management. It offers about any feature a large restaurant would need, including low-stock alerts, bulk uploads, and cost vs profit management tools. For businesses with extensive, fast-moving inventories, this gives Epos Now an edge over our frontrunner, Toast, which doesn’t currently alert businesses when stocks are low. Epos Now also lets you customize your menu directly through its front end, making it easier for servers to make amendments quickly.
Epos Now doesn’t let you create multiple menu types for different services like lunch and dinner, making it less suitable for restaurants that offer more than one dining experience throughout the day. Our product research also suggests that Epos Now could make a great fit for larger restaurants or chains because it offers solid till features and excellent till-based products. It lets you create custom floor plans easily with a drag-and-drop tool, and you can customize tables by size, shape, and label.
However, unlike the other restaurant POS systems on this list, Epos Now isn’t the easiest. While testing it, we didn’t find its interface very intuitive, and the software wouldn’t respond when we tried to handle some basic processes. If usability is a high priority for you, we recommend using Toast instead, as it’s the simplest POS we tested.
Epos Now lets you start for $39 monthly for its software-only package. However, if you’re looking for an all-singing-dancing POS system, you’ll also have to shell out $299 up-front.
The first-ever iPad-based POS system, Revel, is fully scalable and straightforward to use. This cloud-based POS also has excellent offline functionality and allows you to process payments even when your internet is unavailable. Pricier than most, the Revel POS system starts at $99/month with a three-year contract.
Features include inventory management, employee management, and complete reporting and analytics. You can also add services like delivery management, online ordering, kiosks, and mobile ordering capabilities.
Payment processing is offered through Revel Advantage, but the processing rate is unavailable on the Revel Systems website. However, the TouchBistro website has a comparison table where Revel’s processing rate is 2.49% + $0.15. Revel has a dedicated Revel POS support website, FAQ section and full onboarding support.
Plus, you'll get one-on-one support anytime with a dedicated account manager. Overall, the Revel POS system is a solid choice for restaurant brands that don’t mind paying a little extra for top-of-the-line features and service.
On top of offering a cash discount program, all of Lavu’s POS software plans include team management features, inventory management tools, and Bluetooth scale plug-ins. You can add gift card capabilities and specific integrations for third-party products like QuickBooks Online, Xero, Uber Eats, and DoorDash.
Lavu used to list three separate plan offerings, but pricing is now quote-based.
Lavu's POS terminals use iPads, which can be bought through Lavu or elsewhere. Vault Pro iPad enclosures start at $190. Stands, rotation bases, receipt printers, and cash drawers are sold separately.
SumUp’s POS system can help new and existing restaurants build and expand their customer base with automated marketing tools for sending targeted promotions to customers through text and email.
While it’s true that restaurant-specific competitors generally offer some type of marketing tool, SumUp POS stands out for incorporating AI-powered text and email promotions in its highest-tier plan. The company also maintains its customer network, which businesses can tap into. Other features include online ordering, a customer directory, QuickBooks integration, and ingredient management tools.
Always put yourself in your employees ' shoes when looking for a hotel restaurant POS system. Your staff will be using the system daily, so it needs to be intuitive and easy to navigate. Before purchasing your new POS hardware, request a demo or trial to test the user interface. Look for features that will make your employees' jobs easier, like quick-access buttons for menu modifications and an organized order layout. Scrolling through user reviews of a restaurant's POS system can also help you identify potential pain points ahead of time.
The cost of a restaurant POS system can vary significantly depending on the size and needs of your business. First, consider the upfront costs of hardware and setup fees. Some POS providers let you pay off your purchase in monthly installments, which can help ease the burden on your budget. Next, estimate your monthly software subscription costs and payment processing fees to ensure they'll fit within your budget in the short and long term.
The best hotel restaurant POS systems will allow you to streamline your front-of-house operations. Look for features like tableside ordering, floor plan management, employee management, and the ability to split tables' tabs. These tools can enhance your guest experience and boost staff efficiency.
In addition to front-of-house features, your restaurant POS system must have robust back-of-house management tools. Standard back-of-house features include in-depth reporting, ingredient tracking, inventory management, and recipe costing. Since hotels operate large restaurants with many guests, having the right tools to keep your kitchen organized and efficient is vital to success.
Many restaurant POS systems allow you to connect to additional internal or third-party tools, such as online ordering apps, email marketing software, and payroll services. Accounting integrations are critical, so you don’t have to manually enter sales data into your restaurant accounting software and risk making errors.
Consider the type of support offered and the available days and times. Some restaurant POS system providers have phone, chat, and email support, implementation, and training services. If your restaurant is open late at night, choose a product that offers 24/7 live support.
The POS Exchange brings over 20 years of restaurant expertise, serving 200,000+ merchants and processing billions annually. My tailored POS system solutions help businesses speed up checkouts by 30%, implement dynamic pricing, and manage customer reviews while reducing overhead. Perfect for full-service restaurants, pizza shops, coffee houses, and multi-location enterprises.
I offer end-to-end service, from brilliant consultation and interactive demos to local installation and 24/7 support. My mobile iPad POS systems streamline operations with features like order management, bill splitting, and inventory control. With integrations for business management tools and advanced security measures, I ensure your POS system grows with your business.
Trust my expertise to help you avoid the common pitfall that affects 38% of new business owners who choose the wrong POS system. Whether you're managing a busy restaurant, a local café, or operating a multi-location business, I deliver customized POS system solutions that tell your unique business story. Book a free demo with POS exchange to learn about my customized POS system solutions today.
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