Fantastic customer support drives feature rich PMS

Pros

The hospitality industry is about people - connecting people, servicing people, and other various interactions. Having a key software vendor that is also about people is invaluable. The support staff at Maestro are what sets them apart from their competition - the Canadian hospitality is on full display here.

Cons

As is common with PMS suites, the interface is a bit dated in its look. The HTML version is a bit more polished however.

Used it for 7 years

I'll have to admit that in 9 years working in hotels that I've only used 2 PMS programs. Of the two, I strongly preferred Maestro. I've used Maestro as a front desk agent, night auditor, front office manager, and general manager. Once past the learning curve, and with repeated use, you can fly through the program quicker than the computer can refresh... at least I could :)

Pros

Once you get past the learning curve, it's very easy to use and move quickly through the program. It is a great program for all aspects of managing hotel be it inventory and rate management, guest management, reservations, sales, accounting. I'm sure in 7 years I've used it, I didn't get to use every function since there was just so much. What I liked most was that it is quick and easy to access a lot of information (guest, company, or group info or history / room availability and pricing / accounting and sales figures). This was very helpful since easy flow of information is vital to a hotel running smoothly. When loading rates, I particularly liked that I could set automatic rate adjustments base on parameters such as dates, day of the week, occupancy, room type, or a combination of any of the aforementioned. This automation meant that if sudden inventory changes occurred on the rare occasion that I was not working, the rates would increase or decrease to achieve the best average daily rate and occupancy. Managing inventory was very easy with Maestro. Even with 9 different room types, I could use various reports to see overall occupancy, occupancy by room types, and also by specific rooms. I could go on. It is a very solid PMS program and I would use it again.

Cons

The only real dislike that I had with this program was the learning curve. Because the particular Maestro PMS we used was easier to use without using a computer mouse, it was essential to learn the mnemonics (ALT- letter combo) of every function. I still remember that to get to reservations was ALT-I-R. This was was complicated by the fact that sometimes the ALT-letter combo varied between different tasks even though they were similar tasks. The best way to explain is an example: In a guest reservation, to access notes I would key in ALT-I-N, in a group reservation, I would have to key in ALT-I-T.

Maestro PMS

Pros

I like that you can put events in and track bookings. You can make payments and keep record of events and rooms booking.

Cons

The program is not user friendly from a hotel stand point. To check in the employees have so many steps in order to get the guest checked in. The reports are not easy to pull and use. when you call support the person is not always nice and helpful.

Maestro Review

Over all, we like using Maestro PMS.

Pros

Transaction details, Customer Support, Auditing Reports

Cons

Unfortunately, we are still waiting on Tax reporting for our 1099's / 1042s annual tax reporting. Being in the US, we require both. We've requested the function over 3 years ago and it is still on the back burner. For US Clients-this is a BIG CON

Top Notch System and Service

Pros

The software works as promoted with many options to fit clients needs. What I am most impressed is the level of support we receive and the speed in which we receive support. From daily tech questions to new technology upgrades, the Maestro team is always quick to respond and have the desire to provide solutions.

Cons

Group package rate setup seems to be very complex and difficult to wrap me head around, will continue to study and ask questions.