What is the best POS available for restaurants?

The payment system in the hospitality industry must meet special requirements, in particular, to manage invoices and serve customers efficiently. A point-of-sale terminal is one of the best options, but which is the best POS for the hospitality industry? Read on to find out the details!

What is a POS and what is it for?

A POS is an electronic device whose purpose is to save time in the processing of orders, they exist for many sectors, including the hospitality industry.

POS is the acronym for Point of Sale Terminal and is a device whose purpose is the management of orders, their reception, printing of the associated tickets and other extra functions such as stock control, employee clocking-in, etc.

This is an effective tool for offering optimised services or products to consumers. Its main objective is to turn the payment process into a simple, quick and above all secure action.

Thanks to the POS, the flow of customers is streamlined and we get rid of the endless queues to pay; as its system saves time for both customers and merchants. What it mainly enables is:

Integrate all the customer's products or services into a single receipt.
Print payment receipts.
Calculate the total amount of invoices automatically.

Receive electronic payments via bank cards of different types.

In reality, these are just some of the basic actions. Some POS models have a direct connection to the business software so that staff can know in real time which products are available and which are about to run out. The POS allows automation of what years ago had to be done manually.

Uses of the POS in the hospitality industry

With this device, customer service and administrative procedures are significantly simplified.

By including a POS in your hospitality business, employees can enter the order directly from the customer's table (using a mobile POS). This order is sent to the corresponding staff via internet or bluetooth. In case you haven't noticed, this process saves the time of the employee who no longer has to make routes from one place to another in our business to serve the customers, which also allows him to concentrate on his other tasks.

For payment, everything becomes easier. With a mobile POS it is not even necessary for the customer to approach the cash register. It is just a matter of the staff taking the device to the table, entering the bank card details and touching the corresponding buttons to process the payment and finally print the receipt. In this process the card reader will do the heavy lifting and there are almost no restrictions because most models accept credit and debit cards of almost any type.

In addition, the waiter can also create receipts in case of order cancellation, send invoices to customers, combine tables or reprocess an order if necessary.

Advantages of POS in the hospitality industry

1. Ease of use

A POS terminal is a modern device equipped with innovative technology such as touch screens and most models feature a user-friendly design.

The software they come with is usually high-performance and thanks to the very short page load time, the information you need and the payment processing is done at a very high speed.

In addition to this, the intuitive nature of its user interface, saves time and money on lengthy training periods for staff, as with a few basic instructions any employee will be able to operate the POS without difficulty.

All of the above is a significant advantage because customers love speed, which increases the productive efficiency of your business.

2. Accounting

Many merchants ignore the fact that the POS forms the basis for an accurate accounting system, as the business transactions that take place in the business are recorded in your system. In fact, for fiscal or tax purposes, advisors can import accounting documents directly from the POS interface.

In addition, owners benefit because they have real statistics on which products customers consume the most.

3. Loyalty

Customers liking your services and attention will make them come back and above all recommend you to others.

This is especially important in the hospitality industry because a large part of the turnover is due to regular customers.

Achieving customer loyalty with a POS requires minimal effort, as the device's software creates a database with certain information (such as purchase history) of regular customers. This makes it easy to identify their preferences and provide personalised service.

4. Administrative management

Administrators can do their work without having to be present in the business to do so, all directly from the cloud.

This is achieved because the TPV generates real-time reports on every single transaction. In addition, they can also manage menu changes in restaurants as well as price changes or discount options.

What is the best POS for hospitality?

A general answer to this question is very complicated, because it all depends on the requirements of each business.

Basically the POS system should have two main objectives: saving time and enabling collections, but the latter should be better than the old cash registers do.

However, there are so many types on the market that defining just one as the best would be impossible without making mistakes, mainly because not all businesses are the same or have the same needs. That is to say that the POS terminal you need may not be the same as the one your competitors have across the street.

For this reason, when choosing a hospitality POS system, the only thing we can recommend is to pay attention to certain factors to determine whether or not it is right for your business. These factors depend directly on the size of your business and the options it offers to customers, so the power of choice only lies in the correct definition of these needs.

What to look for in a hotel and restaurant POS?

Because of the unique needs of the hospitality industry, you need a POS with more than the standard functionality to do the job efficiently. Ideally, the device combines software efficiency with practicality of use, as well as optimal administrative properties, so that it can be able to:

Enable expand self-service options for customers, from the front desk, until they leave the hotel or restaurant.
Include offers, promotions or discounts in the different booking services.
Optimise staff performance and eliminate any inefficiencies to improve customer quality.
Provide the opportunity for customers with other means of payment (foreign bank cards) to pay their bills without inconvenience.

All these objectives should be the fundamentals when integrating a POS in our hospitality business, as they are the right way to save and earn more money. But in order to achieve them, the POS system you buy must meet the following criteria.

1. Integration with other systems

The POS that every hotel or restaurant needs is one that serves as an all-in-one solution, i.e. one that unifies the entire business system in a single, easy-to-manage piece.

The importance of this lies in the fact that the more fragmented the business is, the more effort is needed to make it work properly, and the more time must be invested and more must be spent on staff training.

When a POS is integrated into the business, your software should not be limited to simply processing card payments. Ideally, it should be able to integrate different management to simplify administrative tasks.

On the other hand, it should be noted that your business will probably not serve only one customer and transactions are likely to be made at different points in the establishment. This means that it will be necessary to have different terminals, but to avoid complications, the most viable alternative is to obtain integrated cloud-based software that unifies all these transactions.

2. Mobility

The customer wants to have a quick and easy experience, in the hospitality industry this can be achieved with mobile POS terminals that can take employees from one place to another within the establishment.

Some models allow integration with smartphones and through a mobile application the reservation system, stock control, bar purchases, restaurant orders, among others, can be managed. A mobile POS is the first step towards a more stable sales and service infrastructure.

3. Data security

This is a point that cannot be overlooked when choosing a POS terminal, not only for hospitality, but for any type of business.

Transactions made with a POS should be carried out without the contact of third parties, even more so when the authorisation form for the allocation of credit card charges is eliminated.

Let's remember that customers interacting with our business feel more confident when their sensitive information does not pass through many hands, one of which may be the wrong one.

4. Reporting and analysis

The nightly audit at the end of each day should be a thing of the past, as accounting can be done with the reports and analysis generated by the POS. For this reason, the monitoring system must be powerful and deliver accurate results.

Conclusions

Our tips, are by no means a rule of thumb for choosing a hospitality POS system, however they are some of the key factors that distinguish a good purchase from a bad one.

It should never be overlooked that this is a decision that will affect the customer experience, so if you make it at an extreme that is negative, this will be reflected at the end of the day in the financial productivity of the business.

You can take a look at our website Bliscop if you are looking for a POS Software for your hospitality business!