Nowadays hoteliers are hearing a very strong idea: reactivation of tourism through technological innovation.
There are many tools you can use to be in line with this idea but today we want to tell you about the most important one: The Channel Manager.
Let’s cut to the basics: What is a Channel Manager?
The Channel Manager is a system that allows you to distribute your hotel’s rooms or apartments simultaneously among OTAs, wholesale travel agencies, metasearch engines and other platforms with information about prices and availability in real time. The Channel Manager centralizes reservations in a single extranet and guarantees sending the same information to every channel minimizing the risk of oversale.
We believe that one of the future problems to be solved will be the organization of our hotels based on online sales.
A very common situation that we noticed is that from the reception of the hotel came handling the availability charge and rates in OTAs manually.
While this task is very valuable and allows for a lot of bookings, it could be professionalized and take advantage of a lot more with a Channel Manager.
Why?
- Because the physical charging time surely only allows your hotel to be sold in 2 or 3 OTAs (the most important)
Instead with a Channel Manager you could be present in all the OTAs you want.
- Because any difference in currency, exchange rate or rates you have charged in one OTA would generate disparity in others, receiving emails with this claim.
With a Channel Manager this does not happen as you load in one place rates and availability and are distributed to all channels automatically, avoiding any difference.
- Because if you don’t update your availability manually all the time, you’re at great risk of overshooting. For example, on weekends where you are not so attentive to online sales.
With a Channel Manager you avoid oversold, as you enter availability on a single site and it is distributed to all channels automatically discounting as they enter reservations. And the opposite with cancellations.
- Because the staff of your hotel that takes care of this manual task, will not be able to physically take care of other tasks since this almost artisanal work takes a lot of time and energy.
With a Channel Manager you free them from this burden, minimize their mistakes considerably and allow them to use their time in ideas and productive tasks for your hotel. For example, to register the hotel in new OTAs, to think about promotions for specific dates, to make use of the Statistics of the Channel and thus to assemble strategies of sale addressed, etc.
Elements to consider when selecting a Channel Manager:
- Number of channels you connect to: The more OTAs your Channel Manager connects to, the more markets you’ll be reaching.
- Fast and effective support, with assistance in your language, every day of the week, at local time.
- User-friendly reporting to measure which channels produce best.
- Rate Shopper and Revenue Management Module: tools that allow you to know the rates of the competition with a view to making decisions about your own inventory, as well as to create rules through which you «automate» the application of your strategies
- Adaptability to different devices: so you can manage your inventory and view reservations in real time, from wherever you are.
- Available in all languages.
- Free trial: to find out if the Channel Manager is adaptable to your hotel and if so, short and flexible contracts.
- Integration with PMS: to have a complete solution for the operation of your hotel.
Conclusion:This is a good opportunity to rebuild your hotel’s online sales organization and incorporate technology. Having a Channel Manager will not only solve this important point but will also improve the distribution and quality of tasks of your hotel employees.
Our Channel Manager has all these tools and more. If you would like to request a free 30-day trial for your hotel, please contact us here .