Nowadays it is essential for hoteliers to know the functionality of a channel manager and how this tool gravitates over the sales strategy of his hotel. We will briefly explain what it is and what its advantages are.
Revenue Management linked to a Channel Manager
Revenue management is a term widely used in the hospitality industry to define the process through which the company (in this case the hotel or property) designs and carries out sales strategies to reach the widest possible customer audience, seeking to sell the right product to the right customer at the right time and at the best possible price. Among other factors, this is achieved by selecting the most efficient channels to market your product and by managing inventory in an agile way with dynamic rates and intelligent actions. During this process, the effects of channel management are analyzed by measuring factors such as sales volumes, market shares variations and customer satisfaction levels that acquired our product through certain channels.
What is a Channel Manager?
Breaking it down to the everyday reality of a hotel, the channel manager is a system that allows room or property simultaneous distribution between OTAs, wholesale travel agencies, Metasearch engines and other platforms with price information and real time availability, reaching the widest possible audience and minimizing risks of over sale. The Channel Manager centralizes reservations on a single extranet and sends the same information to every channel.
Benefits of having a Channel Manager
- Reservation Increase by adding the number of sale channels you want.
- Maximizes revenue because channel manager statistics will allow you to know which are the channels that generate the largest number of reservations for your hotel.
- Access to new markets (new OTAs, metasearch engines, travel agencies, GDS, etc.).
- Fewer data entry errors since only the information is typed into the channel manager and is distributed to every channel with their accurate margin.
- Time reduction by managing from a single platform and with only one step.
- Reduction of over sales and disparity because information is simultaneously sent.
Elements to consider when selecting a Channel Manager
The following elements should be considered when selecting a channel manager:
- Number of channels with which you connect: the larger the number of OTAs with which your channel manager connects the more markets you will reach.
- Technical support and training: invest in a channel manager that ensures fast and efficient support with assistance in your own language every day of the week.
- Solid and user-friendly reports: a good channel manager will allow you to obtain and measure which channels perform the best. Eventually, these types of measurements will allow you to negotiate rates with OTAS knowing which ones are your best providers or reach your hotel’s interest markets.
- Rate Shopper and Revenue Management modules: tools that allow you to know your competitor’s rates to make decisions about your own inventory as well as creating Revenue strategies rules that can be “automated” (for example, lower or raise the price if the number of rooms is X).
- Cloud base platform: so you can manage your inventory and view reservations in real time from wherever you are.
- Different languages: find a system 100% in your own language.
- Free trial: try whether the channel manager is adaptable to your hotel and if it is, short and flexible contracts.
- PMS Integration: have an all-rounder solution for your hotel’s operation.
If you are considering implementing a channel manager for your hotel please let us know through the following inquiry form; we can contact you and offer you a free trial of our system, no strings attached!
If you wish, you may also watch our informative video on our home page.