[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text el_class=»bullets-visibles»]We know the importance of a Channel Manager in the professionalization of the hotel sales processes. In this article we seek to go a little further in the use of this tool. We are interested in addressing sales strategy in Revenue Management.
It is key for a Channel Manager to have Revenue tools: provide reliable data and information about reservations, rates and seasons.
But, how can a Channel Manager be useful for Revenue Management?
It can be useful because it offers:
- Statistical reports. Elementary when doing a good Revenue Management job. It is necessary to know from which countries our guests come from, through what OTAs they book, what is their average stay, how much income we get from these reservations, what is the flow of guests who book through our Booking Engine, what is the room which they book more often, which one is less booked, etc. Applying this information to sales strategy is the first step towards selling to the right audience.
- Rates with parity. OTAs demand parity to keep your hotel in a good position, among other things. Sending rates from the Channel Manager guarantees it.
- Agility to make changes. Through a Channel Manager the loading processes are performed much faster. This allows to take advantage of this saved time to carry out sales analysis and to define pricing strategies.
- Price lists. After identifying the different seasons of your property through Revenue Management, you can establish price lists, and then apply them with a single click in the period of time you choose. You can load multiple rates with codes to apply dynamically and make as many modifications as you need.
- Rate shopper. You must know how your competition sells to define your strategy. Based on what you see from the prices of others you can define those of your own hotel with more information.
- Creation of rules between rooms and rates. This tool allows you to establish relationships between rooms and rates to save loading time and minimize error. The more automated you have the whole process, the more you can devote to the definition of the strategy, implementing it in a few minutes.
- Revenue Management rules. There are Channel Managers (ours for example) that include specific rules that help maximize sales and are programmed to activate automatically following specific parameters, such as:
– Price rules. They allow to increase or decrease the price depending on the number of rooms that are available on inventory.
– Stock rules (rooms sold). They allow to apply a closing of sales to certain portals or the whole hotel according to the rooms that the hotel has sold and those that are available for sale. They can also be applied at the rate plan level.
– Sales speed rules. They allow to increase or decrease the price depending on the quantity of rooms that are sold in a certain period of time.
– Opening rules. They allow to reopen a rate that was previously closed with stop sell. It is usually used for “Last minute” rate, where you must reopen that type of rate daily. It also allows you to have some promotional rate plans closed by default and open them if necessary.
Conclusion:
It is very important – in order to achieve a correct public-oriented sale – to have a Channel Manager with Revenue Management tools. Statistics and automatic rule application can be achieved will be another step towards the professionalization of your commercial department.
Did you know that our Channel Manager includes a free Revenue Management module that allows you to use these tools and many more? Click here for more information.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]