The demand for online bookings has pushed hotels to list their rooms on multiple platforms. Guests can now book accommodations from online travel agencies (OTAs), booking engines, and global distribution systems (GDS). Manually managing these bookings would be impractical and pose many risks. However, a channel manager brings all these bookings in one place so you can easily handle them.
So, let’s explore what channel managers are, their workings, key features, best practices, benefits, and software options.
What Is a Channel Manager?
A channel manager helps hotels distribute their rooms on online booking sites and manage those bookings from a centralized dashboard.
Potential guests will have different preferences regarding online room booking. Some will contact you on social media to book their rooms, while others will make direct bookings through your website.
Then, there will be people who book rooms through OTAs and other hotel booking websites.
While this provides ease for customers, it also poses risks for double bookings. If you do it manually, you might be unable to update room availability on time, and if another guest books the same room, you might have issues.
On the other hand, channel managers automatically update everything on each channel. From room availability to pricing model, they ensure real-time accuracy and reduce human error.
This does so by listing your property on reservation platforms like Booking.com. You can optimize these listings by setting the appropriate prices and offering special deals or packages.
A hotel channel manager also takes care of parity. Whatever rates you set on one channel, they automatically update it on all others.
They even send you reports about channel performance. You can judge which channel generates more revenue and replicate those on others. This way, you’ll increase revenue from each channel.
How Does a Hotel Channel Management System Work?
A hotel channel management system connects your hotel’s property management system (PMS) to various online booking platforms. The channel manager has access to all information from the listings on these websites.
However, this connection won’t be automatic. Once you can access the tool, choose the channels you want to connect to. So, choose all the channels where you’ve made a listing for your hotel.
Once you’ve made the connections, the tool will automatically access each listing. It will become a central hub for you to control everything. All you have to do is make the changes there, and they will automatically be pushed across all channels.
On the other hand, channel managers can also help you choose the most profitable booking websites based on your needs. Listing your rooms on these websites will ensure you get the most out of your property.
However, each channel has its requirements for listing rooms. A channel manager even helps you with this, ensuring you use the proper formats and pictures to list your rooms.
Once you’ve set the listings, you won’t have to keep track of reservations. Without your intervention, all new bookings will come straight to your channel management software.
6 Key Features of Hotel Channel Manager Software
Now you know what a hotel channel manager software does and how it helps you. However, you must explore its key features to truly understand its potential.
This will also help you judge which features you need and choose the appropriate tool:
- Integrations: Channel managers can integrate with almost all popular booking websites. They can also integrate with PMS and other hotel systems, such as customer relationship management (CRM) software.
- Booking engine: Apart from booking websites, this tool provides a dedicated booking engine. This allows for direct bookings, increasing transparency and revenue.
- Rate manager: Simply updating pricing isn’t enough. You must also add surcharges and taxes, apply restrictions, and offer discounts and deals. Channel management software does all this with a rate manager feature.
- Guest communications: A good channel management system also has a communication feature. Since it puts everything in one place, it also makes sense to include communications. As a result, you can reply to customer queries faster and more efficiently.
- Booking management: Taking reservations is just the start. You also need to ensure the guest has everything they need once they arrive. With a booking management feature, channel managers can help you schedule tasks like cleaning.
- Payment processing and invoicing: Online bookings make less sense when the customer has to visit your hotel to pay. To combat this, channel managers include payment processing features to help you and your customer’s experience.
4 Benefits of Using Channel Management Software in Hotels
You already know that channel management software helps you manage online bookings from multiple places from one dashboard. But how does that help your hotel?
Let’s look at four benefits of this software to understand:
- Increased market visibility: Managing multiple booking sources often discourages hotels from listing their rooms. However, the ease of a channel manager takes away this hesitation. As a result, you can appear in more than one place. New customers can reach you quite effectively, increasing your reach. Customer loyalty may also improve.
- Data-driven decisions: Since everything is in one place, generating comprehensive reports is easier. By analyzing your performance on each channel, you can make data-driven decisions about how to improve them.
- Automatic rate updates: As mentioned, channel managers automatically update room rates everywhere. This ensures your guests have the correct information, avoiding duplicates and double bookings. As a result, your guests are happier and become more loyal.
- Saving time and money: Not updating room information manually saves you time. On the other hand, error avoidance means you make more money while saving some simultaneously.
Choosing the Best Channel Manager for Your Hotel’s Needs
Earlier, you learned six key features of channel management software. While those matter when choosing the best channel manager, you must also check a few more things.
So, start by analyzing your needs. The hotel industry is quite diverse. Each business in this industry has varied needs. The features your competitor needs might have no use for your hotel. Analyzing your needs will help you judge the features you need.
Next, list the best software options that provide these features. Research these options and check their pricing models. You don’t have to make a decision yet. Just dump all the information you can find on the options you have in your list.
Moreover, look at their reviews. Check what people like the best and what they’re complaining about. At this point, you can remove the options with more bad reviews than good.
Your provider must also have good customer service. Technical products often face glitches and problems. Without the provider’s help, you might face frustration trying to solve these problems yourself.
Lastly, see if the provider offers robust security. This tool will contain sensitive information about your business and customers, so you wouldn’t want to jeopardize this information by choosing a less secure tool.
6 Best Practices To Implement a Channel Management Strategy
Investing in a channel manager is only the first step. While it will automate various tasks, you must monitor and initiate improvements.
That’s where the best practices to implement a channel management strategy come in:
- Optimize your listings: Simply listing your rooms on booking websites isn’t enough. You need to follow each website’s guidelines and optimize your listings according to them. Moreover, track the appropriate metrics and see what you can improve. That’s when you’ll maximize your property’s visibility and profits.
- Encourage direct bookings: Booking websites usually keep their cut when people make bookings through them. Plus, you have less control over booking details and guest experience. Therefore, it’s better to encourage direct bookings. You can do so by introducing incentives for direct bookings.
- Introduce appealing pricing models: Static pricing is never a good idea. You must meet customer demands with strategic engagement and offer appealing pricing to attract more bookings. You also need to include seasonal pricing structures with discounts during the holidays.
- Stay competitive: Looking at your competitors can help you set better pricing and amenities. You wouldn’t want to stray away from what’s in demand. Besides, analyzing your competitors can help you set yourself apart and attract more guests.
- Initiate employee training: Channel managers are extensive tools. While you don’t have to be too technical, you still need to understand all the ins and outs. The same applies to your employees. So, give them proper training on using the tool. Including other directions, such as guest experience, would also be a good idea.
3 of the Best Channel Managers To Consider Investing In
Even though you know the key features and how to choose the best provider, you still need a list. Starting from scratch will only overwhelm you, and you may even choose the wrong tool.
To avoid this, let’s look at three of the best channel managers you can consider investing in. While exploring these tools, we’ll discuss their key features and what makes them stand out in the market.
You can also consult the features discussed above to better judge the tools. So, let’s start!
1. Choose Sirvoy for an Easy-To-Use Software
Easy navigation is something all business owners need from their tech products. They invest in these tools to make their work easier. They shouldn’t have to spend their time learning the software.
Sirvoy solves this problem with an easy-to-use interface and excellent customer service to help with any difficulties.
Its features include a booking engine, invoicing, and payments. It also integrates with most third-party booking engines to help you distribute your property. Lastly, it can handle multiple properties if you want to add more than one location.
2. SiteMinder Gives Global Reach and Superior Connectivity
A hotel is truly successful when people from all over the world choose it as their accommodation provider. SiteMinder is a channel manager that helps you achieve this success by giving you global reach.
It integrates with more than 400 channels — something you rarely see in other tools. Apart from providing a booking engine and GDS, it also includes a hotel website builder. So, if you don’t have a website already, you won’t have to go anywhere else to build it.
3. Cloudbeds Suit All Types of Accommodation Providers
A discussion about hotel technology is rarely complete without the mention of Cloudbeds. It’s an industry leader with an intuitive interface all hoteliers love.
Moreover, it’s not just a channel manager. It also includes a PMS and booking engine to make everything accessible from one place. Reservation management, reporting and analytics, and revenue management are some of its standout features.
Additionally, its flexible nature makes it a good choice for all accommodation providers. Whether you own a small B&B or a luxury hotel, it has something for everyone.
Frequently Asked Questions About Channel Managers
Channel managers are far from simple. So, it would be a good idea to answer some frequently asked questions before we wrap up this discussion.
What is a hotel channel manager?
A hotel channel manager helps hotels manage room availability and rates. People often book rooms through multiple channels, making it hard to handle reservations.
However, channel managers centralize bookings across multiple online channels, including OTAs and booking engines. While hotel managers are worth their salary, this feature helps them manage everything from one dashboard to avoid problems.
How do hotel channel managers avoid overbookings?
Hotel channel managers avoid overbookings by updating room availability in real time. When someone books a room, the tool automatically marks it as occupied.
Other platforms will immediately know that the particular room isn’t available. As a result, it will direct new guests to other available rooms. Or if the guest wants that particular room, the tool can put them on hold.
Can I get hotel channel managers for free?
Yes, you can get hotel channel managers for free. You’ll find multiple options on the Internet for such tools.
However, this might not be a good idea, especially if you own an established hotel.__ That’s because free tools rarely have all the features you need__. Instead, you can try out the free trials of paid options and see which works best before investing.
Invest in a Channel Manager To Streamline Bookings and Maximize Revenue
Using a channel manager at your hotel removes many problems by letting you manage multiple booking channels from one place. This leaves a good impression and might also encourage other people to visit.
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