As more tourists choose to make their reservations online, particularly through online booking platforms like Booking.com and Expedia, a channel manager will make it easier for you to navigate the crowded market while simultaneously increasing occupancy and income. This blog will present you with a comprehensive overview of hotel channel managers, covering definitions, applications, advantages, suppliers, and more.
Learn everything there is to know about Channel Managers in this guide for hoteliers and hospitality workers, including how they operate and what makes software ideal for your company.
A Channel Manager: What Is It?
To reduce the possibility of double bookings, your hotel can list room inventory on all linked booking channels simultaneously using a channel manager.
The channel manager will immediately update availability in real-time across all websites when a reservation is made, including on a direct booking website. When a room is closed to the public or when hotel inventory is changed in bulk, this real-time automation also takes place.
What Does the Term “Channel Management” Mean?
Channel management, to put it simply, is the process of controlling the channels you decide to sell your goods on, analyzing the best-performing channels, and optimizing your relationships to increase sales for your company.
It is the procedure you will use to sell your inventory through global online distribution channels. OTAs (Expedia), retail travel agencies, metasearch engines (Google), global distribution systems (GDS), and direct channels (your website and social media sites) are a few examples of these channels.
What is the Role of a Channel Manager?
To put it simply, a Channel Manager will update the distribution data for your property across all of your connected channels in real-time. All of your linked booking websites will instantly update if you make changes to your central calendar or your nightly rate in your channel management dashboard or integrated system (PMS, CRS, etc.). Additionally, a new booking from an OTA will appear in your Channel Manager (as well as PMS/CRS), and the availability of that room will be automatically closed across all distribution channels. A cancelation has the same effect.
To put it more technically, a channel manager connects to each channel’s extranet using two-way XML synchronization. After that, it sends ARI updates to that channel and imports reservations and cancellations into your Channel Manager, PMS, and/or CRS dashboard for two-way synchronization. It’s a smooth, automatic two-way flow that keeps everything in sync and essentially removes the possibility of errors like incorrect pricing or overbookings.
Reservations or cancellations will not be imported in the event of a one-way sync. The update is quick because to sophisticated channel management links. For example, the Cloudbeds channel manager receives the average new Expedia booking in a matter of seconds.
Examples and Solutions for Channel Management
- There are innumerable examples of channel management solutions available for all kinds of hotel businesses if you’re considering making an investment.
- There is an ideal channel manager for every type of business, including tiny lodging establishments, independent hotels ranging in size from medium to large, and groups.
- Nonetheless, there are a few things you should know that will affect your choice.
Typical hotel channel management firms
When determining which channel manager would be most appropriate, your hotel’s size and layout can have an impact. For example:
- How many rooms do you have?
- How many types of rooms do you have?
- How many channels would you like to join?
- The target audience
- The other programs you currently use, such your property management system or booking engine
- Your spending limit
One of the top channel management companies in the world, SiteMinder is ideal for both large hotel chains and groups and independent hotels with 20 rooms or more.
The business is the most well-connected channel manager in the sector, with integrations with over 250 property management systems and more than 450 booking websites.
Channel Management Strategy: Hotel Best Practices
Understanding online distribution and how to collaborate with OTAs and other online channels to maximize success is essential to creating a solid channel management strategy.
OTAs are an example of an online hotel distribution channel, which is a series of middlemen a hotel room travels through before it is delivered to the visitor. Because it involves a direct sale to the traveler, your hotel website is also a channel, albeit a brief one. Passing your rooms through wholesalers, metasearch, or retail travel brokers who might employ the global distribution system (GDS) are examples of longer channels.
Further details on a few of these:
Internet-based travel agencies
Booking.com, Expedia, and Hotels.com are a few examples. Although they are among the most efficient, they are frequently the priciest channels for hotels to employ. They provide your hotel a great deal of exposure, bringing you in front of tourists who might not have otherwise discovered you.
Distributors
Hotels will sign agreements with wholesalers to purchase rooms, which they will then resell to travel agents. They are essentially a middleman as a result.
Metasearch
Travelers can compare hotel room rates from multiple online travel agencies (OTAs) and other booking sites in one location by using a metasearch engine or website. Kayak, Trivago, Tripadvisor, and Google Hotel Ads are a few well-known instances of metasearch.
Worldwide Distribution Network
A GDS serves as a global intermediary between suppliers, including hotels and other lodging establishments, and travel agents. It enables automated transactions and provides real-time product, pricing, and availability information to online booking engines and travel brokers.
It takes a lot of planning and management to start leveraging these many channels to expand your bookings and reach new customers.
You have to choose:
- Your optimal channel mix
- The number of channels you wish to use
- How to make your profile more effective
- How frequently you would like to modify your prices
- Which promotions would you like to run?
- You provide extras on your direct channels.
- How you fight off your rivals
The Top Five Channel Management Programs in the World
Profitability in the hotel sector depends on efficient internet distribution. Therefore, avoid enduring manual upgrades that overburden your employees and expose your property to duplicate reservations. Think about switching if you discover that your Channel Manager isn’t giving you enough return on your investment.
The greatest software will make your life easier and enable you to consistently meet your financial goals. Check internet rankings on sites like Hotel Tech Report, SoftwareAdvice, G2, Capterra, and others if you need assistance locating a service.
Which is the Best Channel Manager?
We’ve narrowed down the search for you to these top 5 worldwide providers:
- Cloudbeds Channel Manager: myallocator
- SiteMinder
- RateGain
- STAAH
- Omnibees
Conclusion
In the end, a channel manager is a tactical instrument that is critical to succeed in the cutthroat and quick-paced market of today. Hopefully, you now have a comprehensive knowledge of channel managers and their role thanks to this guide.
This technology, which is much more than just software, centralizes and automates the maintenance of your web listings, thereby preventing multiple reservations and guaranteeing real-time inventory accuracy. A channel manager is now a need for any company with numerous listings, from hotels to vacation rentals, as it streamlines operations, maximizes revenue, and gives you the peace of mind to concentrate on what really matters: offering your customers an exceptional experience.
FAQ
What is a channel manager?
A channel manager is responsible for designing and implementing strategies for selling products via different marketing ‘channels’, such as distributors, retailers or e-commerce platforms.
What’s 2-way sync?
2-way synchronization refers to the connection between a Channel Management software and a booking platform (OTA, GDS, metasearch, etc.) by which your availability, rates, and inventory, and often property content are kept up-to-date. It’s also how bookings and cancellations are synced between individual channels and the Channel Manager.
What’s allotment?
Allotments are blocks of pre-negotiated rooms that are bought by a third party, such as a wholesaler, tour operator, hotel consolidator, travel agent, OTA or event planner. Allotments can be managed within a partner’s extranet or via a centralized channel manager.
What is the channel manager in Amadeus?
The channel manager is a tool to help your property design its online booking offerings.
References:
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Booking.com Partner Hub – Understanding hotel online distribution.
Expedia Group – Optimizing hotel listings for maximum reach. -
SiteMinder – Hotel channel management explained.
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Cloudbeds – How a channel manager works.
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Google Hotel Ads Help – How metasearch works for hotels.
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