A channel manager is an advanced and powerful hospitality software, which redefines the way hotels control their online availability. It allows properties to easily manage their inventory and rates across several online booking sites at the same time. This is an extremely powerful tool that will revolutionize distribution management and make it a must have for hotels of all sizes due to the time, money & effort saved. This process automation means channel manager hotel can not only operate more effectively, almost as one man teams, but also maximize revenue generation. With these benefits it becomes imperative for every hotelier to learn to assess the multiple facets of technology-enabled solutions.

Simplifying Hotel Distribution

A channel manager allows for the management and administration of rates and availability of rooms on various OTAs and booking sites directly from the hotel. Traditionally, hotels have to update their rate and availability individually on each of the channels that they are connected to; with the help of rate and capacity management in real-time hotels can make the changes on all the channels they are connected with from a single interface. This checks the competitiveness of rates, reduces the possibilities of overbooking and allows hotels to effectively adapt their allotments with the view of boosting direct bookings.

Further, in the channel managers, there are options for bid management that enable hotels to set the minimum rate that should be used by the OTA and even in the cases where there is bidding between the sites, the rate of the room doesn’t fall below the hotel’s set minimum. Through automation, hotels are relieved of the burden of rate and inventory updates across multiple selling platforms. With help of channel managers, hotels obtain increased freedom in the field of revenue management, receiving real-time data on rates and availability.

Expanded Distribution Reach

Channel managers help the hotels to diversify their supply chain network whereby they are provided with a single point of access to connect with hundreds of OTAs and booking sites. While in the traditional approach, the connections between the travel site and the chain of associated properties are made individually, channel manager provides a two-way interface for inventory management.

Increased channel in turn access to increased customer base and high traffic to the hotel’s website. When a hotel chain aims at selling directly to the cheery surfer on Expedia or directly to the corporate buyer on CWT, channel integration enables hotels to simply put themselves up for sale on the proper sites to get the right traffic and revenues. Automation also minimizes the challenges which are associated with the manual process of managing distribution.

Better Operational Efficiency

Another aspect is that channel managers make a hotel operate more efficiently as far as reservations are concerned because they are managed by one department. Integration of the bookings from multiple channels into the hotel’s property management system is made possible by two way channel connections as opposed to having multiple individual connections for each of the channels.

It gives hotels a single look at all the bookings to help in managing the hotels more effectively. It also reduces the possibility of having overbookings and cancellations that are mainly caused by distribution through several outlets. The role of channel manager, in fact, is to act as an all-in-one hospitality solution, which helps save a great deal of time on hotel’s manual work in online distribution.

Increased Direct Bookings

They allow hotels to optimize the targeted marketing of specific channels and become more profitable through direct bookings. Hotel chains can develop targeted marketing campaigns and unique package pricing for guests to encourage bookings through its websites.

As for the promotion of new rates or special offers, channel managers will guarantee that these new rates will be embedded only on the hotel’s own booking engine platform, while the prices on OTAs remain unchanged. This parity control increases guest’s booking directly rather than with third parties or intermediaries. Direct sale of accommodations results in more revenues and lesser expenses on distribution for hotels.

Additionally, channel managers allow hotels to execute advanced yield management strategies. Real-time demand-driven pricing over any distribution channel helps the hotel to adjust rates and availability accordingly though keep 100% control of their property. This dynamic methodology enables you to take rapid action on market change, special events, or unintended demand fluctuations. What is more, by integrating with customer relationship management (CRM) systems hotels can customize offers and build reward programmes to increase the number of direct bookings as well as strengthen long-term guest relations.

Comprehensive Business Intelligence

The ability to provide a channel manager with comprehensive reporting and analytics capabilities is amongst the biggest benefits channel managers have to bring to hotels. Central dashboard offers a richer set of real-time performance indicators from various online platforms to improve distribution choices.

Hotels could know which platform is more rewarding in terms of the revenues or traffic and adjust their channel breakdowns. A detailed dataset also enables the hotels to understand booking trends, customers’ preference, and even requirements for revenue generation at different times of the year. Concisely speaking, business intelligence or BI derived from channel analytics enables better or superior distribution strategies.

In addition, hotels can easily spot when their property is largely being booked and scheduled for check-ins so they will be able to adjust pricing strategies dynamically. Channel managers can also offer competitive pricing intelligence, allowing hotels to remain competitive in the market. By utilizing this data, hotels are able to drive key decisions on inventory placement and distribution strategies; rates (and discounts); establishment of offers for different channels – all leading to potential revenue uplifts or operational savings.

Conclusion

Channel managers, integrated with the hotel management system, enable the hotel industry to enhance the control of online sales channels, optimize business processes, and base the decision-making process on performance analytics, contributing to revenue generation and improved profitability. As centralized and automated tools for multi-channel inventory and reservations, coupled with integrated business intelligence reporting features, channel managers offer considerable benefits.