Channel surfing: What to look for in a channel manager
By Alex Penadés, CMO of Avantio
A channel manager is an essential part of any property manager’s tech stack, and with good reason. There’s no way you can grow at the rate you want to without a strong connection between all your channels, supporting more bookings and better rates.
But, with so many options out there, what should you be looking for in a channel manager?
What is a channel manager?
A channel manager is a software solution that automatically updates all connected online travel agencies (OTAs) and portals whenever something changes on the listed properties, from a new booking to a cancellation, prices and payments. It serves as a central hub for managing all aspects of your property listings, ensuring consistency and accuracy across all platforms.
This automation eliminates the need for manual updates, significantly reducing the risk of errors and saving valuable time. The channel manager ensures that all information, from availability to pricing, is consistent across all platforms, providing a seamless experience for both property managers and guests.
What should you look for in a channel manager?
1. It automatically syncs new listings
Your business is growing, and it’s no use having software that can’t grow with you. When you sign a new property, your channel manager needs to import the listing from your PMS instantly and automatically update your channels, saving you time and getting the properties live ASAP. Automatic import and creation of listings reduces the risk of human error — which gets harder as your portfolio grows — and will also keep everything up to date in the future.
2. It updates calendars in real time
There’s no worse feeling than when you get a new booking and celebration turns to disappointment when you realise your property’s already booked for those dates. Real-time availability updates are essential to avoid overbookings, while keeping prices updated gives you a competitive edge and boosts bookings. The days of iCals updating once a day are long gone, thank goodness. Look for a channel manager with instant updates to make sure you don’t have to worry about overbookings any longer.
3. It allows you to connect your accounts
When you’re managing a large portfolio of properties (or if you’re hoping to scale to do so), it’s more than likely that you’re using more than one account on the OTAs. Whether listings are separated by location, ownership, demographic or something completely different, splitting listings across different accounts can provide flexibility and control over how properties are presented and marketed, enhancing overall management efficiency. So, you should look for a channel manager that allows you to synchronise with multiple accounts on Airbnb or your platform of choice.
4. It lets you set strategic booking rules
Getting bookings is about much more than filling your calendar at all costs. With specific rules around bookings that take into account factors like the season, the property, or the day of the week, you can optimise occupancy rates with your revenue as the priority. A good channel manager will have the flexibility to adapt your booking rules to your strategy by setting minimum stays, seasonal pricing, special offers and more — while never making errors on discounts that can reduce booking prices below cost. Properly managed discounts and extras can attract more bookings and bring happy guests!
5. It centralises your bookings to optimise occupancy
With all your bookings in one central system, you have better visibility over what’s booking and what’s not, allowing you to adjust prices to attract guests. An effective channel manager also helps you to finetune your channel strategy, closing channels with higher commissions at peak times to prioritise bookings from direct channels, for example. An easy-to-use dashboard is vital to see which channels are performing and adapt your strategy.
6. It helps you communicate with your guests
It can be complicated to keep up with where your guests are coming from, and the time spent logging into different channels to reply can be the difference between a happy guest and a bad review. A unified inbox means that all your messages come into one place, and you can reply from the same place. Easier, quicker and better customer service.
Choosing a channel manager is a big decision: it’s the heart of your tech stack, and so it needs to be healthy and strong to keep everything else working well. Asking the right questions when you’re shopping for a channel manager will save you pain further down the line. As with any software, your needs are specific to your business, but when you invest in a channel manager, make sure to bear these factors in mind, and the software will pay for itself.
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