Hotel Channel Manager: A Wise Investment

What Do You Understand By Channel Management?

We cannot visualize a hotel without technology as it then becomes a human without feet, a plant without leaves…no life…

Technology providing features like the automated reservation chart, automated guest communication, innovative enquiry handling, auto payment collection tools, invoicing & billing controls, integrated point of sales, handling multiple sales channels etc. all become the backbone of the hotel and choosing a hotel reservation system is the key to providing ready made solutions.

Changing Paradigm

Technology is finding its way deep into the hospitality industry and it is evident by the adoption of various channel management software’s by hotelier across the globe. In earlier days a hotel or a guest house used to have a single or at most two channels from where they used to get bookings, most of which used to be a walk-in, a guy just getting off a train or a bus and walking down to the most approachable hotel across the road. However, the scenario has changed now a lot. The traveller is much more educated and has the medium to research, review and pre-book his itinerary. This has seen a penetration of various new channels of reservations, be it travel aggregators, evolved travel agents or brand websites not to skip the various meta search engines which provide information at the drop of a hat.

Hotel management demands constant attention and control over the tiniest things. One needs to keep in mind certain features of the hotel management software that will enable him or her to gain control over finances and the general management with the result a smooth workflow.

What to Look for in a Channel Manager?

Thus is the need of keeping the most relevant information – the rooms availability updated and synced across these channels and not missing out on any single of them, so as to be in business and make the most of it. A hotel channel manager helps in the process of the management of the online distribution of available rooms in order to sell to last room available, avoiding over-selling or under exposure thereby providing the most effective and efficient medium of reaching out to the global audience.

Choosing the best channel manager for hotels has gained its importance as it has evolved itself into a pivotal part of the overall business strategy for a hotelier.

The inventory being managed from a single dashboard implies partnering with as many as available channels be it OTA’s or others, so that available inventory gets updated automatically across these channels and the synced inventory refreshed within the fraction of a second.

Hotels become eco-friendly & avoiding it is a necessity of the day. The channel manager should have a facility where most of such communication can be shifted to a digital mode of communication thus sending all the invoices or paper trail being sent to the e-mail of the guests so as to avoid the paper wastage. Similar is the requirements of report generation which are much sought after by the owners and decision makers, thus the reporting and analytical display of key essentials should be part of the hotel software. This will enable and empower the key stake holders to take appropriate and calculated decisions thus increasing their benefits and confidence on the software.

Benefits of an Efficient Channel Manager

The key benefits of using a best channel manager are to maximize the bookings and revenues, and connecting with all possible sources which may be difficult to manage manually. So if you are still managing your property in the old fashioned manual way of managing your business, this is the time to go for that leap and be a part of the transformation.