Channel Management Channel Manager! A very familiar software in the hospitality industry, but what is it? A channel manager is a software solution for accommodation providers such as hotels, motels and B&Bs, that allows one to sell all their rooms on all connected booking sites at the same time.

It will assist you if you are promoting your hotel rooms across various online platforms such as online travel agents and your own website, and if you are finding the task of constantly reviewing and changing your listings a nightmare, a channel manager is the best tool to adopt. In light of the above, Channel management can be defined as the process of listing and promoting your property(ies) on external booking platforms with the help of a channel manager. It also applies to how you manage the platforms on which you want to list your products, how you analyze the best-performing websites, and how you optimize your company to increase sales.

A channel manager is a piece of software that links your booking engine or PMS to online distribution channels. When a guest makes a reservation on your website or via one of your linked networks, the channel manager updates your property’s availability on all other sites and blocks the dates.

How Can Channel Management Benefit My Hotel Channel management comes with its advantages that can benefit your hotel and amongst these follows:

Increases Online Bookings With the decline of telephone and walk-in bookings and the rise of online bookings, a channel manager puts you in the best position to capitalize on this new traveller booking habit. Connect to more online outlets, where more travellers are booking their accommodations than ever before.

Increase Income by expanding the distribution networks and reducing consumer frustration by maintaining correct room availability across several websites.

Remove Manual Processes We all know that manually entering data is time-consuming and frustrating. You would be surprised how much more productive you could be if you used a channel manager to eliminate this friction. All that had to be put on hold can now be prioritized to help the company grow.

Reduce The Risk Of Overbookings You will be forced to break your inventory between channels without a channel manager, risking double bookings or failing to hit full occupancy. Because of the pooled inventory and real-time automatic availability and rate alerts, guests can only book a room that is currently open.

Improve Brand Recognition A powerful channel manager can provide unlimited two-way access to hundreds of booking platforms, allowing travellers who have never heard of you to book your house. It also increases the likelihood that OTAs will approve your listing because they know your inventory will still be correct.

These are among some of the many benefits of channel management to your property.

To learn more about channel managers and management please feel free to contact our professional Go4IT Africa Channel Management team for assistance.