Sales channels-a tool to use.
Among the many ways to expand the circle of customers of accommodation services, one of the most effective, by right, is considered to be competent cooperation of a hotel object with various sales channels . Therefore, against the background of the constant attempt of hotels to increase the share of their own direct sales, it is impossible to ignore such a direction of income as travel agencies and booking services.
As a rule, posting information about a point of accommodation, in particular about the availability of available seats in its number of rooms, on the sites of popular OTAs, becomes the key to increasing room reservations, due to a significant increase in the number of target audiences.
However, the result will only be achieved if the information provided by the hotel on the websites of sales channels is always up-to-date and exclusively true. Otherwise, the effect may become negative, spoiling the reputation of the placement point and leveling customer loyalty.
An employee or hotel manager who works with OTA through a personal virtual cabinet has an insane responsibility, constantly and carefully posting updates on partner booking resources. Given the specifics of frequent changes in the state of the room stock and the presence of more than one sales channel in hotels, the accommodation business constantly faces a number of problems:
* – the need to work separately with each of the “offices” of the channels involved, which takes a lot of time;
* – a long-term process of” manual placement ” of data, which exposes potential guests to incorrect, outdated information, in particular, regarding the state of the room stock;
* – high risk of an employee making an accidental mistake;
* – increased cases of overbooking and booking at inappropriate price lists, resulting in financial losses;
* – increasing the number of conflict situations with a gradual loss of customer trust and loyalty.
The constant need, every time, to go to the personal “cabinet” of each channel to update the state of the room stock, change quotas or conditions and adjust tariffs, causes the risk of errors and useless waste of time. Well, maintaining a separate team of employees in the amount necessary for the smooth functioning of the department simply does not make any economic sense.
The solution to this issue will be to automate such a section of work with the help of a channel manager.
“Smart software “with a lot of advantages.
Channel manager is a specialized software that can almost” independently ” update hotel information about room availability , monitor and manage rates. This software is easily integrated into the hotel management system, together with the booking module, offering to evaluate the advantages of a high-tech approach to work.
One “cabinet” for all sales channels.
It is known that the more sales channels there are, the more likely the successful and timely sale of goods or services is. Even if your hotel has hundreds of channels for selling services, thanks to the channel manager, you will only need to upload rates and the number of available rooms once, in the personal account of the management system.
The information will be instantly provided to all channels “connected” to the hotel, without the risk of mistakes that the “human factor”is capable of.
Work with the required number of channels to attract more guests.
Hoteliers always monitor the ratings of OTA and other channels, often choosing additional options for sales channels that are popular in certain regions. The number of channels is important because it allows you to reach more potential customers.
With the channel manager, you can reach different types of guests, attracting both tourists from other regions and local travelers, even being placed in the resources of those OTA where competitors sell their services.
Some similar software (for example, OtelMS ‘ Channel Manager) has no restrictions on the number of sales channels used at all, allowing you to simultaneously manage all enabled OTAs.
Get rid of the overbooking problem.
It is known that one of the main reasons for the appearance of situations with over-booking is the erroneous distribution of available rooms, when the data on OTA sites do not coincide with the data of the official hotel resource.
When a certain number is booked on one of the sales channels, the number of available rooms will change automatically in other sources, thanks to the control of the channel manager, which transmits data within 3 to 7 seconds.
Start analyzing booking statistics.
The channel manager is able to collect room booking statistics, helping you track the effectiveness of online sales. Such a report in OtelMS Channel Manager is available to all users of the channel manager in their personal account in the system. You will be presented with booking statistics from all channels, including the official website of the hotel and meta search data, which can be uploaded in Excel format.
Now it will be easier for you to find the “weak link”, excluding those sales channels that work unproductive, or increasing the budget for those that attract more guests.
Experience true occupational safety with professional software.
Offering a wide range of high-tech products, including for the placement business, the modern market also puts low-quality goods at risk. When investing in automating your hotel business, you should not skimp on quality and reliability.
Real professional and really effective software can only be offered to you by professionals. Therefore, you should take the time to find a developer with a solid reputation and a quality product. OtelMS and other recognized brands assure, for example, that their channel managers exchange data in accordance with high international security standards, guaranteeing reliable protection of information during its transmission.
