Running a hotel or vacation rental these days? You’re probably juggling a bunch of booking sites—like Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia, and more. Travelers live on those platforms, so you can’t afford to miss out.
That’s where a strong channel manager steps in. It’s not just a fancy connection tool. It keeps listings in sync, reduces double bookings, saves time, and even helps increase revenue.
In this blog, we’ll break down the top 10 features to look for in a hotel channel manager—taking some cues from how Aiosell does it right.
1. Easy-to-Use Interface
Your staff shouldn’t need a manual the size of a brick to change a room rate. The system should be so clear, anyone can jump in and start using it. A clean, simple dashboard helps cut down on mistakes and keeps things moving fast.
In Aiosell’s case, the system is built to be straightforward. Rates for one or many properties can be updated in just a few steps. Simple tools like this make daily tasks smoother for everyone.
2. Connectivity with Multiple OTAs
Connecting to more platforms means reaching more travelers. A strong channel manager should link up with a wide range of OTAs like Booking.com and Expedia, and smaller or regional sites like Hostelworld. The broader the reach, the better the chances of filling rooms.
Aiosell, for example, connects with over 150 OTAs, including vacation rental sites. That kind of range opens the door to all types of guests, from backpackers to families to business travelers.
3. Instant Updates
When updates lag, trouble shows up—double bookings, wrong prices, unhappy guests. A solid channel manager should sync everything with real-time updates of rates, inventory, and reservations across all platforms. Aiosell handles this fast, pushing updates in under 30 seconds to keep info spot-on.
4. Guest Messaging and Review Management
Current channel managers do more than just handle bookings. Strong channel managers let staff to receive and send guest messages and manage guest reviews from OTAs. No need to hop between sites. Everything’s in one spot, making it easier to reply fast and keep guests happy.
5. OTA Commission Calculations
Understanding distribution costs is vital. A channel manager should track commissions charged by OTAs to help hoteliers calculate the true profitability of each channel. Aiosell includes this feature, providing transparency on expenses and helping owners optimize channel strategies.
6. Content Score & OTA Management
OTA content (photos, descriptions, room/rate details) significantly impacts visibility. The best systems offer a content score or insights to improve listings. Aiosell helps hoteliers manage OTA content, promotions, and visibility directly from the channel manager interface.
7. Stop Sell Functionality:
Automatically stop selling rooms on specific dates when inventory is low to avoid overbookings. This ensure that the last available inventory can be sold at the highest prices without commission costs.
8. Multiple Listing Connectivity:
Particularly useful for vacation rentals and hostels where one property may be listed multiple times on different OTAs (e.g., separate Airbnb listings). It is often required that multiple listings should be visible to host in single login, but they are connected to different listings in OTAs. It is important that channel manager should be able to push rates / inventory to multiple listings and get bookings into same property account.
9. Enhanced Analytics & Reporting:
The data shows what’s really going on. A good channel manager keeps an eye on everything, like who’s booking, where they’re coming from, how full the place is, which rooms make money, and how much goes to commissions. Daily reports and trend updates help spot changes early. With the numbers laid out plain and simple, it’s easier to adjust, plan ahead, and bring in more cash.
10. Flexibility Across Property Types
A versatile channel manager should not only work for hotels but also for vacation rentals, serviced apartments, and hostels. Aiosell is designed with this flexibility, making it suitable for diverse accommodation providers.
Conclusion
A channel manager isn’t just a middleman for bookings. It ties together everything—from running operations to talking to guests.
A good system like Aiosell Channel Manager goes more than the basics, offering an all-in-one cloud-based solution that helps hotels, vacation rentals, and hostels maximize revenues while reducing effort and errors.
