Best Channel Manager for Hotels & Vacation Rentals
Aiosell provides a fully integrated & affordable Channel Manager software for hotels & short term rentals that provides quick and seamless integration & distribution with online travel agencies (OTAs).
- Integration with over 150 OTAs (Eg booking.com, AirBnb, Expedia..)
- Low Cost & Affordable
- Instant update of Rates, Inventory & Restrictions & Reservations
- Advanced Analytics & Reporting
- Dynamic Pricing & Revenue Management integration
- API channel manager connectivity for PMS
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Why is Aiosell the Best Hotel Channel Manager?
- Manage rates, inventory across all OTAs seamlessly with one login
- Connected to all major OTAs (including short term rental & hostel providers)
- Channel Manager seamlessly integrated with PMS
- Can update rates for multiple properties in single page (Central Reservation System)
- Included booking Engine, Google Free links & payment gateway
- Can integrate multiple vacation rental listings into single channel manager login
- Can use inbuilt Dynamic Pricing & Revenue Management System.
- Calculations of OTA commissions included
- Detailed Channel Manager Logs available for troubleshooting
- Simple API connectivity available for PMS companies
- Ability to create multiple users with permissions / privileges
- Guest messages are part of channel manager feature
- Extremely simple & quick to setup
OTA Commisions
OTA Content
OTA Messages
OTA Mappings
B Engine
Rates
Inventory
Availability / Restriction
OTA Bookings
Integration with PMS
Our Partners
What is a Channel Manager?
If you want to enjoy benefits beyond increased hotel bookings with zero efforts, then invest in a hotel channel
manager that includes:
A channel manager is a software product that connects a hospitality accommodations provider (eg: hotel or vacation rental) to online travel agencies and distribution channels to generate demand for the property.
The software helps send rates, inventory, and availability to OTAs using APIs from a common user interface and gets bookings / reservations from all online channels into a common easy to view and use platform.
This ensures that the hotel does not need to manage each OTA individually by pooling all data into a common system, and hence ensuring there are no overbookings or rate disparity.
What is the main role of Channel Manager in hotel?
Most basic functionality of a hotel channel manager are as follows:
Send room inventory and rates to all OTAs (like booking.com, expedia, agoda, Ctrip, Airbnb etc)
Pool all new, cancelled or modified reservations from all OTA platforms in real-time into a common user interface
Ability to set rates and inventory for each room type and rate plan in a hotel in a simple/ usable manner.
Provides ability to bulk update rates, inventory or restrictions for a longer period of time.
Supports several restrictions and availability parameters like stop sell, minimum and maximum length of stay, minimum & maximum advance reservation.
Provide periodic reports and analytics regarding booking data, patterns, pick-up, and source of business generation.
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What are the features of the best channel manager?
While there are many channel manager software companies available, there are few features that make the best hotel channel manager stand out from the legacy simple software systems. Legacy systems will do simple updates of rates, inventory and bookings, however the best channel manager systems like Aiosell will do the following:
Have dynamic pricing & automated pricing ability to change rates based on market demand, and competition conditions
Have 2 way seamless connectivity with Property Management System (PMS) system, so bookings do not have to entered manually by reservations team.
Channel Manager is integrated as part of Hotel Management System and All in One Hotel software, so that all data is seamlessly available for value-added analytics and superior guest experience.
Ability to measure hidden data from each OTA like commissions, guest preferences, tax details, company details like GST / VAT, etc.
Ability to send and receive messages from guests from channel manager interface.
Manage multiple hotels (chain or multi property hotels) using a common login and central reservation system
For multiple vacation rental listings, have ability to connect to separate listings on booking.com or Airbnb using one account on channel manager.
API Connectivity with Google Free Links and Google Hotel Ads so that hotel can generate direct bookings to save OTA commissions.
Consolidate reviews, ratings, and guest feedback from all OTA channels seamlessly into the channel manager software.
Manage OTA content (photos, description, room / rateplan details) along with promotions using a common platform.
Update of rates, inventory and reservations should happen instantly without any delays
Why do hotels & vacation rentals need Channel Manager?
Most hotels, resorts or vacation / short term rentals need to use a channel manager software for the following reasons:
Reduce time / effort required to manage multiple OTA channels
Avoid overbookings as all room inventory is pooled together
Maintain rate parity across all OTA platforms
Manage rate changes using automated or manual methods to increase revenues
Understand the source & segment of business generation for hotels
How do I use a channel manager to increase business for my hotel?
A hotel can use channel manager software effectively to increase business in the following manner:
Ensure rate parity is maintained across all OTAs to ensure diversification of business sources
Use Dynamic Pricing & Revenue Management System along with channel manager to maximize revenues
Increase rates during high demand periods to increase ADRs / ARR (Average Daily Rates) and reduce rates during low demand periods (to increase occupancy)
Maximize direct bookings by connecting hotel booking engine to channel manager and manage rates accordingly.
Manage OTA content, promotions, commissions effectively using channel manager
Review and respond to guest reviews from all OTA channels
Use Data Driven analytics to manage pricing and distribution strategy.
What are the most popular OTAs connected to channel manager?
Channel managers should be connected to the following OTA platforms:
Popular global hotel booking sites like booking.com, hotels.com, expedia, agoda, Ctrip, Traveloka
Vacation rentals / holiday homes portals like Airbnb, hostelworld, homestay
Metasearch portals like Google, Tripadvisor, Kayak, and Trivago
Local OTAs specific to each country / geography / continent either directly or through demand aggregation platforms like hyperguest, Bakuun, Channex, etc.
How can channel manager work with booking engine?
Please refer to the Aiosell Booking Engine page for more details.
What are rateplans in the context of hotel channel manager?
A rateplan is typically an individual unique characteristic of each room type in a hotel, based on which the rate can be differentiated. Types of rate plans are as follows:
Based on occupancy (Single, Double, Triple)
Based on Meals (Rooms Only, Breakfast included, All Meals included)
Based on Cancellation Policies (non-refundable, flexi-stay)
Based on value-added features (airport pickup, sight-seeing, tickets to concert/ museum, etc)
Each rateplan corresponds to a unique rate that is typically sent from channel manager to the OTA using API connectivity. Rateplans can be primary, or derived (which means the value of a rateplan is derived from another rateplan).
What are details of reservations that should be visible in channel manager?
Reservations that are visible in a channel manager should typically show the following details to make it easy for hotel or vacation rental to process:
Booking Details (creation time, channel, Booking ID)
Status (new / cancelled / modified)
Guest Details (Number of people, name, email, phone)
Stay date Details (Checkin, Checkout)
Room Details (room type, rateplan)
Price Details (rate, taxes, payment details)
What is difference between channel manager & revenue management system?
A channel manager software is a basic system that acts as messenger of rates, inventory, availability and bookings between hotel and online distribution channel. A Revenue Management System is an intelligent system that uses data-driven insights to change rates dynamically and uses the channel manager to send them to all demand generation channels.
A dynamic and automated revenue management systems makes it easier for hotel to use the channel manager to maximize business. However, hotels can opt to use channel manager software without the revenue management system.
It is always recommended to use a fully integrated channel manager with a revenue management system to ensure that hotel can get higher revenues and ADRs and maximize business.
What is difference between channel manager & property management system?
Property Management System (PMS) is a front desk system that the hotel typically uses to manage the hotel front office, reservations, guests and operations.
Channel manager is a software the hotel uses to manage rates, inventory and bookings from online distribution channels (OTAs).
It is highly recommended to use a common integrated system that provides both Property Management System and Channel Manager functionality as it can seamlessly provide efficiencies between hotel operations and marketing using seamless integration of data to provide better guest experience and higher profits for hotel management.
Shall I buy a standalone channel manager or part of All in One Hotel Management System?
When a hotel is small and just getting started, it is ok to buy just a standalone channel manager, which can be used to manage rates / inventory manually. However, as the hotel gets more mature in terms of size and revenues, it is recommended to adopt an integrated system along with revenue management system and property management system to get maximum results.
How to use rate restrictions & inventory restrictions with hotel channel manager?
Hotel can set several types of restrictions at either room level or at rateplan level, which can help hotel manage revenues & business effectively. Most OTAs support these commonly used restrictions in the hotel industry:
Types of restrictions:
Stop Sell: this is typically used when hotel wants to stop taking any new bookings on a particular date (sold out)
Minimum / Maximum Stay: the minimum or maximum length of stay time (days) that any bookings will be permissible
Close on Arrival / Close on Departure: this restriction that on a given date, either the checkin (arrival) or checkout (departure) cannot be permitted for new bookings
Minimum / Maximum Stay Arrival: this restriction states that if checkin is done on this date, it can have either minimum or maximum length of stay
Minimum / Maximum Advance Reservation: this restriction states that advance reservations cannot be made on selected dates either before or after these dates.
How to set limits while sending rates with channel manager?
Advanced channel managers like Aiosell provide additional functionality to set limits on rates being pushed to OTAs:
Set minimum or maximum rates for each rateplan / room
Set increments between each room type or rate plan (either in % or in absolute amount)
Can I connect multiple hotel or vacation rental properties to single channel manager?
Aiosell provides the unique functionality to connect multiple listings on OTAs like booking.com or Airbnb to a single login account.
This functionality is available for short term vacation rentals who operate multiple units within a location, and would like to manage them using a common login account on channel manager.
How can I connect my PMS to a channel manager?
Best way to connect PMS to a channel manager is to select a channel manager software that already has inbuilt PMS functionality as part of the offering.
However, most channel managers can also be connected to 3rd party PMS systems using API connectivity. The typical API connections involve sending of rates, inventory, restrictions, and bookings between the PMS and Channel Manager. Please contact your PMS provider to request connectivity with Aiosell Channel Manager.
How to avoid overbookings on your hotel?
Overbookings typically happen in a hotel when the latest and updated inventory is not updated on all OTA channels, thereby resulting in overbooking (especially on high demand period) where availability of inventory is limited.
Avoid overbookings:
If you are using a standalone channel manager, please ensure that you have selected a channel manager that automatically deducts inventory anytime any new booking is received.
Ensure that inventory status of the hotel is updated regularly keeping in mind the status of any offline bookings generated.
Best way to avoid overbookings is to use an integrated All in One Hotel Management software like Aiosell, where room inventory is automatically calculated anytime there is either online or offline booking and is immediately pushed to inbuilt channel manager in real-time, thereby reducing the time and effort required by the hotel staff.
What is rate disparity and how can I avoid it?
Rate disparity happens when any hotel or vacation rental is selling rooms at different prices on different online channels (OTAs). The best way to avoid rate disparity is to ensure you use the best in class channel manager that is connected to all OTAs and send instant rate and inventory updates to all OTAs and avoids any delays or errors that cause the rate disparity.
Can I use hotel channel manager to receive messages or reviews from guest?
Advanced channel managers like Aiosell have functionality to send and receive messages from guests and also receive reviews and ratings from key OTA channels like booking.com, Airbnb, etc.
Hotel management should keep a keen eye on all guest reviews and messages and ensure that there is no delay in communication to deliver superior hospitality experience.
Can I calculate OTA Commissions using a hotel channel manager?
Best channel manager like Aiosell has functionality to calculate OTA commissions from key online channels and display it in a transparent manner to ensure hotel is aware of all commissions charges and manage the distribution costs effectively.
What is typical time lag between reservation created by guest and it being visible in channel manager?
Most reservations created on any OTAs should be visible in channel manager instantly with a maximum timelag of 30 seconds. This will ensure that the hotel has updated visibility of available rooms, and ensure that any overbookings can be avoided.
Can I use my existing PMS system with Aiosell channel manager?
Yes, Aiosell provides easy connectivity to several existing and new Property Management Systems and you can contact your PMS provider and Aiosell support team to activate the connectivity.
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