With travelers hitting the road again, it’s time to make your property more attractive for them. How about targeting international travelers this time? More international travelers mean more revenue but how to do this?
The answer is “Country Rates’.
Whether you want to expand your regional diversity, enter a new market, or target guests from a particular country – be it your own or a new one, you can do it all with Country Rate.
What is Country Rate?
Country Rate is a feature used by hotels to set specific room rates for different countries. It is a method to offer special prices or discount rates to guests from your market of choice. Hotels can set different country rates for different people coming from varied countries. Country rates may vary depending on the hotel’s location and the level of demand for rooms at any given time.
The best part is that you can apply country rates to all your hotel room types, room rates and rate plans.
Is Country Rate Applicable Only for International Guests?
No, you are free to set discounted room rates for your local people where your hotel is situated. Hotels use this strategy to boost their presence in their own region and build business relations in the local market by offering a discounted price for corporate bookings.
The peak season varies in different countries. Country rates allow you to attract travellers from different countries during the holiday season/ peak season over there by offering discounts in different markets at different times. This way hotels can achieve 100% occupancy in advance both during high and low periods. Along with it, if you apply the mobile rate feature to your room pricing strategy, you can target travelers from all platforms booking a stay from any device.
Is Country Rate Valid Globally?
Due to legal or commercial restrictions, the country rate is not valid globally and is restricted in some countries. In fact, some hotels in countries where it is valid may ask for residential proof to make sure you are not taking advantage of the discounted price to make the reservation.
Benefits of Adding Country Rates
Target international customers from new markets.
International customers tend to book early and cancel less.
Sell your rooms in advance by offering special prices during the festive season.
Appeal to guests traveling from your target regions with a special offer.
Create Country Rates on Booking.com to unlock new demand by offering great prices to travellers from countries you particularly want to target. Adding Country Rates is a proactive step that hotels can take to increase your property’s occupancy as part of their pricing strategy.
Create Country Rates for Booking.com directly from your RateTiger Dashboard through the Promotions tab.
Read here to learn more about country rates and how to apply them to your existing room rate plan.
Booking Window is crucial in anticipating revenue for any hotel or B&B owner. The number of trips a traveler will make and in how advance will they book the room is highly unpredictable. But revenue managers often try to identify a pattern in the booking window and accordingly try to leverage it for profit maximization.
Let’s see how to do this.
What is Booking Window?
Booking window is the time gap between a customer making the booking and his/ her arrival. It is the same as the lead time. Let’s understand this with an example.
John booked a room in “Hotel XYZ, India” on the 15th of October and arrives on the 15th of December. The booking window for this room will be 2 months.
In simple terms, booking window talks about how much in advance a guest makes a reservation.
This window varies according to season, location, travel demands, property types, upcoming events, holidays, and other characteristics and factors. Hotels and B&B owners often rely on the booking window to plan their room rates and allocation based on historical data. For instance, if a hotel is used to receiving 10-15% of their reservations six months before the arrival, the revenue management team might allocate a certain number of rooms in their Early Bird offer and ensure occupancy.
The pandemic disrupted the normal. With restrictions and ever-developing changes, travelers wary with apprehensions look for more flexibility. That means shortened booking window, more flexible cancellation policies and last-minute bookings. For the revenue manager, this change in travel behavior has disrupted their existing framework. Relearning and readjusting to the new normal has become a challenge.
Let’s dive further into the booking window and why it is crucial for hotel owners.
Importance of Booking Window
Knowing in advance when will the maximum number of rooms in your property be sold gives you a clear indication of what should the price of the room be. With the help of rate shopping and booking window, you can set the maximum price for the room during that period. This will help you leverage revenue maximization by setting the highest price during the booking season. But this comes with a catch.
It is only pragmatic not to show all your cards – similarly hotels need to make room availability based on booking window. No revenue managers make all their rooms available for sale at the very beginning of the booking window. The idea is to phase out, monitor the booking pace and keep a few for real-time demand, i.e., last-minute bookings during the season. Different markets have different booking windows and people can act differently during the booking phase and actual arrival.
Let’s take an example.
Suppose for the holiday season in December; most people start making their reservations in September. The end of September is your peak time when demand is at its best to get maximum bookings for December. Knowing this will help you set the highest room rates for December at that time. This will help you secure maximum revenue in advance for the season.
Increasing room prices before September end or after the cooling period in mid-October will help you lose the guest when your competitor hotel has already reduced their prices. This is how knowing guest behavior and booking window helps you leverage maximum revenue.
Factors that Decide the Booking Window
1. What is the best time to visit your city/ town?
The booking window for this time will be high as most guests will book in advance.
2. Is there any upcoming famous event or show in your area/ city?
The booking window will vary from the date tickets are sold to the event date.
3. Does the weather in your area change unexpectedly?
The booking window will be small as people will make last-minute bookings seeing the weather.
4. What is the ADD (Average Distance to Date) of your guests?
The booking window will be minimum as there might be last-night bookings or bookings on arrival.
How do I Calculate My Booking Window?
With most hotel reservation management system maintaining past booking data, identifying booking patterns and windows have become rather easy. One can easily get this information from your hotel channel manager or the OTAs you sell your rooms. However, OTAs can only provide you with the booking history of their channel only, so the safest side is to download the booking history of your property from the channel manager. It will give you the data of the reservations made from any and every platform.
Now that you know the importance of the booking window, it’s time to get the data of your room bookings and set the best room rates for the peak season. You can use your hotel channel manager and rate shopper to pull in maximum revenue.
70% of travel searches start on mobile phones. In the last five years with mobile phones jumping in, there has been a steady rise in online travel bookings.
The use of mobile has changed the scenario of how travel is being searched and reservations are made, hence by managing mobile rates for your property, you too can improve reservations coming from mobile bookers.
Over half (59%) of all reservations made on Booking.com are now made on a mobile device. Capturing this market is crucial for strengthening and growing your business. Mobile Rates make properties more visible to customers and can help them reach 30% more mobile users.
Benefits of Mobile Rate
On an average, properties that offer a Mobile Rate see:
3% more click- throughs from search results
24% more customers making an attempt to book
50% of accommodation searches and bookings are made on mobile
22% more bookings from mobile customers
Attracting these bookers can positively impact your revenue. Activate mobile rates for your hotel to tap into this valuable and expanding traveler segment.
Mobile phones are a constant companion of everyone everywhere. Opting for the mobile rate scheme, your property has leverage to get bookings over the ones that require the traveler to login via a desktop or laptop. The number of bookings made on mobile apps is much higher and faster.
If you do not already have a Mobile Rate set up for Booking.com, you can easily create one from your RateTiger dashboard.
If you would like to know more about it or how you can set it up, read further – refer to this detailed article.
Subscribe to RateTiger today and start using this feature. Reach out to us for your connectivity needs to make the most of your online revenue.
Team RateTiger has visited WTM London after 2 years. A lot has changed, but the industry’s resilience to turn around remains constant. Our Global Sales Manager – Joita Ghosh shares her experience.
WTM (World Travel Market) is the largest global community bringing the travel and tourism industry together. Visiting any of the events organized by WTM is always a new book to explore. This year, I had the opportunity to visit WTM London held at Excel from 7-9 November. The energy and vibes of the travel professionals coming together after nearly 2years of virtual meetings rekindled the passion for business and growth.
With an unexpected number of travel professionals participating, WTM London 2022 was fantastic. 55 nations representing their culture and tourism reflected the true spirit of WTM of bringing global travel together. The traditional dance, music and performances were a cherish to see. Welcoming an attendee list of 35,800 plus the aggressiveness for travel expansion was clearly evident.
Making New Connections
Meeting small and big hotel owners, B2Bs, OTAs and destination management companies I can tell that the travel industry is in full swing. None of the hotels present at WTM are ready to wait for the new year to plan their next move. The industry has already taken geared up to the race. It demonstrated the appetite among travel professionals to recover the losses of the pandemic.
The representatives at every stand were keen on explaining the new tools and trends for the travel sector to prosper. Hoteliers wanted to learn about customer expectations and ways to fulfill them using the latest hotel management technologies.
The conference sessions spoke about the challenges faced by the hospitality industry not only in the last 2 years but in regular days too. It helped me learn about the stones in the way of B&B owners not just in terms of technological hindrance but also in customer relationship management.
It will be wrong on my part to say that the fear of uncertainty is gone. But what I witnessed is that the professionals at WTM London were determined to use this unique networking event to maximize their business potential.
Everyone I had a chance to chat with whether he/ she was from Egypt, Malaysia, Mauritius, Croatia, Qatar, Oman, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Greece, Cyprus, Middle East, Europe, Creech, USA, London was passionate about reshaping the travel business post-pandemic.
Reuniting face-to-face with hotel owners, partners and new prospects at WTM helped me explore the travel market better and understand their needs. Glad to come back home with new learnings, technologies, trends, connections, and especially new contracts on my plate. Now, it’s our time to work together to improve and innovate the tourism industry!
The largest sporting event of the year is around the corner and Qatar is hosting it. With less than 2 weeks left for it to begin, fans and followers from all around the world have started their packing leveraging the country’s occupancy rates. Though the hotel bookings have ramped up since last month or earlier, these last few days come as a bonus to the hotel owners.
Sports matches always bring fresh energy and vibes with them, especially to the venue it is being played at. Qatar is expected to welcome 1.2 million tourists in the last 2 months of 2022. Considering the number of air and rail tickets to Qatar being sold for the last quarter, this tournament is expected to bring a net positive impact on the hotel revenue for Q4 of 2022. This increase in demand is going to increase the occupancy rate and the ADR (Average Daily Revenue).
Demand is Increasing, Rooms are Sold, Still You Have a Chance
Yes, you read that right. Still, there is a chance for both visitors and hoteliers to book a place for themselves. With entry restrictions to the country, the government has made sure that every guest gets a roof and the rising demand gives the hoteliers the chance to maximize their revenue.
Being a hotelier, you must have reserved 15 or 20% of the rooms in your property for peak-time last-minute sales. So, this is your chance to capitalize on the demand surge and race ahead of your competitor hotels. Mega events would boost the 100% occupancy rate, but the target is to maximize your RevPAR along the way. The ADR for both local and international hotels in Qatar and nearby areas is expected to reach the peak during this season.
Where is the Demand Trend Going?
One of the first countries to recover from the pandemic, hotel industry in Qatar has been maintaining above-average occupancy and ADR consistently since last year. Given the short distance between the stadiums, hotels closer to the hosting venues are expected to see greater demand and as a result higher ADR. With this upcoming mega event, STR Forward Star predicts an average occupancy rate of 70% for hotels and B&B providers of the country in the last 2 months of the year.
With neighboring countries like Saudi Arabia pitching in, the lowest occupancy of the region in 2022 is expected to go 53% with a highest of 83% in the last week of November. Given the steady rise in demand for rooms, the occupancy on the books is expected to grow further in days to come.
In the last quarter of 2019, the year before the pandemic hit the world the occupancy graph showed a minimum of 65% with the highest touching to 86%. Seeing the current demand trends Qatar is expected to set new levels this peak season.
It’s Your Chance to Score
On the ADR front, Qatar has always shared a healthy relationship with it. During the first three quarter of 2022 the country witnessed an average ADR of USD 115,87, 13.4% higher than that in 2019. So, undoubtedly Q4 of the year is expected to soar higher.
Sporting events are always a win-win solution for hotels with average room rates soaring higher and higher. These events drive players, fans, spectators, event management team and staff to the venue with everyone needing room to stay. Altogether it is a golden opportunity for hoteliers and other departments in the hospitality sector to score the goal.
However, tournaments like these also go a long way to building better relationships with potential guests. There are several case studies that have shown how prices can fall dramatically after a major sports event. By all means, utilize the high demand to raise profitability, but give attention to the shoulder seasons as there are expected to be leaner periods. Trying to earn ‘quick bucks’ at the expense of long-term customer value and loyalty can cost dearly to the hotel industry. Do not abandon the guests, contracts and operators who have supported you during difficult times – you will again need them for long-term success. And more importantly, don’t compromise your tomorrow for a quick return today.
Therefore, while it’s the perfect time to score your goal, don’t ignore the defence. Leave the booking management tasks on RateTiger Hotel Channel Manager and Rate Shopper and set your focus on welcoming guests with the best services.
In the hospitality industry data is very important especially when you are speaking of room rates or revenue generation. Speaking of data to measure hotel’s revenue, three of the most popular KPIs are: Occupancy Rate, RevPar and ADR. These 3 metrics together help the hoteliers measure the operating performance and success rate of the property. In this article, we are going to discuss ADR, its calculation, and its effect on hotels.
What is ADR?
ADR stands for Average Daily Rate. It is the metric used in the hospitality industry to measure the average revenue generated per room sold per day. It shows you the average revenue earned for each guest room sold on a given day. Hotel’s ADR includes discounted rates, group sales, corporate rates, package deals and all other price points.
The formula for calculating ADR
Average Daily Rate = Total revenue generated by occupied rooms/ No. of rooms occupied
*Key point: Only the number of rooms sold on a given day is taken into consideration and not the total number of rooms in the property.
Understanding Average Daily Rate
For example, you own a hotel named “ABC” with 100 rooms. On the 20th of October, 80 rooms are sold. To avoid any confusion, let’s consider all the rooms belong to the same category. The total revenue generated on 20/10/2022 is $10000. Let’s see what’s the ADR on that day:
ADR = 10000/ 80 = $125
Now you know that your average daily rate per room sold is $125. But the question is what are you going to do with this data? There is no point in calculating ADR if you do not know the daily rate of the previous day or the revenue earned per room sold by your competitor.
Scenario 1: Suppose we know that the ADR of the previous day was $90. Then you can compare the data to see how effectively your rooms are generating revenue. But, if the ADR of the last day is $150, then we need to find out the difference in the room rates or selling strategy for the revenue lost.
Scenario 2: Let’s consider your next lane competitor hotel ‘B’ has an ADR of $175 on 20/10. Then it’s a clear indication that they are performing better than you. So, we need to find out the reason for this. Probably it’s the cause of 2 reasons: low occupancy rate or higher room rates.
The next question is what should you do to compete with the ADR of hotel B: reduce your occupancy rate or increase the price of the rooms. Before that, it is necessary to understand the effect of both.
Which is good: High ADR/ Low ADR?
Average Daily Rate takes into consideration the total number of rooms sold on a given day unlike the total number of rooms in a property in RevPar calculation.
Running a hotel involves various fixed costs: like lease rent, employee salaries, management charges, etc. A lower occupancy rate means less revenue. Irrespectively, the high-end fixed will affect the profit as it cannot be avoided.
Increasing the room rates is not always an option. There is a possibility that Hotel B has a competitive advantage against your hotel for which it is able to charge a high price for the room. Increasing the price of the room as per them you might lose on your booking, reducing your occupancy rate in turn.
Therefore, your goal should not be for an ADR towards the higher end or the lower end. You should opt for a strategy that provides optimal revenue leading to profit maximization.
Role of ADR in Revenue Maximization
The end goal of every hotel is to earn maximum revenue and that is only possible when all the rooms are sold. This can only happen when the hotel has a clear understanding of the maximum price the guests are willing to pay for a particular room. When a hotel is able to track this, you will set the best room price for your property that will get the apt occupancy rate and you will be making the maximum profit.
To achieve the optimal occupancy rate and ADR, it is essential for you to understand the role of ADR in benchmarking your room rates. Remember, ADR is never the same for 2 days. It varies for room types, different days of the week, seasonal demand, vacation time, market trends, and other macroeconomic conditions.
Having a direct relationship with market demand, guests’ preferences and other price points ADR plays a vital role in benchmarking room rates.
Every traveler has a maximum amount that they are willing to pay for their accommodation. Whether you run a 5-star hotel or a boutique villa, the goal of all hoteliers is the same – Revenue Maximization. Apprehending this value as closely as possible is the hallmark of a successful hotel. For which you implement various revenue management techniques and strategies to upscale yourself in an inclusive, responsible and sustainable way. However, the key to scoring a goal in revenue management is direct bookings.
We all know that the way to this is by customizing your booking engine, digital marketing strategies, and website optimization. But we tend to miss the power of data in achieving direct bookings. For this, you just do not need to have the right data source. It is equivalently important to analyze the data in its true sense to understand its importance and market value.
Data from the booking engine essentially helps you to understand market trends, analyze past experiences and give a competitive advantage of pricing strategy. In short, data from the hotel booking engine is not only a source of direct bookings but also shows you the way to strategize your marketing efforts directly to the guests.
Benefits of Booking Engine Data Points
The data from Hotel Booking Engine is a source of both direct and indirect revenue. Your booking engine is not only the most profitable source of direct booking but also the most trusted source of data. Directly, the booking engine brings direct booking to your hotel saving you from the commission paid to 3rd parties like OTAs, GDS and metasearch. Indirectly, this data educates on customer behavior and booking patterns guiding you to strategize your marketing efforts in the right way.
Let us have a look at how the data points in Booking Engine help in optimizing Revenue Management.
Key Data Points in Booking Engine
Customer Segmentation
Guests are the foremost important part of hotel marketing and room pricing. Defining groups of travelers who visit your hotel and avail services can enable you to understand their different needs and preferences. Data that tells you what age, location or purpose of travel your guests have, opens up opportunities to target quality leads and convert potential guests into confirmed bookings.
The major different segmentation of guests could be:
Geographic data: location of guests
Demographic Data: age, gender, marital status
Purpose of Travel: business, sport event, family vacation
Traveler status: new or returning
Stay duration
Each and every group of guests bring an added opportunity of revenue with itself. Keeping a close tab on customers visiting gives you an idea of who your loyal customers are, which section of the customers opt for maximum cancellations or people of which category makes the reservation in advance. You can give special offers to pre-bookers and regular customers to have them revisit.
The more you analyze the customer data better you can create your marketing strategy and direct your ads to the right segment.
2. Market Analysis
Speaking of market analysis, you need to be updated with both what the guests are looking for and what your competitors are offering. When guests feel like they are getting an optimized value of service for the amount they paid, they are ready to spend more and go there. To increase occupancy through the booking engine it is crucial to understand the customer’s perspective.
This, for a hotel, serves as a basis for choosing the right distribution channels, setting the right prices, engaging more guests by promoting quality content and launching the right campaigns to drive more direct bookings. If your past record shows that during a particular time of the year or season or festival the number of visitors in the city increases, then it’s the time to get the situation to your advantage with exciting room packages.
3. Demand Forecasting
Guest demands are always fluctuating depending on different factors like events in the area, seasons, festivals, etc. Analysing information as to when the demand is more enables you to set room rates accordingly.
For example, if the maximum bookings your hotel receives from your website is on a particular day of the week, and it becomes a trend then it can be a good move to offer special offers for that day. Analysing the data to create a personalised experience is an effective way of optimizing revenue. Predicting when the demand will increase or decrease as per your past records can help hotels develop effective marketing, pricing and distribution strategies for maximum revenue.
4. Data Source
Speaking of online bookings, what matters the most is convenience and flexibility. In this digital age where everything is at your fingertips, it is essential to have a mobile-friendly website to give people the ease to book their stay from anywhere and everywhere.
Keeping a record of the device and platform used by travelers for hotel reservations, your boking engine data source gives you the percentage of people using which device. Approximately, 72% of US travelers book their hotel on their mobile via the hotel website or mobile app.
It can tell you about the sources from which guests are making their reservations – it could be your hotel app or any ad featured on a nearby attraction page. Knowing the source from where your hotels get the maximum booking helps you strategize your sales plans accordingly.
5. Lead Time
Lead time is the number of days between the date of booking and the date of arrival at the hotel. The lead time depends largely on the purpose of travel. For example, the lead time for a business traveler maybe 10 days but for a leisure traveler it could be two months. Knowing the lead time for reservations helps hotels to start planning and marketing upsells targeting a specific group of travelers. Let us take the example of the leisure traveler. By knowing the lead time, you can plan out special packages or personalized services that will enable you to earn that extra revenue.
6. Guest Profiling and Loyalty
A direst booking allows hoteliers to own the guest booking journey and information. Once a guest completes a stay, a profile is created in the hotel system. Keeping a record of the guests and their visits to your property or the properties within your hotel chain helps you know which clients are coming back. Guest profiling also helps in understanding their behavior, booking patterns, and service expectations. A loyal guest helps hotels reduce guest acquisition costs, making it the most profitable booking source.
Takeaway
The data alone is of no use until you know how to use it. You may have all the data you need but to maximize revenue, you must be aware of what to do with that data. Now that you have the data plus you know to read it, it’s time to bring value out of the stored Booking Engine data points and maximize your revenue.
An image speaks a thousand words. And when it comes to securing guest attention, visuals give hotels the power to tell their property’s story. Whether potential guests are searching for a property on metasearch, OTA, Google or on social media – the first thing they are going to notice is the visual content. It’s what they can see and can greatly influence their booking decisions.
Hence visuals are crucial to the success of a hotel’s online presence. To start with, visual media makes potential guests to see and comprehend information which helps them to develop their own perception of the property and make an informed decision.
Where a high-quality image clicked from a proper angle can attract the guests, a flawed image clicked in dark from a poor angle might skip the traveler’s eyes and discourage them to book a room in your hotel. The photos you upload can make or break your reputation affecting your business, yet many hoteliers overlook the importance of hotel photography.
Photos attract the eyes faster than any other detail of the hotel. It’s a proven fact that the human brain can process an entire image within 13 milliseconds. So, is the same with the hospitality industry. The guests start imagining how the hotel will be and how their vacation will precede just by seeing the images of the hotel.
However, adding, editing and managing media content can be tricky. Thanks to Photo API though, content management has become easier for hoteliers.
What is Photo API in Hotels
Photo API is a means of communication between the system and the front-end website. In the hospitality industry, it is a way for the flow of photos from the dashboard to multiple distribution channels. All you need to do is integrate the API with the hotel channel manager or CRS for it to work. Most of hotel channel managers already have this feature integrated for you to showcase the best view of your hotel.
On a photography level, you need to click images that appeal to the guests and they start visualizing their stay. On a technical level, you need an API for the channels to seamlessly talk to each other and share visuals.
Key point: Highlight the best areas and features of your hotel on your profiles on OTAs, GDS, and others. Property media like images of the lobby, recreational areas, reception, entrance, garden, and conference hall. Under “room media” upload the images of the different rooms belonging to the respective room types.
Steps to Upload Media to the API
Open the dashboard of the channel manager you are using
Click on the property name on your left side
Click “Media” under “Property Settings”
Go to Room Media to add images of the rooms
Go to property Media to add images of the hotel
Click on the “Add Caption” button under every image to add the name of the area the picture belongs to or add the room type and give a small description to it.
To edit or replace any image click on the edit button corresponding to that image. Hotel photos can be managed under the head “Property Media”. Room media can be managed under the head “Room Type”.
Deleting any image removes it permanently from the dashboard and you need to follow the above steps again to reuse it.
Image Format: PNG, JPG, JPEG, GIF
Takeaway
With hotel bookings transforming from the traditional to the digital method, technology is a major part of the hospitality industry. Speaking of technology software like Hotel Channel Manager, Booking Engine, PMS, Rate Shopper and APIs (Application Program Interface) like Photo API, Content API, Room Rate API are the foundation stones of the hotel industry.
Every hotel aims to increase its direct bookings. They not only save on the commission cost paid to third parties like OTAs but also have full control over relation-building with guests from the beginning and build loyalty. Hotel Booking Engine is the gateway to direct bookings. The success of your hotel’s direct booking depends on how efficient your hotel booking system is and how seamless it makes the booking experience for the guests. Here comes the role of the hotel’s website.
The website is your storefront. It is a reflection of your brand and what you promise to deliver. A slow-loading website is one of the prime reasons guests shift to other booking platforms like OTAs or other hotels by abandoning their bookings on your website. Along with this, other reasons include boring design, clumsy user interface, and Immobility. Booking experience can change the entire travel plan.
It’s true that a good online hotel booking engine will enhance the user experience by simplifying the process and allowing potential guests to make a reservation with a few clicks. But only an attractive website design and interface will motivate the guest to click on the “Book Now” button and reach the booking page. Can a booking engine provide this with a lagging website?
Hotel Booking Engine & Website Goes Hand-in-Hand
The majority of hoteliers treat booking engines and websites as 2 different products and aren’t aware of the effect of one on the other. Even the best hotel internet booking engine needs the support of the hotel website it is hosted on to convert visitors into guests.
FYI: Your hotel’s booking engine and website are the support system for each other.
Let’s see how they are interrelated:
Website Design Influences Traffic to Booking Engine
The look and feel of your hotel website have a significant impact on the traveler’s booking pattern. However efficient or user-friendly the booking engine may be, it won’t thrill the guest to click on the “Book Now” button if your website is dull and slow. Thereby affecting the traffic on your hotel’s booking engine. A non-appealing hotel website design won’t engage the user to make it to the booking gateway. Therefore, it is essential to successfully integrate your hotel booking system with an appealing website.
2.Proper Optimization Simplifies ARI Management
According to a recent poll conducted by eRevMax, 57% of hoteliers update their room rates and inventory multiple times a day. Consider manually updating the rates and availability individually across each platform every time you change it. It will not only waste your time but also delay the update and affect the performance. With a properly optimized internet booking engine and hotel website of the same degree, it will be much easier and faster to update your ARI in real-time. The 2-way XML connectivity will automatically pull in data simplifying hotel reservation management for you.
3. Seamless Integration Decides the User Experience
If the two aren’t integrated properly, your prospective guest may end up entering the search term again and again and landing on the wrong page. This repetitive process will increase the booking time and decrease the user’s rating on the experience scale. That’s why it is suggested to apply for a booking engine and website design & development by the same company as RateTiger.
4. Mobile Functionality Triggers Booking
As per Stratosjets, 70% of US travelers begin their booking journey on smartphones. Imagine the booking engine you are using is mobile-responsive, but your website isn’t or vice-versa. Will it allow the user to seamlessly book a room in your hotel from their mobile phone? Restricting the user experience on your site you will be losing prospective guests to top OTAs known for providing a mobile-friendly booking experience throughout the booking journey. Therefore, having a mobile-friendly hotel booking system and website is the key to winning direct bookings.
As a hotelier, your ultimate goal is to get the user to click on the Call-to-Action button on your website. To achieve this, your website must be intuitive enough to attract the user’s attention and properly integrated with the hotel booking engine to provide a seamless booking experience. Both the hotel booking engine and brand website work together to drive direct bookings and more revenue for your property.
Are you a hotel owner looking forward to growing your business in this modern, tech-savvy age of travelers? If yes, then you might want to spend more time with your guests understanding their needs and demands, and not behind the system entertaining the bookings from multiple distribution channels. The solution to this is implementing the apt hotel channel manager for your property.
What is a Hotel Channel Manager?
A hotel channel manager is a software solution that connects your hotel’s reservation system also called PMS (Property Management System) to other distribution channels like OTAs, GDS, hotel website, Booking Engine, CRS. Its role is to update rates and availability across all room booking sites at a go eliminating the chance of error and overbookings.
However, there are tens of channel managers available in the market. As a hotelier, it’s important you select the right solution as it is critical to your revenue and profit. In this article, we help you find the best channel manager software for your property.
Factors to Consider for the Best Channel Manager
Size of the Hotel
The size of your hotel plays a big role in deciding the hotel booking channel manager software. The size includes the number of rooms in your property and the distribution channels you are selling at.
The number of OTAs you are selling at and if the channel manager provides integration with it or not are vital points to start with. The pricing of the software will vary as per the size of the hotel.
Budget
Budget plays a big role. However effective or feature-rich the hotel channel management system may be it isn’t of value to you if it doesn’t meet your requirements or fall within your budget.
It is important to list down your requirements and the price you are ready to spend especially if you are new to the industry. Being a new hotel owner, it is advisable to go for hotel channel manager companies like RateTiger that not only provides software as per your needs but is also reasonable.
A cost-effective and feature-effective channel manager software will save your investments, time and enhance the guest experience.
2-way Integration with PMS / CRS and Online Sales Channels
A hotel channel management system with 2-way of XML integration with your PMS and distribution channels is ideal for hotel management. The dual connectivity gives you the advantage of updating your room data and availability details once and for all.
It means you do not need to manually update the booking details individually on the channel manager and your booking system. The hotel channel management software will act as a bridge between your property management system and sales channels.
Some channel managers do lag in syncing the details with the PMS and distributing them across other channels. Choose your software that is compatible and flexible with your requirements.
Channel Compatibility
Majority of the top channel management system is compatible with almost all popular sales channels. It is also true that different hotel online distribution sites rule in different regions of the world and all hotel management software is not compatible with all sites.
Make a list of the global and national distribution sites you want to target and ask for quotations accordingly. In case you are selling your rooms on a not-so-popular OTA or a popular site in your region, then check in advance if the OTA channel manager is compatible with it or not.
Once you sync all your hotel booking platforms to the channel manager for hotels, you will be able to handle bookings from a single dashboard.
Automated Pooled Inventory
Pooled inventory model is the feature that allows all your rooms and their status to be available on all hotel distribution sites in real-time. The moment a particular room is booked on any OTA or your hotel website that room status is updated across all sites to avoid cross-selling.
The automated pooled inventory feature gives true meaning to the concept of one dashboard for all your hotel booking platforms. Till date, all hotel booking software does not support this feature. So, if you are planning to buy one add pooled inventory to your requirement list.
Booking Engine
IBE or Internet Booking Engine for hotels is the software that works on the backend facilitating the booking process the moment a traveler clicks the “Book Now” option on any website. Collecting the user data and payment information it completes the booking process.
Integrating the hotel booking engine with the hotel management system along with PMS is essential for the real-time update of availability and booking details across all channels.
Taking both the software (channel manager + booking engine) from the same vendor simplifies the integration and speeds up the process.
Analytics and Support
Analytics and reporting are becoming the heart of revenue management for all industries. The more information you get about the market structure, competitor strategy, booking volume and room rates; the better position you will be to strategize your bookings and revenue.
24*7 support should not be just for saying, make sure the vendor actually provides that. Figure out the level of support you will be receiving and if there is any add-on cost for it. A good support team enhances the work 2x time.
Security and Safety
The hotel industry has been a target for fraudulent activities with even the big chains not escaping data breach and credit card security issues. It is important for hotels to ensure cyber security for guests as it not only has an impact on reputation but also on financials as means of penalty.
Since channel manager tools process guest information and payment details, it is vital for hotels to invest in software with robust security. Check the PCI – DSS certification and GDPR compliance of the channel manager before you sign us.
Make Your Decision
Now that you know your needs, budget and the features you need in your hotel management system, it’s time to choose the best channel manager for your hotel. If you are looking for a budget-friendly, feature-rich hotel channel manager, you can try RateTiger Channel Manager.
What are you waiting for? Go get ready to transform your hotel management ways with the best-in-class hotel management software.
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