Name: Hotel Management Platform
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RateTiger Sales Meet in Taki

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Retreats are a great way for team building as well as setting up goals and strategies. The sales department organized their quarterly team meet at a river-side resort in Taki, 60 kms away from the eRevMax office in Kolkata.

The meet was aimed at having discussions around sales strategies, product focus, recent wins and new targets. It was a great setting with various team members from different locations amid the greenery by the riverside – which helped them bond better, playing, supporting, cheering at each other’s success.

A clear mind and clear understanding of the company’s goals and objectives helped them analyze the roadblocks and strategize new ways to unblock them. The team also underwent sales training sessions which helped them know more about their personality types and how to better deal with prospects. The pictures say it all –

The environment led to a free flow of communications: sharing customer stories, discussing performance, and developing strategies for the coming months. Among all this, there were some rewards and recognitions and when you receive it with your colleagues and seniors clapping for you, it becomes extra special. Recognizing and awarding the top performers, and celebrating their success lifted the spirits of the team.

A break from monotony multiplies the brain cells to work faster and more fruitfully. Brainstorming together on the roadblocks helped the team to know each other better, see things from different perspectives, learn from others’ experiences, and discover effective solutions: characteristics of good teamwork.

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What is a Good Hotel Occupancy Rate?

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Hotel Occupancy Rate is one of the Key Performance Indicators (KPI) for hoteliers as it is directly related to revenue. As a performance metric, it showcases the percentage of hotel rooms occupied and goes alongside other revenue management strategies like ADR (Average Daily Rate) and RevPAR (Revenue Per Available Room). The three terms altogether reflect the performance of the hotel, and the percentage keeps changing from season to season.

With travel booming after a break of 2 years in U.S, the hotel occupancy rate in summer 2022 is at par with pre-pandemic booking levels in April and May 2019. As per Amadeus’ Demand360, April 2022 was the first month to outcast the reservations in 2019, rising to 63% in May 2022 compared to 60% in May 2019.

In this article, we are going to have a clear understanding of what is occupancy rate for hotels, its importance, how to calculate it, and the ideal occupancy percentage.

What is Hotel Occupancy Rate?

In general terms, the hotel occupancy rate is the percentage of rooms occupied in an accommodation in comparison to the total number of rooms in the property. The occupancy rate can be calculated on a daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly basis as required. It gives the hotel owners like you an estimate of how much space is occupied during a particular period and plan your strategy accordingly.

Why is Occupancy Rate Important for Hotels?

Occupancy rate is an important KPI for hotels as it helps you understand how many rooms are booked and how many are going vacant during each season. If the number of rooms booked matches the target set then the hotel’s strategy is correct, but if the number is below the target set then, you need to readdress your distribution and pricing policy.

In an ideal world, you will aim for a 100% occupancy rate and set the room rates as high as possible to get the most of your strategy set and optimize your revenue. But this is not the story always. Hence, the occupancy rate with ADR and RevPAR is calculated to get the actual performance report.

How to Calculate Occupancy Rate?

The formula to calculate “hotel occupancy rate” is as follows:

Occupancy Rate = No. of rooms sold/ Total no. of rooms in the hotel

Let us take the example of Hotel ABC with 100 rooms. If on any day all the 100 rooms of a hotel are sold, then the occupancy rate will be 100%. If on a particular day in June only 60 rooms are sold, then the occupancy rate will be 60%. From where did this percentage come? Let’s see:

Total no. of rooms = 100

Case 1

No. of Rooms Sold = 100

Occupancy rate = 100/100 = 1 or 100%

Case 2

No. of Rooms Sold = 60

Occupancy rate = 60/100 = 0.6 or 60%

This was occupancy rate calculation on a per-day basis. If you are to calculate the weekly occupancy rate or average rate per week, then add the number of rooms sold each day for 7 days, divide the sum by 7 and then divide the result by the total number of available rooms for sale in the hotel and multiply the result by 100 to get the percentage. Sounds confusing?

Let’s take the example of Hotel ABC for a week in June:

No. of rooms sold in a week

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
60	54	72	60	82	95	95

Total no. of rooms sold = 518 rooms

Average no. of rooms sold = 518/7 = 74

Weekly occupancy rate = 74/100 = 0.74 or 74%

The weekly occupancy rate will of course vary from week to week depending on the number of rooms sold. But this data will give you an idea of how your hotel is performing week over week and how your sales will fluctuate during different times of the year.

Important note: It is customary to subtract the rooms that are out of order or under renovation from the “total number of rooms” while calculating the occupancy rate.

Is Your Hotel Occupancy Rate Good?

From a general perception, a good occupancy rate will of course be 100% and that should be the target of every hotelier. But it is not always so. There are instances when even with 100% occupancy you aren’t earning maximum revenue and hotels are happy with less occupancy but more revenue. After all, the end goal for every business is revenue maximization.

The ideal occupancy rate varies from hotel to hotel. For some, it can be between a range of 70-95%, though the best occupancy rate may depend on multiple factors like the hotel’s location, no. of rooms, room rates, service, etc.

From an occupancy point of view, if Hotel ABC sells all rooms everyday and has a 100% occupancy rate, it is awesome. But in this case, they might be losing out on revenue that they could have earned by selling fewer rooms at a higher price.

From the revenue point of view, selling 100 rooms means the electricity cost, cleaning cost, laundry cost, and other variable costs for 100 rooms. Suppose 1 staff caters to 8 rooms, then for 100 rooms you need 12.5 staff which isn’t practically possible, so Hotel ABC will have to hire 13 staff. It will be in the best interest of the hotel to sell 96 rooms. Plus, if any guest isn’t happy with their room or there is some problem in any room, they will have an extra room to offer to them and win their loyalty.

Takeaway

The best occupancy rate for your hotel is the level at which your NRevPAR is maximum. It is the key indicator of the hotel’s historic, real-time, and future performance and should be measured against average daily rate and revenue per room to find the ideal occupancy percentage for your hotel.

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Importance of Rate Parity in 2022 and Beyond

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In this digital age of hyper-transparency, hotels are expected to maintain price transparency across online sales channels for travelers. While the dynamic pricing means the acceptable value offered by a given room rate for a day stay by a property would vary based on demand, hotel rate parity ensures practice of maintaining consistent prices across all channels of distribution.

FYI: Customers are much savvier in this tech world.

With Metasearch platforms aggregating rates from various distribution channels, it has become rather easy for travellers to compare price of a hotel across websites. So, why will a traveller book from a site when she/ he can find a better price on any other site or hotel’s own website? This way you will be restricting your sales channel and even the channel owner wouldn’t be interested in listing your property if you aren’t giving them the best price. Agreed? With 82% of the travel booking taking place online, would you like to take this chance?

What is Rate Parity?

Hotel rate parity in the hospitality industry is the process of maintaining the same rate for the same room type across all distribution channels. In simple terms, if the quoted price of the room is same on all third-party-channels and hotel’s website, then it is said to be in parity.

If the price differs across different channels or if the price listed on OTAs is higher than the price on hotel’s website, then there is disparity.

For example, if you are selling your Super-Deluxe room for $150 over the weekend on your brand site and $160 on OTAs for the same room type, then you’re violating rate parity. On the other hand, if your price remains the same on all sales channels – direct as well as on OTAs and metasearch channels – you are in parity.

Is Rate Parity Legal?

Yes, hotel rate parity is a common legal agreement between the hotel owners and the online travel agencies to maintain consistent room rates across all distribution channels. This clause has been legalised in many countries.

The 2 Basic Problems of Rate Disparity

Hotels tend to lose on direct bookings by sending the customer to third party channels with lower rates and paying higher commission. Thereby, bringing lower revenue to their table.
Customers tend to lose their trust in hotels quoting different rates on different platforms giving rise to confusion and losing confidence in the hotel’s viability. Thereby, affecting the brand value of the hotel.

Understanding the Importance of Rate Parity

It’s true that direct bookings from (brand.com) bring the maximum revenue to a hotel as compared to any OTA. Reason being the hotel doesn’t need to pay any commission for it. But, can a hotel only rely on its website for bookings in the current time when OTA bookings are one of the major sources of online hotel bookings? Having a presence on online sales channels is as important as to having its own website. It is your gateway to hotel marketing and reaching the maximum customers looking for a hotel in your region.

Online Travel Agencies have different clauses and charge differently. Depending on the commission rate, hotel’s revenue per sold room may change. For OTAs, rate parity has remained an effective tool to ensure that the hotels will not give any discounts to the customers to woo them to book direct. On the flip side, this takes away the hotel’s key weapon to attract direct bookings.

For the hotel all are indirect sites and it has to pay charges for bookings to both though more or less. It’s clear that direct booking is the biggest source of advantage. So, why favour one site over the other? Take the straight road and maintaining rate parity across all your third-party distribution channels gear the customers towards direct booking from your brand.com.

Why is Rate Parity Important for Hotels?

Maintaining the same rate across all sites, hotels enjoy the trust and confidence of the travellers.
Hotels maintain the same reputation with different OTAs and are able to extract the plus point of every channel.
It helps the hotel travel around the right market mix with a perfect blend of direct and indirect channels.
Hotels can avail the undue advantage of direct bookings by pushing travellers towards their website by offering more values than OTAs in terms of add-on services.

Why is Rate Parity Important for Travelers?

It gives the customers a clear picture of the hotel’s price.
It helps them chose their booking source by maintaining consistency.
It removes any confusion prevailing in the customer’s mind.

Rate Parity Strategies to Drive Direct Bookings

Now when your hotel is having the same price across all direct and indirect sales channels, let’s see how you can bring in more direct bookings to turn the situation to your advantage.

Create a plan of action to out value the commission loss on indirect bookings by having a market mix.
Offer add-on services on your website like free Wi-Fi, free parking, early check-in, etc. giving the customer reasons to book directly without affecting the actual room rate.
Make the booking process on your website simple and easy avoiding any technical glitch.
Target specific customers like corporate travellers by giving them extra discounts/ offers via email marketing or on call services.
Leverage your presence on Metasearch sites making the most of their business model of CPC on listing your hotel and directing the customer to your booking engine when they click to book.
International travellers always have a longer stay, so attract international travellers by making your presence on OTAs/ Metasearch most used in those regions from where you have the maximum international guests.

Undoubtedly, rate parity comes with many challenges. But customer trust is one of the prime requirements to sustain in the hospitality industry which rate parity gives you. However, by setting up a defined plan with a perfect mix of the right business partners, distribution channels and market trends; you can optimize your revenue by maintaining rate parity with rate shopping software like Rate Shopper by RateTiger.

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Improve Your Hotel Ranking on Booking.com with the Genius Program

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With travel demand picking up, there is a lot of competition among hotels to get in front of the guests. Are you looking to grow your reservations through Booking.com?

Boost your property’s visibility on the channel. Join Booking.com Genius Program – an exclusive loyalty program which brings partner hotels and frequent bookers closer.

Get an introductory 20% commission discount on all Genius-rate stays completed before the end of September. Sign-up to avail this exciting offer before end of June.

According to Booking.com data, on average, partners who join Genius see an increase of 70% in search result views.

Grow Your Business with Genius:

Genius partners increase bookings by an average of 45% and revenue by an average 40%.
75% of Genius customers start their booking journey with a direct visit to Booking.com or via a Booking.com partner, so you’re less likely to acquire them elsewhere.
On average, Genius customers spend 15% more and book up to two times further in advance.

Hotels taking part in the Genius program gets a special Genius tag, ranking boost and better visibility in search results on Booking.com which helps in getting more bookings faster.

The property is displayed to a select group of customers who travel more often, book further in advance, and spend more when booking. Hotels can always check their eligibility on the booking.com extranet.

Don’t miss out on this opportunity. Join before the end of June to unlock your 20% commission discount and find out how Genius can help grow your business. You can always opt out later if you change your mind or if it does not work for you.

Join Booking.com Genius Program Today

For any enquiries related to connectivity, rate shopping or direct booking solutions, please contact us – https://ratetiger.com/contact/

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What Is Hotel RevPAR & Why Should It Be on Your Focus List

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If you are from the hospitality industry then you must have come across acronyms like RevPAR and ADR almost daily or rather every hour. I don’t need to tell you that RevPAR stands for Revenue Per Available Room or ADR stands for Average Daily Rate. However, if you are still struggling with the difference between the two or which one to give more importance or why is everyone speaking about focusing on RevPAR to boost their hotel revenue, then we have a cheat sheet just for you.

In this blog, we are going to discuss about what is RevPAR, its calculation and why it is essential for revenue management.

What is hotel RevPAR?
How to calculate RevPAR?
Understanding RevPAR in Real Sense
Significance of RevPAR

What is Hotel RevPAR?

RevPAR (Revenue Per Available Room) is a KPI used in the hotel industry to assess the performance of the hotel. It shows the revenue generated per room. Combining occupancy rate and Average Daily Rate, RevPAR gives the hotelier a true picture of the hotel’s performance.

It is an important way of analyzing and drawing the correct balance between occupancy, pricing and overall revenue that has a substantial impact on your hotel’s success.

It is that performance indicator that helps the hotel understand whether it is making a profit or not by looking at a single figure and taking action accordingly.

How to calculate RevPAR?

For calculating the RevPAR, 4 essential information are needed:

ADR (Average Daily Rate) – Total revenue generated/ No. of rooms sold
Occupancy Rate – (Total number of rooms sold/ Total number of rooms) X 100
Total revenue generated – Room price X No. of rooms sold (it is the total income generated by selling different room types)
Total rooms available

Once you’ve the above-mentioned information at your fingertips, you’re all set to calculate your RevPAR. Let’s see the two RevPAR formulas:

RevPAR = ADR X Occupancy rate (this uses the 1^st two data terms)
RevPAR = Total rooms revenue/ total number of rooms (this uses the last 2 data terms)

Key Note: ADR is calculated on the basis of number of rooms sold and RevPAR is calculated on the basis of total rooms in the hotel.

Understanding RevPAR in Real Sense

To have a clear understanding of how is RevPAR calculated, let’s take a hypothetical example.

For example, you have a hotel with 10 rooms: 5 standard double rooms priced at $100 and 5 deluxe rooms priced at $200.

Scenario 1:

All 10 rooms are sold, which means the occupancy rate is 100%

Total revenue generated = (100*5) + (200*5) = $1500

ADR = 1500/10 = $150

RevPAR = 150*100% = $150

At 100% occupancy rate, RevPAR is same as ADR because as all the rooms are sold, revenue per room will be same as the average room rate. It means that the hotel is generating the expected profit and is in a good position.

Scenario 2:

The hotel has received a booking for 4 standard double rooms and 3 deluxe rooms, i.e., 7 rooms in total. In this case, the occupancy rate is 70% (7/10 *100).

Total revenue generated = (4*100) + (3*200) = $1000

ADR = 1000/7 = $143

RevPAR = 143*70% = $100

Now, when RevPAR is below ADR the hotel operator may decide to reduce the room rates to increase the occupancy which might in turn increase the RevPAR too. But, in case the hotel RevPAR goes down then it means the strategy isn’t working.

This shows that there is an indirect correlation between the average daily rate and occupancy rate. Both of them go vice-verse and have their individual impact on RevPAR.

Significance of RevPAR

In simple terms, RevPAR is the revenue generated for every night for the total number of rooms, irrespective of whether it is booked or not. It gives a clear measurement of the hotel’s average daily revenue earned and scope of improvements to fill the unsold rooms reflecting the pain points.

It gives you the answers to 3 main questions that have a big impact on your profit:

Are your room rates rightly priced?

Right pricing is the strategy that gets you the maximum revenue in hand. But, how do you know if the price set is right or wrong? The price depends on a variety of factors like customer demand, trends, season, etc. The price at which the net revenue per night is the highest is the right price for the room type irrespective of the occupancy rate.

Did you just underprice your rooms to increase occupancy?

There are instances when the hoteliers reduce their room rates to meet the targeted occupancy. But it is a sheer loss for you if at the end of the day the net revenue goes negative. Remember: more bookings mean more room service costs. Hence, NRevPAR (Net Revenue Per Available Room) plays an important role in this scenario to get an overview of your performance.

Which room type is your major bank and which is your loan?

It’s a known fact that all your rooms won’t perform the same. You can calculate RevPAR based on the room types to understand which room type brings in more revenue and which is draining your money in case you are making a loss on any particular room type. This figure will give you a hack of your pain points and how to turn them into happy rooms.

Though RevPAR is not the whole and sole of revenue management, it gives you a clear picture of your hotel’s performance and profit generation. At the end, the ultimate goal is profit maximization for every hotel big/ small. And hotel RevPAR is a good indicator of your financial and hotel growth.

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7 Things to Consider While Selecting a Hotel Booking Engine

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As the travel industry is pacing up with a renewed interest after the decline in the pandemic, travelers across the globe are gearing up for vacation planning and hotel bookings. This is a positive sign for the hoteliers to grab the opportunity and improve their revenue. Hotels generating direct bookings during these times will tend to recover from the sluggish business affected by the pandemic. Additionally, most hoteliers operating in the competitive hospitality industry would agree that a hotel’s website should be the most profitable channel and bring in the most of the bookings.

Direct channel is not only the most profitable distribution channel for hotels compared to other channels such as OTA booking sites. Reservations via your direct website give hotels access to all guest details and profiles from the beginning and own this relationship through their entire booking journey. . The simple way to do that is to incorporate a hotel booking engine software on your website.

An online booking engine platform offers people the freedom to self-serve, meaning they can easily check rooms, availability and rates in real-time. Thus, it enables hoteliers to have complete control over the guest booking journey and information respectively.

“What is a Hotel Booking Engine Software?

“In simpler terms, an online booking engine is a software that is integrated into the hotel’s website and social media pages so that the accommodation providers can drive-in direct, commission-free traffic. A direct booking engine in other words could be considered a low-cost revenue channel.”

However, to optimize revenue with the available resources, it is also important to choose the right booking engine platform. Identifying your top requirements and selecting a system that fulfills those requirements with efficiency can be a start. With so many options available in the market it is often hard to choose one direct booking system.

So, how to consider the right online hotel booking engine software to elevate your guest experience and boost direct revenue? Let’s explore some of the major factors you should re-think before integrating booking engine solution.

1. Customization Option, Responsive, and User-friendly Design

Having a booking engine customized according to your hotel promotes brand awareness leading to more conversion. When the hotel logo is visible on a booking engine, it ensures the guest is booking the hotel he wants as well as helps him remember the hotel. This maintains a consistent online reputation of the hotel.

In the last few years, desktop has been replaced by mobile phones as the preferred mode of search and browse by majority of people. Globally, mobile has become the dominant mode for hotel searches. According to a recent report, 77% of all traffic to website comes from mobile and it contributes 60% of all revenue.

Having a responsive design makes it easier for guests to view hotels and make bookings from their smartphones without having any viewing problems due to the design.

Having a customized and responsive design gives a smooth and happy booking experience. The guests booking rooms will already have an idea of what to expect when they arrive and during their stay in the hotel.

2. Hotel Metasearch Site Integration

With Google going big on hotel booking, growth is metasearch space has accelerated significantly in the last couple of years. Metasearch sites are platforms that allow guests to compare hotel rates from different booking sites. For example, if one hotel has 6 different prices on 6 different websites, all those prices will be displayed along with the site names on a metasearch site. For travelers, Google’s continuous scrolling option makes it easier to find and book great hotel deals.

With Google being the first place of search, hotels now have an opportunity to showcase their properties with rich media content and attract offers. Having your direct booking engine integrated with metasearch sites will allow your guests to have a better booking experience. Guests will easily be able to check prices and make direct bookings from the metasearch site in the presence of a direct booking engine.

Having your booking engine integrated with a metasearch site will help your hotel have an upper hand among the competitors as it is a reliable way to advertise your hotel rates and availability. Hoteliers could drive in direct traffic from metasearch sites without having to advertise rates or pay commission separately.

3. Guest Review & Rating Integration

It’s all about the guest experience!

Before booking or finalizing any particular hotel, the guests tend to search one of the most important aspects of that property is the past guest experiences in terms of customer reviews and ratings. The more people talk about your hotel online, the better the visibility in different search engines. According to a 2021 TripAdvisor stucly called “Power of Review”, 3 out of 4 travelers thinks online reviews are extremely important when it comes to making travel decisions.

Having the option to integrate customer reviews and ratings through the booking engine platform seals the deal for any potential users. It boosts the online visibility of the hotel giving you the chance to get enough traction and drives the guest’s intent to book more often.

4. Booking Option via Social Media Platforms

The majority of the potential guests spend the maximum of their time on social media like Facebook. Having a booking engine integrated with such platforms can help drive maximum conversions. An advertisement on Facebook of the hotel with a “Book Now” CTA button makes it easier for guests to locate and make their direct bookings.

A booking engine integrated with social media platforms increases the presence of a hotel online. Without having to advertise and pay separately for advertising, a hotelier can easily drive in direct traffic.

Social Media is an integral platform through which hotels can increase their brand awareness and reputation. Even if a potential guest sees a hotel on Facebook but doesn’t book it immediately, he will remember which hotel to look for when making a booking.

5. Integrated with In-house Channel Manager & PMS

A channel manager in simple words is a hotel management software with allows a hotel to manage and monitor its rates and availability on a single dashboard.
A PMS or Property Management System is a software that enables a hotel or group of hotels to manage all aspects of hotel operation.

When a booking engine is integrated with a channel manager and PMS, it automatically updates rates and availability. This prevents overbooking problems. Additionally, it saves hoteliers from manually updating rates and availability which could otherwise lead to human error and increased workload. Analytics and report available with channel manager and PMS together can give an overall report that can help hotels to make wiser decisions. Keeping a check on things that help gain revenue is always a positive addition.

6. Payment Gateway Integration

Payment after a booking is a crucial step in the whole booking journey. Incomplete payment due to technical problems can cause a bad reputation for a hotel. Hence, integrating a safe and secure payment gateway is very important.

According to the American Hotel & Lodging Association, the hospitality industry contributes around 55% of the total Credit Card fraud complaints. Many hotels and resorts follow a legacy system due to the outdated software and Information technology infrastructure they installed and followed over years. Data breach has become one of the biggest concerns for hoteliers.

While it’s important for hotels to offer a seamless experience during payment process, they need to implement measures to minimize cyber-threat. A PCI-DSS certified payment gateway integration is essential to protect not only the consumer but also the business from losing large sums of profit.

. Directing guests to a direct payment gateway after booking a room from a booking engine will ensure guests gain trust and make payments effortlessly.

Allowing guests to make payments with all available options like – debit cards, credit cards, and online wallets, boosts a positive guest booking experience. Providing support in case of a failed transaction and alerting guests of fraud can be other ways of gaining trust and enhancing the booking experience.

7. Multi-currency & Multi-language Support

International travelers always look for a user-friendly online booking engine to make hassle-free reservations. Most travelers may not be comfortable with English and hence, look for local languages to understand the details of their bookings. In case, some international traveler is facing problems in making a reservation, he or she might be looking for support that could help them in their local language.

The conversion of currency can be difficult at times and could create confusion in travelers. Hence, they look for booking engines that would show price rates in their currency. When making payments, they want to make sure they are paying the right amount. So, it is important to show prices in their currency.

Hence, having multi-currency and multi-language support helps build brand recognition and online reputation. It enhances guests’ booking experience. It allows hotels to drive-in untapped international traffic.

The Way Forward

Presenting easy access to make reservations, right on your website will increase the chances of confirmed booking from potential guests when they arrive at your website. OTAs are a great way of competing in the market, however, the commission that they charge can be excruciating on the commission part of the hoteliers. Having the right booking engine integrated into the website is as important as presenting your hotel on any OTA. Hence, get the right booking engine on your website and help guests make their booking journey a positive one.

Still looking for the perfect booking engine solution? Visit RateTiger Booking Engine solution or to know more connect with our industry experts at marketing@erevmax.com

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Hotel Channel Manager – Improve Your Revenue in 2022 & Beyond

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COVID-19 has witnessed a dramatic change in consumer behavior. The hospitality & travel industry is one of the major markets that has witnessed a great setback due to pandemics and realized some major changes in the customer life-cycle in terms of travelling behavior.

In the tourism & hospitality industry, the latest travel demands and change in the customer’s perspective on travel has inclined toward – sustainability and technology. Hence, the hotels and online channels must focus on the pain points within the industry to elevate their business and stay ahead in the competition.

The year 2022, can see a boost in the tourism sector based on the research conducted by Expedia, Booking.com and other players. Thus, hoteliers must stay abreast with their hotel technology to manage their daily operations – be it room rates, ease of online booking, or providing the best guest experience with an effort to make online visitors into a permanent customer.

This drill-down to the accommodation owners to have the best hotel management solutions like Hotel Channel Manager, booking engines, rate intelligence platform to deduce the customer’s preference. At RateTiger, we focus on the B2B hotel solutions and importance of having the best channel manager – why you should have it, the key attributes to achieve scalability, and remain competitive in the market.

What is a Hotel Channel Manager?

Hotel Channel Manager is a software tool which allows hoteliers to sell all your rooms on your connected booking sites at the same time automatically. It provides a list of several online sales channel on a single dashboard enabling simultaneous monitoring and control over all these online sales channels. When there is a major change in the inventory or a room needs to be closed for sale, an OTA channel manager automatically updates it on all Hotel Sales Channel or OTAs.

This software created to help hotels to compete in a market where the demand for online room reservation rose rapidly without losing out on revenue. Channel Manager helps hotels boost their online bookings and have maximized their profits by helping them to increase their online presence.

Online Distribution channels includes Metasearch engines, OTAs, Global Distribution Channels (GDS) or direct channels like the website of a hotel. All these Online Distribution Channels can be managed using a centralized control panel when using a channel manager software.

Hotel Channel Manager – Key Attributes & Importance

The strategy of using numerous channels to sell on is not so effective until the hotel knows the right channels to sell on. Hotel Channel Manager System provides a list of channels which effectively increases your revenue. Let’s take a look at the major attributes of a channel manager:

Increase Online Presence

Hotel Channel Manager help hotels to be in the appropriate position for display on online distribution channels for maximum views. Hotels get the opportunity to maximize their profits by being visible on platforms visited mostly by online travelers looking to book their stays. Increasing visibility help increase market reach as hotels are displayed on international platforms for international travelers to confirm their bookings.

Maximize Profits

With Hotel Channel Manager it helps display the real time rates and availability, and automatic updates across all online channels with minimal investment. Also, it helps hotels save on their revenue and maximize their profits. With hotels being available online throughout the year, they are also visible during low seasons which give them the extra revenue which they would otherwise miss in the absence of a channel manager

No Overbooking

With automatic inventory update and pooled inventory, travelers booking online can also see when a hotel is fully sold out. That way hotel reduces the risk of overbooking as guests can only book rooms which are available. In traditional way or in the absence of channel manager, there was no way for guests to know if a hotel room was sold out which resulted in double booking.

Reducing Human Errors

Manual processes are not only time consuming but it also increase chances of human error. With automated updates of rate and inventory the productivity is increased. The hotels can use their staffs to focus on other strategies for revenue management effectively. Overcoming the disadvantage of manual process being slow, online channel manager updates real time inventory thereby, never missing an opportunity of successful room reservation.

Analyze What Works

With an effective hotel channel management system, a hotel can analyze what is working and make changes with what is not working. With the data from the channel manager, a hotel can ensure the right channels to be on which channels are actually helping them maximize their profits and also that the prices displayed are optimized. A complete transparency of data across all channels helps to correct errors in time and stay ahead in the competition.

Keep Everyone Updated

Channel Manager Dashboards are easy to use. With multiple hotel staff members using the channel management system, one must think, it will create confusion and chaos. However, it is not so. Hotel Channel Management System can be set and reset with just a few clicks. Important dates, holidays and peak season prices can be set from prior to make work easier for hoteliers.

Total Control on Property

With two way XML connectivity provided by a channel manager, the user or the hotelier automatically gets informed of any cancellation or other modification which might have happened on any channel. The hotelier or user can then update this information to all connected channels in just a click. Also, a channel manager enables a hotel to split its inventory on different online channels. If required a hotelier can also switch off its inventory on a certain channel for a period of time in just few clicks.

What are hotels looking for when choosing a Hotel Channel Manager?

Now that we understand what a channel manager is, let’s talk about the most important difficulty faced by hotels these days: choosing the right channel manager for their hotel. How will one know which is the best channel manager to use! The first step to go about it is selecting the channel manager that provide free trail and choosing the best among them. The following could help hotels know the Channel Manager to choose that we help them with optimum revenue in the long run:

Does the Channel Manager provide a free trial?
How many channels the channel manager is connected to?
Is the channel manager connected to the channels important for your hotel?
How many dates, room type per channel and number of channels can the channel manager help manage simultaneously?
Does the channel manager update and automate in real-time?
Does the channel manager use pooled inventory model?
Does the channel manager support multiple users and multiple devices?
Do the channel manager provide adequate support and in hoteliers native language?

Though this list above cannot be called the complete guide to a good channel manager but these could be the basics from where one can start.

Other systems to use with a Hotel Channel Manager:

To boost the efficacy of a channel manager, some other systems can be integrated. Improve business results by maintaining accuracy and smooth operations by using:

PMS

Property Management System is a system that manages the whole property. When integrated along with a channel manager, any changes made on the PMS regarding your property, say inventory, it is picked up by the channel manager and is informed to all the connected third party channels.

Booking Engine

When a hotel website is connected to a booking engine, a hotel can easily convert their potential guests into happy guest by direct sales. Using a booking engine, unlike OTAs, is commission free and saves a big part of the revenue.

Rate Shopper

A Rate Shopper is a pricing intelligence tool that helps a hotel set the optimized price in different seasons of the year. Based on supply and demand, when the market changes, a rate shopper allows the hotel to track their competitors. Rate Shopper helps keep the numbers right.

Way forward

Elimination of several procedures as in the traditional marketing has made channel manager popular amongst the crowd. Every hotelier who is not using a channel manager is losing out on a chunk of revenue. In fact, investing a lot on traditional marketing and not getting enough returns is another major drawback of not using this tool. Hotel Channel Manager is the future of Hotel Industry and the future is here!

Looking for a Trusted Hotel Channel Manager?

RateTiger Channel Manager has been experiencing the hospitality industry in and out over the past 20+ years. It has successfully been helping hotels stay afloat through the changing times especially through the bigger storm named COVID-19 pandemic.

Get other services like PMS integration, CRS, Hotel Booking Engine, Hotel Website Design and Hotel Digital Marketing with RateTiger (product of eRevMax). Contact us at marketing@erevmax.com or visit www.ratetiger.com to know more.

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Hotel Yield Management Strategies to Boost your Revenue

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One answer that is commonly searched for by accommodation providers is a pricing strategy that would make most profits from the given inventory which includes not only hotel rooms but also packages, services and other amenities. This pricing strategy is called Yield Management. Often misinterpreted as revenue management, yield management isn’t the same as revenue management.

Come, let’s find out what actually Yield Management is and how is it important to maximize profits.

Yield Management vs Revenue Management

In simple terms, Revenue Management is selling the right product to the right customer for the right price at the right time. Perfecting revenue management is both art and science involving an effective pricing strategy. Yield management is a part of revenue management which solely focuses on hotel rooms. While the primary focus on the revenue management is to optimize RevPAR, yield management is about figuring out selling right room to the right customer for the right price at the right time. The key difference is revenue management also encompasses services while yield management is all about inventory. Hotel rooms is a perishable inventory in the sense that the room available, if not sold on a particular date, the opportunity to sell it for that particular date is gone and will not come back. Yield Management in hotel is figuring out how to wisely use these opportunities.

Why is Hotel Yield Management Important?

Having an effective yield management strategy is crucial for hotels to optimize their occupancy. Hotels change price of their rooms based on booking windows. The inventory is perishable and in limited quantity. Typically rates closer to dates vary depending on the occupancy level. If the hotel needs to increase occupancy, it might have to lower the price, and simultaneously, if there is high demand, price would be increased. For yield management strategy to be successful hotels need to have an effective distribution mix to identify the right change to acquire the right customer.

Demand for hotel rooms differs with different times of the year. During the different seasons of the year the traffic is different which bring in different demands. Knowing what to do with pricing when the market dips or when the demand is at peak helps not only optimize revenue but to make maximum use of available inventory.

Top 4 reasons why hoteliers should apply yield management strategy:

Minimize Pricing Errors

Accurate pricing forecast reduces pricing errors and help eliminate risks that might have been miscalculated. When you have a plan for something and have calculated results, you have a scope to identify the errors. Once identified, you can correct them in time before you lose out on the opportunity. Yield management acts as that plan that shields you from any unforeseen loses so you can rectify any errors made in time to maximize your revenue. Minimizing the pricing errors will help build reputation which is one of the important pillars of success for a hotel.

Segmentation at Its Best

The idea might be to try and focus on driving traffic from a particular segment of the market. But very often, when we try to do that, we lose out on the other segments out there which might benefit us. Yield management in hotel exactly helps you out of it. Let’s take the example of corporate travelers who book their rooms on a short notice whereas leisure travelling family who booked rooms earlier. Offering the same price to both on their dates of booking will result in booking cancelation by the family. Hence, yield management help you understand the demands of potential guests from different segments and how to put the pricing accordingly.

Meeting Guests’ Demands

The hotel industry has become very dynamic in the recent times. With automation and digitalization in play, guests demand differently which need to be met by hotels in order to achieve success. Some guests might be looking for personalized experience rather than the automated services. With changing guest demands, it is very important to have an effective yield management strategy that would help you understand the dynamics and plan the pricing according to guest preferences. Meeting guest demands successfully can drive in positive reviews in turn building a good reputation.

Stay Ahead of Competitors

When we strategize our yield management, a part of the planning includes researching for the right pricing. It leads hotels to look at what their competitors are doing, what pricing their competitors are keeping. Keeping a close eye on the competitors leads a hotel to know where they are lagging behind and to catch up with competition in time. Focusing on beneficial bookings can result in loss of potential bookings. Tracking demand trends and understanding booking patterns can help strategizing effective pricing and stay ahead of competitors.

One example of hotel yield management strategy could be ‘time-penalty’ approach. Let’s say there is a festival around. “Time-penalty” strategy increases the price of the rooms gradually as the dates get closer to the festival. So how do you effectively strategize Yield Management for your hotel?

It’s time to get Your Team:

For a beneficial Yield Management Strategy, a hotel requires a dedicated team for research and analysis. A right team with the right tools and insights will help the hotel take the right action at the right time and deliver valuable results

In short, yield management in hotel means minimum investment bringing in maximum revenue in the form of maximum bookings.

Learn More: Hotel Industry Glossary

RateTiger is a leading B2B hotel technology company – providing hotel channel manager, hotel booking engine, hotel CRS, hotel website design and digital marketing solutions to hospitality companies.

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Hotel Yield Management Strategies to Boost your Revenue

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