What is a Channel Manager and why is it a must tool for hotels?

A channel manager is a technology solution to a problem that plagues many hoteliers in today’s predominantly online marketplace.

It is a simple calendar with prices, availability and restrictions that automatically informs OTAs (Booking, Expedia, Airbnb).

It helps you stay in sync with all the major local authorities in the hosting market and distribute your inventory easily and globally.

A channel manager is a tool that will allow you to sell all your rooms on all your connected booking sites at the same time. It will automatically update your availability in real-time on all sites when a booking is made when you close a room to sale.

There are many channel managers on the market, for small and bigger properties and even large chains. It is not as simple as choosing the one you first see in the market, it must meet your requirements. It needs to offer full integration with your property management system, support global channel connections, automate and upgrade in real-time. Finally, price, setup, training and support play a massive role when choosing the optimum channel manager.