The best of Channel manager for 2021

The room distribution landscape has become more complex with advent of OTA, GDS and other forms of sites which try to make their mark.

If you run a hotel, it is practically impossible for you to update your rates manually in every channel.

Enter the Channel Manager.

This one tool connects your booking engine/ PMS to the various OTA saving you time. A good 2 way communication helps to keep the availability current on all the channels simultaneously.

There is no need for you or your staff to log in to every channel and it helps to avoid rate parity issue of one site having lower rates during the time you are updating the rates on other channel.

How to choose a correct channel manager?

The channel manager you choose must be robust and have the following criteria

• Maximum Visibility on various OTA
• Sell room easily.
• Connects well with OTA Extranet.
• Integrate with various Revenue Management Systems.
• Compatible with PMS.
• Visibility on GDS and Consortia Market.
• Compatible with Brand Site.
• Ease of inventory management.
• Ability for promotion and room name to be customized for better yield.
• Connects to various B2B Channel.
• Detailed Analysis.
• Access via Mobile App.
• Ease in Manage Bookings

So which one to choose?

Now that you know what to look for in a channel manager, here are 5 of the popular ones according to a survey done among revenue mangers

Staah

Staah offers more than 200 + connections offering your hotel access to a wide network of distribution.

Detailed analysis help you to price your offering based on forecasting trends. They do have 2 options. One for standalone hotels and other one for chains.

Siteminder

With 400 + channels and statistics like 137 reservation per minute, this is a powerhouse brand among channel managers.

You can have access to detailed analysis and reports to help you improve your room revenue.

This company also has many training and webinar available on their site to help you make full use of this channel manager.

Rategain

Rategain claims to connect to 700 + channels and is used by more than 100000 hotels worldwide.

It also helps in controlling overbooking by making sure that the inventory is held in a common pool thereby avoiding situations of overselling. Even though this is a feature that all channel managers have, you should check this feature thoroughly in a demo so that you can have peace of mind

Axis Rooms

Axis rooms has a full suite of products in addition to the channel manager and can help you to customize the entire operations. Its channel manager can seamlessly connect to 150 + channels and help you to manage your rates better.

In addition to these 2 additional channel manager which deserve a mention are:

Ezeecentrix and Hotelogix

So incase you are in the market for a channel manager, do check these options out. All these channel managers have presence and support in India.

Finally it comes down to price and what all does the bundle offer?

What channel manager do you use and how is it working for you? Let us know in the comments below.