Online sales make up the bulk of any hotel’s distribution today. The internet has given independent hoteliers unprecedented exposure, providing them with the opportunity to attract legions of travelers from across the world. The advent of cloud computing further accelerated growth for owners, unlocking powerful, enterprise-level solutions that could harness the massive potential of the internet for these small and mid-sized properties.
This rise in the authority of independent properties coincided with a shift in traveling trends and as a new generation of travelers began to emerge, their preferences began to sway towards the small and mid-sized hotels. Guests were seeking a more intimate experience during their vacations – something that the larger hotel chains could not provide.
However, this has created a new problem for independent hoteliers – handling this increased exposure. OTAs attract millions of users to their sites on a regular basis and new bookings are constantly being made every second. With hotels selling their rooms on several avenues, managing room inventory and distribution can become extremely challenging. Moreover, the sheer number of bookings being made on the internet today means that your hotel is constantly engaged in a game of double-booking roulette – all it takes is a moment for two unwitting guests to book the same room.
Fortunately though, this problem can be solved by integrating your PMS with a reliable channel manager. Channel managers integrate with your management system and update room availability across all channels whenever a new booking is made on any platform. However, that’s not enough. Real-time integration is critical to preventing double-bookings and if the channel manager you choose doesn’t support your local OTAs, it doesn’t solve anything.
Hotelogix & HotelRunner – A 2-in-1 Solution
We’ve made it simple – finding a PMS and a distribution management solution doesn’t need to be done independently! We’ve partnered with HotelRunner to offer owners a powerful, two-way channel manager supporting connectivity to approximately 100 OTAs, including Agoda, Booking.com, Expedia & Orbitz. With over 12,000 properties connected to more than 150 travel agents spread across 107 countries, HotelRunner is helping independent hoteliers boost occupancy and increase revenue by enabling managers to create additional distribution channels and come up with innovative ways to promote sales. ‘Social coupons’ reward guests with discounts when they perform a certain action such as sharing the booking on social media, helping the hotel build a stronger online presence.
HotelRunner is available for FREE with our PMS plans.
At the end of the day though, if your management system isn’t maximizing your property’s online potential, the channel manager you choose will only have limited impact on your hotel’s distribution. In fact, an incomplete PMS could actually hinder your online sales. By ensuring centralized rate distribution across a number of avenues such as your own website, social media platforms, the GDS and so on, Hotelogix provides your property with real-time rate management while eliminating the need for any sort of manual consolidation – whether you use Seekda, MaxiMojo, Busy Rooms, SiteMinder or any of the other popular channel managers we support.
The first step to forging a strong web presence is building your management strategy with an emphasis on selling online – this is precisely what we had in mind while developing Hotelogix.
