11 years
Any questions out there guys? Channel managers are a great, affordable resource to help you sell more beds on more sites. Let us know what you want to learn! Thanks
Learning about Channel Managers: What are your questions?
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Re: Channel Managers: what do you want to know? Now is your chance to learn! Have you always thought about using a channel manager, but aren't sure if it's right for you? Do you understand the basic concept but aren't sure about how to set it up or properly manage it? Do you currently use one, but have questions about using more advanced features? We are putting together a 'learning session' with both SiteMinder and MyAllocator reps (and possibly others) to help learn the deeper ins & outs of how these sites can help out your hostel and unique situation. So, what questions do you have? Post here or send them my way here. We are gathering answers from these Channel Manager reps to help educate the industry on these incredibly useful sites. The more we know what you would like to learn, the more we can help. Thanks! Courtney & The HostelManagement Team
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11 years
Hi Courtney
As many hostels that start using a channel manager can lose tens of thousands in income, then I would like to see the discussion to include information to assist hostel owners and managers learn when the use of a Channel Manager could be good for them. There is an assumption in the market that a Channel Manager can only increase income, but the reality for many hostels is that they decrease their gross profit as soon as they start using a Channel Manager. However, there are definite situations where the use of a Channel Manager can be beneficial.
11 years
Well if you take the cheapest channel manager which I believe is myallocator at 12 euro a month.
For me in Ireland minimum wage is 8.65 so 12 euro is say 1.5 hours a month.
So if you save 1.5 hours in manually not having to take off allocation on different channels then I would say it is worth it.
This is very simplistic but just looking at that without going into other functions it gives you and other more expensive channel managers that do more to save you money.
11 years
Channel Managers are a necessary part of most accommodation providers business. As much as we try to assist our clients in getting direct bookings - we know the reality that many travellers are happy to use Hostelworld, Booking.com etc etc, so we need to facilitate the control of that vii the PMS.
My perspective questions & answers then would relate to how the Channel Manager interacts with the PMS.
1) Does your Channel Manager interface to your PMS?
---There are different levels of interfacing. Most Channel Managers will push the booking direct from the OTA (Hostelworld etc) straight into the PMS. Some Channel Managers then allow your available beds and dorms to be published to the web. Some then allow the PMS to control the rate being sent to the Channel and then up to the OTA (not all of them do).
2) Can you set specific packages for specific channels?
---For example, we know that some of our clients sell Bed and Breakfast packages on one site, and perhaps a room only on another - differentiates the channels and also negates (in most cases) the Rate Parity argument.
3) Can you set different rates value for different channels?
---Again, whilst conscious of Rate Parity requirements, we know some Revenue Managers have the opinion that they should charge different price points on the different channels. I'm not arguing either way (nor about the legals in your contractual obligations), but your Channel Manager and PMS connectivity should allow you to do this should you choose.
4) Can you hold back beds / dorms from the channel manager via the PMS?
---Some OTA's demand that they have "last bed availability" - however, is that something you really want? Would you prefer to only publish 95% of your availability to the channel and keep a few beds back to not sell to the channel? Do you want to assign the last beds to your own, commission free website and have that control? Do you want to keep the last couple of beds back for walk-ins across the desk?
5) Does your PMS allow you to create Yield Rules on Rates to publish to the Channel Manager?
---In other words, can I dynamically (and automatically) increase the rates of the beds or dorms based on the numbers of beds I have left on a given day? Yielding on a bed can increase revenues dramatically. A conference in Vancouver a couple of years back, I heard a story from a hostel owner, who ran the business out of passion. The idea of increasing the price of the beds in peak seasons or demand was alien to the operator - and was quite proud that the bed rates were fixed, every day through the year. The manner in which the operator increased revenue during peak times, was to put extra mattresses or roll out beds in dorms (and so fitting perhaps six people in a four bed dorm). Increasing rates via Yield is a much easier (and does not breach fire regulations!) proposition. And guests understand these days that different rates apply on different days.
11 years
Well done Craig.
As usual you help me feel like I am not the only one here trying to make hostels truly more profitable. As a result I would like to add.
OTA's do often send dorm reservations of more than one person for the one room type across many rooms of that one room type. This often upsets guests that find their group is not in the same room number. Guests often expect to be in the same Dorm Bed Room and will rate the hostel poorly that does not facilitate this to happen. So a PMS that gives settings to the hostel owner that has a focus towards happier higher rating guests fills the beds with priority given to happy guests and not priority to filling the beds at any cost to the reputation of the hostel.
Of course higher rated and better reviewed hostels always attract bookings. But hostels that put the cart before the horse often end up pushing the cart themselves and forget the purpose of the horse. So if running a hostel becomes labor intensive as a result of being price focused then any PMS or channel manager is going to look good when it automates the pushing of the cart in front of the horse.
So my question is - How does My Allocator assist hostels to provide a better service to guests?
11 years
OTA's do often send dorm reservations of more than one person for the one room type across many rooms of that one room type. This often upsets guests that find their group is not in the same room number
Indeed, I guess then an addendum to my points above...
Point 1), Subsection 1) - Does your PMS autoallocate multi guest bed bookings from the channel manager in the same dorm # where the bookings are for the same dorm type, where availability allows?
11 years
Yes but I wanted to tell my cart and horse story :glasses: I think it helps owners and managers see how they turn themselves in to employees working in the hostel rather than doing things to enable them to work on the hostel. In this example it causes staff to be stuck managing guests when guests did not get as they expect rather than facilitating guests to experience more pleasant experiences.
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