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Is your PMS enough for distribution?

Channel Managers and Hotel Property Management Systems have been around for quite a few years now. Whether you are a real estate agency, a hotel, a B&B manager or the owner of some family properties, there are chances that you are looking for the type of software that can help you out the best. Here are some differences between Channel Management systems and Property Management Systems, which can let you understand such platforms better and take an informed decision.

Is your PMS enough for distribution

Purpose

Property Management Systems are a type of software system that is created to make daily operations management easier for real estate companies, hotels or rental agencies. The aim is to assign, schedule and organize tasks and these are especially helpful for reporting, accounting and staff management. Channel Managers, on the other hand, specialize in distributing short-term rentals to listing websites, whether it comes to wholesalers, GDS, Metasearch, Vacation Rental sites or OTAs.

Capability

PMS systems are created originally in the form of front desk hotel software, and are made to follow trends in the market and can redirect them to vacation rentals or some other expanding sector. With the use of this type of system, you can spend less time in dealing with business and get more time to concentrate on guest experience and guests.

A PMS channel manager can let you deal with time-consuming operations of managing a vacation rental business. A PMS channel manager updates information automatically across every booking channel and can automate payments and online reservations. Dedicated channel managers, however, are online distribution specialists and can frequently offer much more connections across many channels.

Sophistication

When you choose a property management system integrated with a channel manager, it can help you in online property management and can ensure listing distribution for you across many websites. A PMS or company has several advantages. Property management systems offer automated guest communication services, business performance analytics, in-built accounting services and many more.

PMS coming with an in-built channel manager can be very useful for your own business. A dedicated channel manager is useful in all those cases where there is a drop in the functionality of a property management system. There are more sophisticated capabilities of dedicated channel managers, which can let you create a very complex type of pricing model as per your wish. While PMSes and channel managers tend to vary in nature, the former lacks the sophisticated features that are part of dedicated channel managers – such as pushing right property specs and dealing with a complicated pricing model.

Support

A few property management firms have a team comprising of local employees that care for on-site upkeep and maintenance. But you can expect a built-in expert team with dedicated channel managers, which come with the support of a team comprising of expert distribution professionals. The team of experts of the developer company has a direct communication line with booking websites as well as other channels, due to the fact that a high volume of properties is offered by dedicated channel managers to listing websites.

 

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6 Great Types of Content for Hotel Website for Increase in Bookings

6 Great Types of Content for Hotel Website for Increase in Bookings

A good hotel website that is rich in content can help you to attract potential customers and influence them enough to book a room in your hotel. Good content can also improve your hotel website’s search engine ranking. Here are 6 types of great content for your hotel website that can increase bookings.

  1. New menu

If you have just released a new menu, you have to announce the same. Use your hotel website to allow guests to find out you are preparing new mouthwatering dishes in your in-hotel restaurant. This can provide them with a good reason to check out your online menu. It can fill them up with enough anticipation to make a reservation. It can even attract local guests who are loyal to your business and who might like to often dine at your restaurant.

  1. Top local attractions

Write down about the places of interest in your area, and all that the region has on offer for travelers. Sharing such information can show travelers that you are knowledgeable and assistive, and the content can also attract random people looking for those topics on Google and other search engines. You may also write about the best restaurants, walking routes, shops etc in your area.

  1. Upcoming events

If there are upcoming events in your region, you may cover them as well, similar to the local attractions. You can write down various details regarding the event, such as the number of people who are anticipated to attend it, how far the venue is from your hotel etc. Write down whether a special discount is being offered with the tickets.

  1. Holiday content

You can create content that is related to holiday events. Mention whether your hotel would be offering complementary wine on Valentine’s Day upon arrival or free dinner to moms on Mother’s Day. You may write a post about a treasure hunt that you might be hosting on Easter at your hotel or the top 5 foods to have in your in-hotel restaurant for Christmas dinner. When you create content timely around particular holidays, you can attract customers enough to turn them into your hotel guests.

  1. Video tour

You may also make a video tour of your own hotel property. It can transport guests straight to your hotel property via their PC / mobile screen. You can hire a professional to shoot high-quality videos that can portray your hotel with all the vivid details, lending a personal touch to the same. You may walk guests straight through the outdoor spaces, restaurants, common areas such as lounge, rooms, suites and more. All these can help customers get a bigger and better view of your hotel property.

  1. New feature

You may also use your hotel website to announce any new feature that you have added at your hotel, such as a redecorated restaurant, Jacuzzi baths, king-size beds in all rooms, spa facility, gym, swimming pool etc. Basically, if you have bettered your hotel in any way, let potential guests know about the same.

Content plays a huge role for traffic pulled and bookings are done on your hotel website. Get Hotel channel manager & Online Distribution.

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How to Promote Your Hotel to Business Travelers?

Business travelers form one of the major groups of travelers, and this group is increasing with time. Expenses on global business travel are expected to rise by 7% by the year 2020, which means hoteliers have to go that extra mile to attract business travelers to their properties. Most of the business trippers like to stay in hotels for face-to-face and corporate meetings. The opportunities for business expansion are very high, which has led to a rise in more room reservations, choosing from amazing foods and more. Here are some tips on how to promote your hotel property to business travelers.

How to Promote Your Hotel to Business Travelers

Use social media platforms

The internet is being used too much these days, and there is high demand for social media channels among vacationers as well as among business travelers. They make use of social media platforms to interact with business experts, update themselves on the latest trends in business and find out what their competitors are doing. You can post ads on Face book, YouTube and other websites to offer multi-media experiences to business trippers. LinkedIn is another robust platform that you can use to reach out to business travelers.

Offer them a wide variety of dishes

Business travelers tend to work for more time while traveling, and do not get the time to choose from the available food options in hotels. They like to choose whatever is offered to them. If you offer them the best foods, they will be impressed. It is a good idea to offer them healthy menu items, and provide them with a variety of healthy snacks such as fruits, yogurt, cereal, self-serve toast etc. Offer them vegan meals and gluten-free foods. Ask them whether they suffer from any food allergy, and offer them meals accordingly, so that they can stay fit and healthy.

Offer real-time services

For business trippers, time is something precious. They often spend much time in moving from place to place – such as shuttles, taxis, airport, home etc – before they arrive for rest or check in or to run for their following appointment. You can keep them satisfied with a fast process, like mobile / online check-in, and gathering all the important data and payment processing before guests arrive. You should also ensure a flexible policy for business travelers’ check-out and check-in times, to let them avoid delays in schedule, making life more convenient and ensuring brand loyalty.

Running loyalty programs

Hotels operate loyalty programs that can encourage guests to come back often. These types of programs can let you boost your brand reputation and value in the market. A flexible loyalty program can help hotel groups as well as independent properties to draw in business trippers, and retain repeat business by providing business travelers with the things that they appreciate – such as discounted stays and free nights.

Try to offer amenities that can make trips less tiring for business guests – such as discounted spa services, complimentary beverages and free transportation services. Loyalty programs can drawn in corporate guests very well, and also collect guest information that can be used further to provide them with more personalized services.

Get Hospitality property management software

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7 Ways to Ease the Work of Distribution of Hotels for Better Business Growth

Online Hotel Distribution System

The hotel industry is gaining more popularity and the distribution is becoming easy and technically advanced. The customers who want to book the hotels are also changing and easy distribution becomes a way to gain momentum in the industry.  As the distribution becomes more scientific and smooth, the trends of the hotels and its customers are evolving for building a stronger structure.

  1. Distribution methods and channels are increasing – the multiple online booking methods are becoming the talk of the travellers. They keep using these platforms as and when they find it beneficial. The hotels are also expanding their network and finding channels like the travel agents who work online and the other areas through which they can ensure further bookings of their services. The main thing is to choose the most important channels that will give the hotels maximum benefits in booking.
  2. Metasearch engines and their extensive uses – This is a new way for marketing for the hotels. The sites can provide a lot of information that these search engines use for providing the viewer’s their choice of information. The use of these search engines has helped the travellers and the hotels too. They can compare the rates and accommodation choices and then choose the hotel that is best for them. The hotels are listing themselves in the metasearch so that they get a boost for their business.
  3. Cost reduction also helps – the travel agents are there to take care of their commissions but these online distribution channels often save the commission payments for the hotels. The booking generated through their own website often makes it easier for the travellers. The social media and the metasearch engines are there to drive direct bookings and eliminate the commission based agents who often can charge exorbitant from the travellers.
  4. Varied stay options beyond regular – There are different ways of booking accommodations. The travellers try these ways for staying at different times in the hotels. Vacation rentals are such options that the hotels use to list the properties and the other information regarding the availability and the charges of the rooms. The traveller now has got more choices and easy way to opt for such choices.
  5. Blockchain also helps in eliminating commission payments – This is another technology that the hotels use to build up records for proper room occupancy, inventory and rates of the rooms. The information helps customers and help eliminating OTA and other third-party platforms that survives on commission. As this is a new technology – the hotels have not used its full potential to eliminate extra cost.
  6. Tools and technologies from OTAs – The modern technology has also evolved for the OTAs and they are trying to bring about changes in the way they work. They are taking to advanced technology and preparing tools through which they can offer their service for the hoteliers. This also helps the hotel owners and the travellers at the same time.
  7. Expert channel managers and their efficiency – The channel managers are taking care of the hotel administration and are getting better results for the industry. The hotels are hiring the channel managers who are experienced and have given good results. The expertise and knowledge of these professionals are changing the way the hotels and the travellers are working for each other.

These are some of the new trends and easy ways to bring about work distribution in the hotel industry. These will either improve or they may give in to better and more advanced ways to take care of the services and rates.

To know more about Online Hotel Distribution System, visit https://www.erevmax.com/

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How to Know When Your Hotel Property Management System Needs a Change?

Property Management System (PMS) is important for hotel properties, and here are a few signs to indicate when it needs a change.

With changes in time, the needs of your hotel tend to change and the goals and requirements of your hotel property, staffs and guests change as well. The Property Management System (PMS) of your hotel has a short longevity. Here are a few signs that will indicate when your PMS needs a change.

hospitality property management software

Less control / idea about hotel operations

The main purpose of a Property Management System is to smoothly manage the operations of your hotel. The long-term success of your hotel depends on a PMS that satisfies the reporting requirements of your hotel. In case the existing system makes it impossible or tough for you to generate the numbers required for your business’ growth or evaluation, you should look for a new PMS that makes the job easy. With a good PMS, you can create customized reports and filter, export and sort the data that you need.

Your existing PMS frustrates employees

The actual worth of a PMS is defined basically by those who use it every day. If your staffs complain that the existing system in your organization is buggy, slow and comes with poor support, it is better that you get in touch with a new PMS that is known to offer a better user experience and uptime. A strong Property Management System makes even complicated tasks simpler, and ensures that everything is automated and each process is streamlined.

Your PMS requires 3rd party app integration

With PMS, it is often complained that these do not integrate or important communication tools and features cannot be implemented fully. If the existing PMS in your workplace is showing its age, and seems to be outdated enough as far as features and integration go, it is important to go for a new one. It is important for your PMS to be cloud-based and ensure that its data can be accessed in real-time in all departments.

You are paying higher maintenance and vendor support costs

If the support and service for your PMS is costing you in terms of money and time, and your business productivity has taken a hit as well, you need a change in the system. With on-site systems, continuous upgrades are involved and these can become costly.

Need for better ROI

With a cloud PMS, you can save on the initial expenses involved with costly software and hardware, thus reducing your overall ownership expenses. These are designed to offer more security, reliability, data backups and high performance.

Whether a guest books a room online or with a tour operator, your PMS stays updated through RateTiger. Contact us today – marketing@erevmax.com

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protel integrates with eRevMax for seamless online booking connectivity

protel hotel software and eRevMax today announced the successful integration of eRevMax’s two-way XML gateway Connect with protel’s property management system (PMS), offering hotel end-users a wider distribution platform to help increase online exposure and bookings.
Katja Möller-Osthues, Director of Sales at protel, commented: “The integration with eRevMax is a win-win partnership as we aim to help our hotel clients improve operational efficiencies while enhancing distribution reach.”

Hotels using protel’s PMS product range including SPE (Single Property Edition) and MPE (Multi Property Edition) will benefit from updating rates and inventory on a diverse mix of online distribution channels directly from their hotel system in real-time. The secure XML connection will ensure live rate and inventory updates as well as booking data retrieval, thereby keeping the hotel PMS updated at all times.

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