What is a channel manager?
A Channel Manager is a system that automates distribution of your short-term rental properties on the different listing sites (channels). The main objectives of a channel manager is to save you time and so that you avoid mistakes: it syncs your inventory on multiple channels. A channel manager helps you sync your rates, calendar and content (pictures, description, etc.).
According to the European Vacation Rental Survey 2018, more than 70% of property managers with 10 or more listings use a channel manager. We can also see from the chart that this percentage increases to 90% for those with more than 100 listings.
In the same survey, we asked European property managers how much they grew their supply in 2017 and how much they expected to grow by 2018. Although this chart does not necessarily demonstrate a causal relation, companies using a channel manager have shown a 70% larger growth rate than companies that do not use a channel manager. Similarly, the most aggressive plans for growth came from property managers using channel managers.
Why should you use a channel manager?
Channel managers are a useful tool for managing listings across a combination of platforms – they sync and push real-time rates and combine availability across channels.
Channel managers can be used to apply channel-specific mark-ups to a base rate to accommodate fees and costs, or even to maximise profit from a premium channel. This may be done by channel or property type if applicable, and the software even has controls for length of stay or price per person adjustments.
Channel managers are reported to save property managers up to 20 hours a week. If you want to learn more, make sure you check out expert short-term rental channel managers such as BookingPal, Kigo, NextPax and Rentals United.
Implementing one of these products allows you to diversify distribution whilst consolidating management through live syncing listings, guest communications, calendar and pricing updates to and from your channel mix. They ease the workload of effective management strategies and can hugely reduce the risk of booking errors or missed revenue.
Property managers must embrace technology and software to facilitate their business strategy and channel managers are crucial in realising an optimised pricing and distribution strategy. It is equally important to guarantee that this strategy is fully and reliably informed strategy.To reflect the importance of channel diversification, Transparent tracks 28 million listings worldwide, across all major OTAs.
If you are not familiar with Transparent, our Dashboards use software to help empower and enhance property managers’ knowledge of the vacation rental industry. Our product allows granular analysis of extensive industry data to ensure that all elements of your revenue management strategy are optimised and your prices are aligned with the market.