5 highest-rated channel managers for hotels

Take a moment to think about your current distribution strategy. What channels are you using to drive reservations? Have you automated availability and rate changes? 

A channel manager is one of the most crucial elements of a hotel’s technology infrastructure. It allows lodging businesses to connect to multiple distribution channels, including online travel agencies (OTAs), GDSs, metasearch sites, and more, without the fear of overbookings. 

But how do you know which channel manager is the best for your property? Hoteliers face an overwhelming number of options when it comes to software. It may even feel like a full-time job to identify the best channel manager for your hotel.

In this article, we explore what to look for in hotel channel management software and highlight the best providers in the hospitality industry.

5 best channel manager software for hotels

Five channel manager vendors worldwide that offer comprehensive functionality and receive high ratings on platforms such as Softwareadvice, HotelTechReport, Capterra, and TrustPilot. 

1. Cloudbeds Channel Manager
2. SiteMinder 
3. RateGain
4. Profitroom
5. Hotelogix 

4 features to look for

When evaluating hotel channel managers, look for these critical factors. 

1. Speed and flexibility

Speed is paramount to inventory management, which requires seamless updates across all online distribution channels, with bookings and availability updated in real-time. Any latency between booking a room and updating availability can cause overbookings which significantly impact hotel operations, but that’s avoidable with the right channel manager.

Speed also matters when it comes to adjusting inventory. Your channel management system should empower your hotel’s distribution strategy and allow you to allocate availability on each channel according to market demand. It should also enable you to simultaneously sell your inventory on all channels (known as the pooled inventory model) without worrying about overbookings. Your hotel is more profitable with more granular control over where specific hotel room types are distributed and how much is available on each channel.

2. Connectivity

When it comes to hotel booking sites, consumers have many options. The online distribution ecosystem is rich and evolving: from online travel agencies (OTAs) such as Expedia, Airbnb, Booking.com, Agoda, and Tripadvisor to wholesalers, metasearch engines, bed banks, and global distribution systems (GDS) – travelers are spoilt for choice.

The wide variety of channels has many potential upsides for hotels, such as stronger consumer awareness and visibility. The downside is that there are so many booking channels to manage. Your channel management software should do a lot of the heavy lifting for you — reliably distributing your inventory across all the channels that matter most. 

For properties, there’s just not enough time to manually update rates and inventory on all the online channels where guests book. The problem is especially acute with hard-to-reach international markets, where language and currency barriers prevent independent properties from competing. 

For example, your hotel is unlikely to book Chinese travelers without a presence on Trip.com, the country’s largest OTA. The best channel manager providers connect your hotel to travel markets that you weren’t aware of.

Channel managers should support hotel revenue strategies and pricing parity needs. They must be equipped with the functionality to sync different room rates and packages, from discounts for selected periods to different rate plans such as Refundable, Non-Refundable, Weekly/Monthly Discounts, Last-Minute, and more.

Your channel manager should also have a two-way API integration across many channel partners to ensure your hotel’s inventory is bookable wherever travelers shop.

3. Integrations

Ensure that the channel manager you choose integrates with your other hotel management software, especially your property management system (PMS) and booking engine. This way, all of your systems will be in sync, automatically updating every time there is a new booking or cancellation—regardless of whether they are a direct booking from your hotel website or a third-party. You will be saving yourself and your staff countless hours of manual data updates on occupancy, pricing, minimum stay, and more.

Further integrations with your revenue management system (RMS) and CRS help ensure that all your connected channels are properly managed and that proper data flows between marketplaces. It also provides the opportunity to implement dynamic pricing practices to increase profitability and channel performance. 

Our recommendation is to choose one fully integrated, all-in-one platform to synchronize as much data as possible: occupancy, rate plans, promotions, special offers, and amenities, just to name a few.

4. Ease of use

Finally, the ideal hotel channel manager is user-friendly. There should be little to no training necessary, and all functionality should be straightforward. 

 This doesn’t mean that advanced options aren’t available; on the contrary, it’s about making the tool unintimidating for new users and extensible for advanced users, such as managers and owners who need more information. Today’s best providers are cloud-based software with frequent updates and feature enhancements, and their support team is available 24/7.    

Your channel manager should also streamline front desk administrative time by allowing you to update availability and manage reservations in one single dashboard. Jeremee Peters, Cloudbeds Director of Product, has this to say:

“Look for real-time synchronization across sales channels, which means your property can distribute inventory while receiving reservations. This bypasses the need for you to individually manage your property on each channel you choose to list on, avoiding that back and forth between those extranets.”

A hotel channel manager should also work well with your other hotel software, especially your property management system. Any errors or incompatibilities can create headaches that waste time and impact the guest experience. A PMS with a channel manager updates room inventory across all channels in real-time, so you don’t risk double bookings from different sites. This allows you to optimize your room distribution efficiently and strive toward a sell-out.

Simplify distribution 

As long as you’ve selected a solution that delivers on each of the points mentioned in this article, your hotel is well-positioned. If you find that your channel manager is taking more time than it’s returning, consider a change. The best hotel channel manager simplifies your life with automation and helps you achieve online sales and revenue targets reliably. Don’t accept anything less!