Top 5 Hospitality Trends We Expect In 2024

The hospitality industry is undergoing transformative shifts due to changing consumer behaviors, emerging technologies, and evolving market dynamics. 

Staying ahead of the curve not only gives you a competitive advantage but also improves the overall guest experience and satisfaction—the ultimate revenue force.

What hospitality trends are currently in?

Let’s find out!

Why Should You Keep Pace With Hospitality Trends?

Keeping up with hospitality trends is essential to thrive in an ever-changing, dynamic, and highly competitive market.

In addition, it allows you to identify areas for improvement, leading to a better understanding of your guests and their needs.

Staying Competitive — Incorporating innovative ideas can help you attract more customers and stand out.

Enhancing Guest Experience — From offering unique amenities to providing tailored services, staying on top of trends lets you create memorable experiences that boost guest satisfaction and loyalty.

Driving Innovation — Allows you to identify growth opportunities, experiment with new ideas, and drive positive change within your organizations.

Adapting to Guest Behavior — Adapting your offerings to meet the changing needs of your target audience ensures they stay relevant and appealing to a diverse customer base.

Future Planning — Allows you to anticipate developments and plan strategically for the long term.

5 Hospitality Trends You Should Know About

One of the major factors dominating and dictating current trends is guest behavior and the desire for a more personalized experience

1. Set Up Attribute Pricing

Attribute pricing is a strategic pricing method in which you adjust the price of an accommodation unit based on various attributes such as:

  • Room size, 
  • View, 
  • Amenities, and 
  • Location.

This allows you to maximize your revenue by charging higher prices for rooms with desirable attributes and lower prices for rooms with less desirable attributes.

For example, a hotel with luxurious spa facilities may charge a premium for rooms that include access to the spa, while rooms without this amenity may have a lower price.

However, the challenge with attribute pricing is monitoring and tracking all different room types with different amenities and rates.

The solution is leveraging property management systems that automate this entire process based on your criteria.

OTA SYNC’s dynamic pricing possibilities enable you to update and adjust your pricing strategy based on demands, seasonality, attributes, etc., across OTAs and booking channels.

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This pricing strategy allows you to offer value to guests by allowing them to choose the most important attributes and pay accordingly, while maximizing your profits.

2. Leverage AI and Machine Learning 

The integration of AI and Machine Learning technologies has revolutionized the hospitality industry and paved the way for innovative solutions that:

  • Streamline operations, 
  • Enhance customer experiences and 
  • Maximize revenue potential.

AI algorithms can analyze vast amounts of data to predict trends and customer preferences, allowing you to personalize services and create tailored experiences.

Machine learning algorithms deal with other important aspects and automate routine tasks such as booking management, inventory control, and pricing optimization.

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Let’s see additional ways where AI and machine learning excel:

? Virtual assistants — Provide instant customer support, answer common questions, and assist with bookings. 

They can be available 24/7, improving response times and customer service.

? Predictive maintenance — Monitor equipment and systems to predict when maintenance is due, thus reducing downtime and lowering maintenance costs.

? Revenue management — AI algorithms can analyze market trends, competitor pricing, and historical data to optimize pricing strategies and maximize revenue.

? Sentiment analysis — Analyze customer reviews and feedback to identify trends, monitor customer satisfaction levels, and address any issues proactively.

With OTA SYNC’s AI-powered Ask Concierge feature within the Guest App, you can instantly provide replies to FAQs and additional info your guests will find valuable.

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3. Boost Marketing Efforts with Influencer Collaborations

Collaborating with influencers can be a powerful tool to reach new audiences, increase brand awareness, and drive bookings and sales.

Naturally, when choosing influencers to collaborate with, it’s important to factor in their audience demographics, engagement rates, and alignment with your brand’s values.

Thus, look for influencers with a strong following in your target market and a track record of creating high-quality, engaging content.

Work with influencers to create content that showcases your property in a unique and compelling way via:

  • Sponsored posts, 
  • Instagram takeovers, 
  • Blog reviews, or 
  • Video tours of your property.

Leverage influencer-generated content — Once the collaboration is live, share it on your social media channels, website, and marketing materials to make the most of it.

UGC content is excellent for building trust with potential guests by showcasing the authentic experiences your property has to offer.

Measure and track results — To determine the success of your collaborations, track KPIs metrics such as website traffic, bookings, social media engagement, and brand sentiment. 

Offer exclusive deals — Encourage influencers to highlight the unique features and experiences that set your business apart by offering them special deals.

For example, offer complimentary stays, meals, spa treatments, etc., to help create authentic content that resonates with their audience and drives interest in your business.

With OTA SYNC, you can easily share your booking engine link with any influencer and let them earn a preselected commission each time someone makes a reservation through them.

4. Prioritize Health and Wellness 

Did you know that 50% of travelers want their trips and stays to accommodate both physical and mental wellness?

This growing interest is something you shouldn’t take lightly, as wellness tourism is expected to reach $1.3 trillion by 2025.

So what do the guests want? It ranges from organic food and vegetarian and vegan dishes to spa and wellness facilities.

Regarding food, expanding your food and beverage offer also benefits you.

It allows you to tap into new guest segments and also team up with local producers. 

When it comes to spa, wellness and fitness activities, you can implement the following:

  • Yoga classes
  • Meditation sessions
  • Massages, facials, and aromatherapy
  • A well-equipped fitness center on-site
  • Swimming pools, saunas, jacuzzis, etc.

Of course, you can include outdoor activities and organize hiking and biking, local city tours, etc.

If you have a wellness and spa section in your hotel or property, our SPA & Wellness management solution can be of great help to streamline and enhance the operations and:

? Automate appointment scheduling.

? Help with client management and resource allocation, such as treatment rooms and equipment. 

?  Integrate with point-of-sale systems and manage staff schedules.

By centralizing these functions, Spa and Wellness management software improves overall efficiency while enhancing guest experiences through high-quality services.

5. Embrace Gamification

Gamification in the hospitality industry isn’t a new concept, but thanks to technological advances, it has evolved significantly.

It provides a fun and interactive way to reward guests for their stays and enhance their satisfaction.

Gamification can come in many shapes and sizes, and can include:

? Status levels (Silver, Gold, Platinum), points accumulation, badges, and rewards for completing challenges

Thus, guests can earn points for stay, dining, engaging with your brand, etc.

? If you have an App, your guests can earn points using certain app features, such as mobile check-ins, room service orders, etc.

? You can consider offering points, rewards, and incentives to companies planning and booking meetings, events, and group accommodation.

? Rewards for guests who explore the property, dine at restaurants, attend shows, and participate in activities.

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OTA SYNC’s bidding feature brings an element of fun to the booking process.

Your potential guests can participate in a bidding process and say their desired price.

Naturally, you set parameters for the bidding feature, such as minimum bid amounts, bidding timelines, available room categories, and additional services they can bid on.

Once the bidding period ends, the hotel reviews all bids and may accept the highest one that meets or exceeds the minimum acceptable price.

The appeal for guests is that it offers them the opportunity to potentially secure discounted rates, upgrades, or unique packages based on their bid amount.

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? Bonus: 4 Major Hospitality Trends

Hospitality trends primarily revolve around personalizing and improving your service to enhance guest satisfaction and engagement.

In our blog, Top 4 Hotel Trends in 2024, we’ve covered four key hospitality trends in great detail.

To give you a sneak preview, these are:

  • Implementing contactless technology to streamline your operations.
  • Embracing direct bookings to personalize offers for your guests.
  • Tapping into bleisure travel to expand into new markets and leverage upsell opportunities, and 
  • Opting for eco-friendly and sustainable solutions to expand your guests’ pool.

All of the above trends aim to improve service quality while adapting to the needs and wishes of a modern-day traveler.

How Can OTA SYNC Help You Stay On Top of Hospitality Trends?

OTA SYNC is an all-in-one property management system that provides a centralized solution that automates everyday operations and improves operational efficiency.

It has advanced tools covering everything from front and back office operations to enhanced guest experience.

Thus, with our tool, you can digitalize your property and:

Monitor and track all your properties across all channels in a single view.

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Enhance guest satisfaction by enabling smooth mobile check-ins and outs.

Personalize and tailor your guests’ stay according to their needs, thanks to the guest data our system collects.

Offer upselling and cross-selling options to your guests based on their preferences.

Increase direct bookings by customizing your Booking Engine to align with your brand and resonate with your guests.

 Automate cleaning schedules and inventory tracking, and get maintenance alerts to ensure every room meets the highest standards.

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✅  Process payments instantly, supporting multiple currencies and payment methods.

And the list goes on.

Ready to see how you can propel your property management with OTA SYNC?

Start with OTA SYNC for free and explore a wide range of tools to keep up with the latest hospitality trends.

Keep Learning:

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Top 4 Hotel Trends You Should Know In 2024

As the hospitality industry continues to evolve and adapt to changing guest preferences and new technologies, staying on top of emerging trends is crucial to maintaining a competitive edge.

Thus, it would be beneficial to keep an eye on new trends to improve service quality and adapt to the needs of modern travelers.

Curious to discover the top 4 hotel trends in 2024?

Let’s get started, then!

Top 4 Hotel Trends To Watch For This Year

1. Implement Contactless Technology

Adding contactless solutions to your hotel’s tech stack is about more than following the latest trends. 

It’s also about streamlining your hotel’s operations and enhancing guest satisfaction. 

1.1. Enable Mobile Check-Ins

Mobile check-in options allow your guests to check in to their rooms and complete pre-arrival procedures using their mobile devices without visiting the front desk. 

These options offer:

  • Convenience, 
  • Efficiency, and 
  • A personalized guest experience, benefiting both you and your guests.
Key Benefits of Mobile Check-Ins

? Convenience

Guests can bypass the front desk queues, save time and complete the process at their convenience, whether en route to the hotel or upon arrival.

? Contactless Experience

Mobile check-in promotes a contactless check-in process, reducing physical touchpoints and promoting health and safety measures, which is particularly relevant in a post-pandemic travel environment.

? Personalization

Guests can select room preferences, view upgrades, and access special offers, enabling a more personalized and tailored stay experience based on their preferences.

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? Efficiency

Mobile check-in automates the check-in process, reduces wait times, minimizes paperwork, and enhances staff productivity.

By doing so, your hotel staff can focus on guest service and other tasks.

? Upsell Opportunities

You can use mobile check-in platforms to promote room upgrades, amenities, and additional services to guests during check-in and drive incremental revenue.

? Data Insights

Mobile check-in options provide valuable data insights into guest preferences, 

booking patterns and behavior, enabling you to:

  • Analyze guest data, 
  • Personalize marketing efforts, and 
  • Optimize operational strategies to meet guest needs effectively.

Mobile check-in options offer a win-win solution for both you and your guests.

OTA SYNC’s Guest App is a comprehensive solution that allows your guests to:

  • Do a smooth mobile check-in quickly.
  • Obtain all the necessary information about hotel rules and policies.
  • Get answers to the most common questions via our Ask Concierge feature within the app.
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  • Enhance their stay by offering upselling options, such as gourmet dinners or luxury spa days.
  • Navigate the stay and get instant reservation updates.
  • Personalize their invoices by selecting and customizing billing details for easier expense monitoring and transparency.

1.2. Transform Your Rooms Into Smart Rooms

Transforming hotel rooms into smart rooms involves integrating technology and automation to enhance guest experiences and improve efficiency.

Besides your hotel’s size and budget, another determining factor in choosing the right solution is the profile of your typical guest.

Therefore, “use” your guest persona to decide which smart features will add value. Later, as your hotel grows, you can gradually incorporate more smart tech.

Thus, depending on the above factors, here are some solutions you may want to implement:

? Smart Room Control —  A central control system or mobile app that allows guests to: 

  • Adjust thermostats, lighting, and other room settings, 
  • Request services, and 
  • Access hotel information from their smartphones or in-room tablets.
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? Smart Connectivity — Provide various solutions for work, entertainment, and communication purposes, such as:

  • High-speed Wi-Fi, 
  • Wireless charging stations, 
  • Smart TVs with streaming services,
  •  Bluetooth-enabled speakers, etc.

? Smart Keys — Come in various forms, including keycards, key fobs, smartphones with digital keys, etc., and provide temporary or time-limited access for specified durations.

? QR Codes — QR codes placed around the room and the hotel offer a handy way to share practical info, such as:

  • House rules, 
  • Restaurant menus, 
  • Digital maps to navigate around the hotel,
  • Upselling offers
  • Room service
  • Direct contact with the front desk, etc.

? Contactless Payments — Implement a POS system to process payments, track inventory, customize menu, etc.

OTA SYNC has a fully integrated payment gateway that instantly processes transactions and allows multiple payment methods.

Thus, you can pay with debit and credit cards, digital wallets, etc.

Since we operate in over 150 countries, the system allows payments in multiple currencies and updates the exchange rate daily.

Furthermore, our OTA Payments tool also automatically charges virtual credit cards from OTAs such as Booking.com, Expedia, Hotelbeds, etc., in a secure way.

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Another great perk of using OTA Payments is that it integrates with multiple POS systems, thus providing comprehensive payment solutions.

2. Embrace Direct Bookings

According to the H2c’s 2023 Digital Hotel Operations Study, direct bookings continue to increase. Last year, they accounted for 33% of total bookings.

Furthermore, although most bookings still come from OTAs, the numbers are down compared to the previous years.

So, what makes direct bookings grow in popularity?

The biggest “culprits” for this trend are the quality content on your website and loyalty offers, as well as an increasing guests’ interest in using smart, flexible systems.

With most of the upselling happening during the booking process, direct booking provides ample opportunities to boost ancillary revenue.

booking-upselling-statistic

But there’s even more to direct booking. In addition to reducing your dependency on OTAs and the commission fees, you can collect more guest data.

Most OTAs keep this type of data to themselves. 

However, when you collect data, you can leverage the info to personalize the guest experience and create more tailored offers to align with your guests’ wishes and needs.

Our Booking Engine provides a user-friendly interface so your guests can check room availability, view pricing, and complete secure bookings in real time, at their own pace.

? Moreover, with various booking widgets and availability calendars in more than 15 languages, you get a centralized platform for an easy overview across all channels.

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? Additional customization options enable you to change logos and colors and tailor the appearance of your booking forms, emails, invoices, and general settings.

? The system is flexible and comes with plenty of options to automate your operations while catering to your guests:

  • Different price lists per accommodation facility, unit or a person with a centralized view.
  • Upselling opportunities, special offers and packages, promo codes, etc.
  • Automated city tax and VAT, depending on the region and market.
  • Extra services, such as extra beds, cots, dry-cleaning, etc.
  • And many more.

3. Tap into The Bleisure Travel Market

If you’ve never heard of bleisure travel, it’s high time you opened your hotel to that possibility.

Blesiure trips, as the name suggests, combine business trips and leisure, creating additional benefits for the hospitality industry.

us-bleisure-travel-market

Although the above stats focus on the US market, bleisure travel is a global phenomenon and an important revenue aspect for other markets.

Business travelers love adding a few extra leisure days to their business trips, especially if their family or friends can join them.

Again, the figures speak for themselves if you look at the statistics.

bleisure-travelers-statistics

So, how can you leverage this rising trend

Provide incentives for companies whose employees stay at your hotel and enable:

  • Special discount prices for extended stays
  • Benefits of loyalty or reward programs
  • Additional perks, such as complimentary room upgrades, late check-out, spa sessions, etc.
  • More personalized offers based on the guest data you’ve collected. For example, guided tours, visits to local attractions, restaurants, markets, etc.
  • High-quality wi-fi and co-working space or a conference room.

4. Opt for Eco-Friendly and Sustainable Solutions

According to Booking.com’s Sustainable Travel Report, an increasing number of travelers, 76 % to be more precise, want to travel more sustainably.

Thus, implementing green practices and sustainability has become a great deal within the hospitality sector, which should lower the carbon footprint.

? Energy Conservation

  • Install energy-efficient lighting such as LEDs, motion sensors, and automated controls to reduce electricity consumption.
  • Use renewable energy sources like solar panels or wind turbines to generate clean energy on-site.
  • Implement energy management systems to monitor and optimize energy usage in guest rooms, common areas, and back-of-house operations.

? Water Management

  • Install low-flow fixtures, dual-flush toilets, and water-saving showerheads to reduce water consumption.
  • Implement water recycling systems for irrigation, landscaping, or non-potable water usage. 

? Waste Reduction

  • Partner with recycling companies and incorporate recycling programs throughout the hotel for paper, glass, plastic, and other recyclable materials.
  • Minimize single-use plastics by providing reusable alternatives, such as refillable amenities and water bottles.
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  • Compost organic waste from kitchens and food services to reduce landfill waste and promote sustainability.
  • Do smart meal planning to reduce food waste, and add more vegan and vegetarian options to your menu since this food type can contribute to 75% less climate-heating emissions.

? Go Green

  • Team up with local organic suppliers, farmers, etc., and support the local economy by opting for organic and fresh products.
  • Use eco-conscious cleaning products, linens, and furniture made from recycled or sustainable materials.
  • Offer eco-friendly activities, tours, and experiences that promote environmental education and conservation efforts.
  • Participate in tree planting programs, energy efficiency projects, or renewable energy investments to offset carbon emissions.

Besides obvious benefits to our planet, supporting environmental initiatives can enhance your brand reputation and let you tap into a growing eco-friendly guest base.

Wrapping It Up

Although digitalization in the hospitality industry is integral to adding value to guests’ stays, hotel chains still haven’t fully embraced digitalization regarding guest experience.

Thus, it leaves plenty of space for improvement and personalization.

OTA SYNC, a robust hotel management software, can provide you with digital tools to automate every aspect of hotel operations and overall guest experience.

This way, you can get a head start and solve the biggest challenge in digitalizing operations — system integration.

How Can OTA SYNC Help You Digitalize Your Hotel?

OTA SYNC, an all-encompassing hotel management system, helps you:

? Get more direct bookings via its fully customizable Booking Engine to align with your brand and offer your guests live availability and rates, upsell options, etc.

? Manage reservations, room assignment, check-in, and check-out processes from a centralized place.

? Integrate with point-of-sale systems, ERP solutions, and reporting tools to get a comprehensive overview of the hotel’s performance.

? Update room availability, rates, and bookings in real-time, ensuring consistency across multiple OTAs and booking platforms.

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? Efficiently control room distribution and avoid overbooking or underselling with automated updates

? Streamline the planning and execution of events and banquets, track event details, manage reservations, and generate invoices.

? Enhance the operations of your hotel’s spas, wellness centers, and fitness facilities with features such as appointment scheduling, client management, and resource allocation.

? Manage housekeeping via the centralized platform for efficient task assignment, real-time updates on room status, and seamless communication among housekeeping staff.

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? Directly communicate and chat with guests that book over Booking.com, Airbnb, and VRBO from a unified inbox, so you won’t miss messages again.

? Automate multiple payment options and instantly process transactions.

And the list goes on.

Want to see OTA SYNC in action?

Try OTA SYNC for free and take your hotel and guest management to the next level.

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Everything About The Banquet in Hotel Feature

Hotel Banqueting is one of the essential revenue sources for hotels because it allows you to sell additional amenities or services.

However, banqueting has many variables, such as different costs, food and beverage, marketing, etc., and you must have a systematic approach to reap its benefits.

What is a banquet in hotels, and how can the Banquet feature drive revenue?

Let’s find out!

What Is a Banquet in Hotels?

A banquet in a hotel is a large, usually formal meal or festivity for many guests in a hotel’s dining or event space. 

Hotels usually organize banquets for special occasions such as:

  • Weddings, 
  • Corporate events, 
  • Conferences, 
  • Gala dinners, 
  • Awards ceremonies and other celebrations that require a spacious venue, catering services, and event coordination. 

What Does Banqueting Cover?

Hotel banqueting covers various aspects that offer a sophisticated and upscale setting.

Venue

Depending on the size and possibilities of your hotel, you can offer 

  • Banquet halls, 
  • Ballrooms, 
  • Function rooms and 
  • Event spaces to accommodate large gatherings for banquets.

These venues typically include seating arrangements, staging areas, dance floors, audiovisual equipment, and other amenities to host events successfully.

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Catering Services

You can provide catering services for banquets, offering various menu options, cuisine styles, and dining arrangements to suit the event requirements.

Catering packages may include:

  • Multi-course meals, 
  • Buffets,
  • Food stations,
  • Pre-set services
  • Themed menus, 
  • Beverage selections and customized culinary experiences tailored to guests’ preferences.

Event Planning and Coordination

Your staff, including hotel event planners and coordinators, is in charge of organizing the event, coordinating logistics, managing guest RSVPs, and ensuring seamless execution.

Naturally, your team should work closely with clients to plan event details, customize decor, arrange seating layouts, schedule entertainment, and oversee event flow.

Decor and Ambiance

Elegant decor, lighting arrangements, floral displays, table settings, linens, centerpieces, etc., can enhance the ambiance of banquets and create a festive atmosphere.

You can customize decor to match the event’s theme, branding, color scheme, or style preferences.

Entertainment and Activities

Banquets may include entertainment options such as live music, DJ services, dance performances, interactive activities, photo booths, and other engaging elements to enhance guest enjoyment.

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Why is Hotel Banqueting an Important Revenue Stream? 

Banquet sales can contribute significantly to your hotel’s revenue stream because they help you make the most of your facilities and otherwise less-used spaces

This allows you to leverage their resources efficiently and maximize profitability.

In addition, professionally organized banqueting can:

  • Enhance your hotel’s reputation and attract new customers since you can showcase your services, amenities, and hospitality to a wide audience. Consequently, positive word-of-mouth can lead to repeat business, referrals, and long-term partnerships with organizations and individuals.
  • Diversify your revenue streams beyond traditional bookings and weather fluctuations in the hospitality industry.

What’s more, you can implement a variety of upselling and cross-selling opportunities for guests to buy additional services, curated packages, etc.

5 Hot Tips to Increase Banquet Sales in Hotels

Hotel banqueting provides abundant benefits and opportunities you can leverage even more by implementing the following tips:

  • Do benchmarking to see what your competitors lack, where you can shine, and offer something they don’t.
  • Target your audience so you can create and tailor the event and the accompanying elements to their specific needs.
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  • Advertise your Banquet feature across OTAs, your website, social media channels, etc. 

Opt for channels where most of your target audience resides to increase the possibility of booking.

  • Nurture relationships with previous banqueting guests and create a reward or loyalty program to entice them to return.
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  • Monitor OTAs, social media, and other channels to check guests’ sentiments and use them to identify what you do well and where you can improve.

Why Should You Opt For Hotel Management Software (HMS) to Automate Banqueting Service?

Although a banqueting service provides multiple revenue opportunities, organizing an event in your hotel can be a nightmare unless you have robust HMS.

Without an HMS that can automate and streamline online bookings, the process is time-consuming and requires many calls and emails.

This system enables your staff to track all guests’ requests from a centralized dashboard and provide them with accurate information about room and equipment availability.

Additionally, the real-time view and updates allow your staff to quickly respond to changes in guests’ requests and provide them with alternative solutions if necessary.

But, it’s not only about benefits for you.

Online booking possibilities make the process more flexible for guests, too. 

They can explore amenities, banquet spaces, and prices at their own pace to make an informed decision that aligns with their needs, vision, and budget.

Other noteworthy benefits of the banqueting feature within the HMS include:

Customization — During the booking process, guests can make specific requirements based on their needs.

Payment options — Thanks to integrated payment systems, your guests can quickly and safely pay online in multiple ways, using credit cards, digital wallets, etc.

Better organization — Automated housekeeping management ensures all the staff gets real-time updates on room status, eliminating double or missed tasks.

Upselling & cross-selling opportunities — From in-house catering to offering special discounts, promo codes, etc., you can elevate the guest experience.

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For example, you can offer special discounts to event attendees who want to stay at your hotel after the event.

Or include curated packages with city tours, spa sessions, etc.

Revenue tracking — The Banquet function enables tracking the total revenue from events, making it easier to plan future events and decide on the necessary resources.

Minimizing errors — The feature reduces the possibility of errors and incomplete documentation by tracking invoicing and payments

Improved service quality — Having all the aspects of the event meticulously planned and organized creates a positive experience for clients and their guests.

How Does The Banquet Feature Work?

The Banquet function is just one of the features of the hotel reception system. When a client requests the organization of a Banquet and chooses one of the available options or special requirement add-ons, all the information flows to the reception system.

The system includes all essential information:

  • Guest details
  • Event details
  • Billing
  • Statistics and reports.

Payment calculation functions include advance payment, amount distribution, and automatic adjustment based on the final bill. 

Due to the automated system, any reservation changes or updates can happen instantly and immediately show in the centralized dashboard.

How Can OTA SYNC Take Your Hotel Banqueting to A New Level? 

OTA SYNC is an all-encompassing hotel management solution that can help you automate and streamline everyday operations, including pre-, during-, and post-arrival.

Thus, together with the Channel Manager and Booking Engine, it provides a robust asset to:

? Manage online reservations, room availability, invoices, billing, etc., from a centralized platform.

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? Connect with point-of-sale systems, ERP solutions, and reporting tools to get a comprehensive overview of the hotel’s performance.

? Update room availability, rates, and bookings in real-time, ensuring consistency across multiple OTAs and booking platforms to avoid under or overbooking.

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? Manage multiple properties and events in a single view with real-time and accurate updates and changes.

? Get direct bookings and allow guests to check room availability, view pricing, and complete secure bookings in real-time.

? Access our Premium features:

  • Banquet & Event management — Facilitates efficient coordination of venue booking, scheduling, catering arrangements, and guest management tasks.

Thus, you can centralize operations, track event details, manage reservations, and generate invoices.

  • SPA & Wellness management — Includes features for appointment scheduling, client management, and resource allocation, such as treatment rooms and equipment. 

Furthermore, it integrates with POS systems and manages staff schedules for improved overall efficiency.

  • Housekeeping management — Provides a centralized platform for efficient task assignment, real-time updates on room status, inventory tracking, maintenance alerts, and seamless communication among housekeeping staff.

? Change pricing depending on seasonality and demand to maximize revenue and avoid gaps.

? Offer special deals, packages, and promo codes to boost loyalty and also attract new guests.

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? Enhance the guest experience via the Guest App, which hosts features for self-check-ins and check-outs, valuable tips on what to do and visit, information about hotel rules, etc.

And so much more.

Ready to test OTA SYNC?

Try OTA SYNC for free and ensure a seamless experience for event planners and attendees.

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What Is Revenue Per Available Room Revpar And How It Is Used

Understanding and optimizing revenue performance is essential to thrive and succeed. Among the various KPIs paramount for hotels, RevPAR stands out as a fundamental metric providing valuable insights into your hotel’s revenue-generating efficiency.

But what is RevPAR, and how does it influence revenue management strategies?

Read on to learn more about this crucial metric and its impact on your hotel’s financial health.

Let’s dive in!

What Is RevPAR?

RevPAR is a key performance metric in the hospitality industry that evaluates a hotel or property’s financial performance. 

There are 2 ways to calculate RevPAR:

1. By dividing total room revenue by total rooms available during a specific period.

revpar-formula

2. By multiplying your hotel’s average daily rate (ADR) by its occupancy rate.

how-to-calculate-revpar

Both methods produce identical results, and the one you choose usually depends on the available data.

Either result will provide a snapshot of your hotel’s revenue performance per room, show its financial health, and show how effectively you monetize your available room inventory.

For example, if your hotel’s total room revenue was $100,000 in a given month and you have 100 rooms available for booking, then Rev PAR would be $1,000.

This means that, on average, each available room in the hotel generated $1,000 in revenue during the specified time.

RevPAR is a valuable indicator of your hotel’s revenue-generating capacity and overall operational efficiency. 

It evaluates occupancy and average daily room rates, providing insights into the hotel’s pricing strategy, demand forecasting, and market positioning.

ADR,  RevPAR, and Occupancy Rate: What Is The Relation?

ADR (Average Daily Rate), RevPAR, and Occupancy Rate are KPIs that assess financial performance but focus on different revenue generation aspects.

revpar-vs-adr-vs-occupancy-rate

Occupancy Rate shows the percentage of rooms occupied during a specific period.

Average Daily Rate (ADR) calculates the average room rate you charge for occupied rooms in a specific period (such as a day, week, or month).

It helps you understand how much revenue you generate on average from each booked room.

While ADR focuses solely on the average room rate and revenue generated from occupied rooms, RevPAR provides a more comprehensive view by considering both room rates and occupancy levels. 

RevPAR vs. RevPAR Index

RevPAR index is a metric that compares your hotel’s RevPAR performance against a benchmark or a set of competitor hotels. 

It helps you assess how well your property generates revenue relative to your competitors or the market average.

RevPAR Index = (Hotel’s RevPAR / Market’s RevPAR) x 100

Hotel’s RevPAR is the Revenue Per Available Room of the hotel, while Market’s RevPAR is the average RevPAR of a group of competitor hotels or the overall market average.

Thus, the RevPAR index provides insights into your property’s competitive position in the market. 

However, although a RevPAR index above 100 indicates that the hotel is outperforming the market, it isn’t set in stone.

For example, if a budget hotel has midscale hotels in its comp set, a RevPAR index below 100 can also indicate success.

Why RevPAR Matters?

RevPAR is one of the most crucial metrics in the hotel industry for several reasons:

  • Revenue Generation — Directly reflects how effectively a hotel generates revenue from its available room inventory. 
  • Performance Evaluation—Tracking RevPAR trends can help you identify growth opportunities, optimize pricing strategies, and make informed decisions to maximize profitability.
  • Competitive Benchmarking—Comparing a hotel’s RevPAR to industry benchmarks and competitor performance helps evaluate its market position. 
revpar-importance
  • Operational Efficiency — Indicates a hotel’s operational efficiency in managing room inventory, pricing, and revenue streams to identify inefficiencies, adjust strategies, etc.
  • Strategic Planning — Helps you understand demand trends, pricing dynamics, market positioning, and revenue management strategies to stay competitive.
  • Investor Confidence—RevPAR is a key metric that investors, stakeholders, and financial analysts use to evaluate a hotel’s financial health and investment potential.

Where Does RevPAR Fall Short?

Although RevPAR is an invaluable metric, it’s not omnipotent and has some areas where it may fall short.

Limited Focus

RevPAR primarily focuses on room revenue and doesn’t take into account revenue generated from other sources, such as 

  • Food and beverage, 
  • Spa services, 
  • Parking, or 
  • Conference facilities. 

Consequently, this limited focus may not provide a comprehensive view of your hotel’s overall revenue performance.

Occupancy Rate Impact

Changes in occupancy rates, room rates, or a combination can influence RevPAR.

Therefore, fluctuations in RevPAR may not always accurately reflect underlying demand trends or pricing strategies.

What’s more, it makes it challenging to isolate specific factors affecting revenue.

occupacy-rate-impact-tip

Revenue Mix

RevPAR doesn’t differentiate between revenue you generate from different room types or rate categories. 

So, if you run a hotel with a diverse room mix, you may have varying revenue contributions from different room types, which RevPAR doesn’t account for.

revpar-drawbacks

Seasonal Variations

RevPAR calculations may not account for seasonal variations in demand, pricing fluctuations, or special events that can impact revenue generation.

This may lead to distorted insights into the hotel’s overall revenue performance throughout the year.

Benchmarking Challenges

Comparing RevPAR across different hotel properties or markets may be challenging due to differences in:

  • Property size, 
  • Location,
  • Amenities, 
  • Target markets, and 
  • Pricing strategies. 

Thus, benchmarking can be less precise and may not provide a true apples-to-apples comparison.

Market Dynamics

RevPAR may not account for external factors such as economic conditions, changes in market demand, shifts in the competitive landscape, or trends in consumer behavior.

However, all of these can impact your hotel’s revenue performance beyond room revenue alone.

While RevPAR is a valuable tool for assessing room revenue performance and overall occupancy efficiency, it’s essential to complement this metric with additional KPIs.

Only then you’ll be able to gain a more comprehensive understanding of your property’s financial health, competitive position, and revenue diversification strategies.

What Are Alternatives to RevPAR?

Other valuable “per room” metrics you should also take into account are:

  • TrevPAR (Total Revenue per Available Room) — Shows the hotel’s total revenue per room.

Unlike RevPAR, it includes additional revenue streams but doesn’t consider any input costs, meaning it won’t show the ultimate profit.

trevpar-formula
  • ARPAR (Adjusted Revenue per Available Room) — Shows how much profit each room brings you, including variable costs and additional revenue.

Although it includes variable costs, it doesn’t include fixed ones. Thus, you can’t use it to measure your hotel’s overall profitability. 

arpar-formula
  • GOPPAR (Gross Operating Profit per Available Room) — Shows your total revenue minus gross operating expenses.

It shows you how much money your hotel actually makes, making GOPPAR an essential performance metric.

goppar-formula

How to Boost RevPAR?

Optimising RevPAR is paramount for maximizing revenue at the most profitable rates.

All the additional ways you can leverage to improve RevPAR further fall under 1 big category: Yield management.

This pricing strategy optimizes revenue and profitability by dynamically adjusting room rates based on factors such as:

  • Demand, 
  • Market conditions,
  • Booking patterns, and 
  • Inventory availability. 
yield-management-importance

The goal of yield management is to maximize revenue by selling the right room to the right customer at the right price and time.

In order to achieve that, it relies on a few key principles and strategies.

  • Dynamic Pricing — Adjusts room rates in real-time based on demand fluctuations, seasonality, events, booking patterns, and competitor pricing.
  • Segmentation —Targets different customer segments with tailored pricing and promotional offers to optimize revenue from each segment.
  • Forecasting — Uses historical data, market trends, etc., to predict future demand and adjust pricing strategies and inventory allocation accordingly.
yield-management-strategies
  • Inventory Management — Manages room availability and controls room inventory by selling the right rooms at the right prices based on demand and booking patterns.
  • Promotions and Packages — Includes targeted promotions, packages, and upsells to increase revenue, attract specific customer segments, and drive bookings during low-demand periods. 
  • Channel Management — Optimizes distribution channels, OTAs, direct bookings, and marketing channels to reach a broader audience and drive bookings.
  • Data Analysis —Uses analytics tools and performance metrics to track KPIs, monitor revenue trends, analyze booking patterns, etc. 

? Bonus: 3 Common RevPAR Mistakes You Should Avoid

As we’ve already said, a lower RevPAR and RevPAR Index doesn’t immediately mean your hotel doesn’t perform well.

However, it is good to keep tabs on the mistakes many hoteliers like you make:

1. Neglect Direct Bookings

Although presence on OTAs and other distribution channels can help you gain visibility relatively fast, don’t underestimate bookings from your website.

The commission fees they charge can significantly affect your RevPAR. Thus, create a healthy balance and allocate only some rooms to OTAs.

Besides saving on costs, providing online booking makes it easier to communicate with your guests and improve their experience.

2. Underselling Rooms

It is a common mistake to charge less for a room to drive more guests. Although it can pay off sometimes, you can also decide to charge more and have fewer guests.

In addition, you can increase the room’s value by including add-ons or extras, such as airport pick-up and spa services.

3. Overspending

Try to reduce hotel operating costs by reducing food waste, doing preventative maintenance, and being sustainable.

Monitoring costs closely will indicate where you save money without compromising service quality or guest experience.

How to Improve your RevPAR with OTA SYNC?

OTA SYNC is an all-encompassing hotel management system that streamlines everyday hotel operations and provides solutions to:

  • Maximize your revenue
  • Diversify your revenue streams
  • Save time and money due to rich automation features.

In addition, it helps you enhance the guest experience and satisfaction via the Guest App that provides quick check-ins, tailored recommendations, upselling opportunities, etc.

But how can OTA SYNC improve your RevPar?

? Update room availability, rates, and bookings in real-time to efficiently control room distribution and avoid overbooking or underselling.

? Offer special packages, promo codes, discounts, etc., to retain loyal guests but also attract new ones.

otasync-special-offers

? Increase direct bookings through a user-friendly Booking Engine that allows guests to check room availability, view pricing, and complete secure bookings in real time.

? Optimize the distribution of hotel room inventory across various online channels, OTAs, etc.

? Leverage dynamic pricing and change prices depending on demand and seasonality.

? Avoid manual errors and monitor all the properties and rooms across all channels on a unified calendar.

otasync-platform

And the list goes on.

Enticed to give OTA SYNC a try?

Start with OTA SYNC for free to boost your RevPAR efficiently.

Keep Learning:

10 Ways To Improve Your Hotel Business In These Challenging Times

13 Tips on How to Improve Hotel Sales In 2024 [Complete Guide]

What is a Hotel Revenue Management System and How Does it Work?

How To Reduce Hotel Operating Costs

Efficiently managing hotel operating costs requires juggling at many levels and constant balancing between trying to reduce costs while maximizing profit.

In addition, you may wonder how to decrease costs without affecting guest satisfaction and experience

This is our cue. We’ve curated a list of 7 practical ideas on how to reduce hotel operating costs without compromising guest experience.

Let’s dive in!

What are Hotel Operating Costs?

Hotel operating costs cover various aspects of running a hotel, including:

  • Staffing, 
  • Utilities, 
  • Maintenance, 
  • Housekeeping, 
  • Guest services, 
  • Marketing, and 
  • Administrative expenses.

These costs are essential for maintaining the property, delivering customer service, and generating revenue.

What Types of Hotel Operating Costs Are There?

There are 2 main distinctions between hotel operating costs: fixed and variable ones.

Fixed costs refer to costs that don’t change due to sales fluctuations, occupancy level, etc.

These costs include:

  • Rent or Mortgage
  • Salaries and Benefits
  • Property Insurance and Taxes
  • Depreciation
  • Utilities
  • Regular Maintenance for fixed equipment, systems, and infrastructure, such as elevators, HVAC systems, and fire safety equipment. 
categorizing-hotel-costs

On the other hand, variable costs change due to productivity levels, and they increase or decrease based on occupancy rates.

Some of the variable costs are:

  • Food and Beverage
  • Housekeeping Supplies
  • Labor Costs for Hourly and Part-time Staff
  • Promotional Expenses, Advertising Costs, and Marketing Campaigns.

To manage hotel operating costs, you need to take into account both cost types to optimize cost control strategies.

How To Reduce Hotel Operating Costs in 7 Effective Ways?

1. Opt for The Robust Hotel Management Software (HMS)

Hotel management software streamlines and optimizes various aspects of hotel operations, including:

  • Reservations, 
  • Guest services, 
  • Front desk management, 
  • Housekeeping, 
  • Billing, and 
  • Reporting.
hotel-managament-software-features

Therefore, HMS is invaluable when it comes to automating routine tasks such as reservations, check-ins, and check-outs.

In addition, the software’s inventory tracking features enable better control of supplies, amenities, and equipment. 

It results in minimizing waste, preventing stockouts, and ensuring cost-effective inventory management.

If you leverage HMS’s efficiency, automation, and analytical capabilities, you can streamline operations and, ultimately, reduce costs.

? ProTip:

OTA SYNC is an all-encompassing hotel management solution that streamlines everyday hotel operations without compromising guest satisfaction.

With our features and tools, you can:

? Access a centralized reservation system to monitor room availability, rates, guest preferences, and special requests. 

? Streamline check-in and check-out processes and manage guest profiles and preferences with ease and error-free.

? Provide a user-friendly interface for front desk staff to access guest information, room status, and payment details.

ota-sync-interface

? Coordinate housekeeping schedules, track room cleaning status, maintenance tasks, etc.

? Generate and process guest invoices, record payments, manage folios, and handle billing inquiries with integrated invoicing features.

? Automate financial reporting, track revenue streams, analyze performance metrics, and generate customizable reports.

Thus, OTA SYNC’s advanced solutions help your hotel operate more effectively because you’ll be able to make informed decisions and build cost-efficiency strategies.

2. Cross-Train Your Staff 

Labor costs amount to half of the operating costs

It is important to anticipate the number of employees you need for a specific job because an insufficient number of employees can result in greater dissatisfaction among both guests and employees.

However, if you cross-train your staff, you won’t have to hire additional staff in case a colleague is ill.

In addition, your staff will be able to learn new skills, which is beneficial for them. It is usually a good idea to combine roles and functions that are somewhat similar and where a transition isn’t too steep.

However, watch out not to overburden your staff since that would make them ineffective.

For example, if you leverage the OTA SYNC solution, your staff’s transition will be smooth and easy since they can access all functionalities within a single dashboard.

Thus, it will be rather easy to train them in multiple roles because everything is automated and requires little to no effort to implement.

3. Reevaluate Your Marketing Strategy

Marketing is an essential asset for promoting your hotel, but if you don’t do market research properly, you risk wasting money.

It is good to periodically review your current marketing strategy and see which marketing channels bring revenue and which don’t.

Analyze your target market, competitors, and performance and measure your return on investment (ROI).

It will provide you with valuable insights into potential weaknesses and threats, but also into your strengths and opportunities.

Only with a data-backed approach can you effectively and wisely change and adapt your marketing strategy.

Furthermore, collecting and analyzing guest data from multiple sources will allow you to create tailored campaigns and hit your target audience.

4 Targeted Marketing Campaigns You Should Try

  • Personalized rewards such as discounts, free room upgrades, special packages, etc.
  • Better-tailored email marketing campaigns because you’ll know exactly what “triggers” your guests to book based on their booking history, preferences, and interests.
  • Send automated surveys post-stay to check your guests’ sentiments and identify areas for improvement and enhanced guest satisfaction.
  •  Offer personalized upsell and cross-sell opportunities and enable guests to buy additional services, curated packages,limited-time offers, etc.

? ProTip:

Did you know that with OTA SYNC, you can upsell or cross-sell additional services and offer special promotions, discounts, promo codes, etc?

For instance, you can use promotional and discount codes to say “thank you” or attract new guests with promotional offers.

ota-sync-promotional-and-discout-codes

Furthermore, our software integrates with various CRM systems, allowing for even more personalized options due to capturing and storing guest data from all distribution channels.

4. Do Preventive Maintenance

Preventive maintenance basically means that you should attend to equipment, systems, etc., in your hotel before it breaks down.

Repairs are usually more costly than regular maintenance, and this can affect your guests’ experience and satisfaction.

Although it may not be your first association, regular housekeeping is also an integral part of maintaining your property and minimizing the tear and wear of facilities.

? ProTip:

Our Housekeeping management solution provides a centralized platform for:

? Efficient task assignment, 

? Real-time updates on room status and 

? Seamless communication among housekeeping staff. 

ota-sync-housekeeping-management

It hosts features like automated cleaning schedules, inventory tracking, and maintenance alerts to ensure timely room turnover.

5. Be Sustainable

Going green or sustainable eventually leads to reducing costs in energy and electricity bills primarily.

Depending on your hotel’s current budget and preferences, you can start with something as small as:

  • The guests reusing the same towels during their stay instead of exchanging them daily.
  • Energy-efficient bulbs that are also more durable.

Or, you can move to bigger investments and install occupancy sensors that automatically turn off lights when guests leave their rooms.

In addition, you can rely on solar energy and install solar panels to heat pools, for example.

6. Monetize Less-Utilized Spaces

With a dash of creative touch and inspiration, you can turn less-utilized spaces in your hotel into revenue-generating machines.

When unused, these spaces only cost money and require even more maintenance.

However, you can change that.

6 Hot Ideas To Transform Your Under-Utilized Spaces

  • Transform under-utilized spaces into versatile event venues for hosting meetings, conferences, workshops, weddings, private parties, and other events.
versatile-event-venues-tip
  • Convert these areas into co-working spaces or business centers equipped with workstations, high-speed internet, printing facilities, and meeting rooms.
coworking-spaces-tip
  • Set up temporary pop-up shops or retail displays to showcase local artisan products, souvenirs, merchandise, or themed collections.
  • Repurpose unused spaces into wellness and fitness areas, such as yoga studios, meditation rooms, fitness centers, or spa facilities.
  • Utilize outdoor areas, gardens, courtyards, or rooftop spaces for cocktail bars, social events, music performances, sunset views, or unique dining experiences.
  • Showcase art exhibitions, cultural displays, photography galleries, or rotating art installations to engage guests, support local artists, and enhance the hotel’s ambiance.

Being innovative can diversify revenue streams, enhance guest experiences, attract new clientele, and differentiate your hotel in the competitive hospitality market.

? ProTip:

? OTA SYNC’s Premium Banquet & Event management feature enables you to monetize on renting your property spaces.

It facilitates efficient coordination of tasks such as venue booking, scheduling, catering arrangements, and guest management. 

The software includes features for tracking event details, managing reservations, and generating invoices to enhance organizational efficiency.

? Another Premium feature, SPA & Wellness management, boosts the operations of spas, wellness centers, and fitness facilities.

It allows you to monitor bookings for your SPA section of the property and have different views, either per SPA activity or the person in charge of it. 

7. Control Food and Beverage

The food and beverage section is one of those areas where you can cut your operational costs immensely. 

The hotel industry produces 79000 tons of food waste per year, resulting in the kitchen waste budget as high as 20%.

With that in mind, what are some of the ways to reduce costs?

Monitor how much food and beverage your guests consume on average and consider reducing the portion size if the guests leave plates more full than empty.

✨ Create menus where you can use the same ingredients.

Store ingredients properly so they don’t go to waste.

Wrapping It Up

With a bit more careful planning and analysis, it shouldn’t be too difficult to reduce hotel operating costs.

Nonetheless, managing all the aspects separately can be overwhelming, time-consuming, and error-prone. 

Consequently, it could affect not only your finances but also the guest’s experience. 

Luckily, hotel management software is a great saver that helps you run and automate all the operations from one place.

So, why not start with OTA SYNC?

OTA SYNC is all-in-one hotel management software that helps you:

? Streamline and automate your hotel’s everyday operations

? Maintain guest profiles, preferences, stay history, and feedback to personalize guest experiences and tailor services to individual needs.

? Implement guest loyalty programs, track guest feedback, automate guest communications, and enhance customer relationships for repeat business and guest retention.

? Automate inventory tracking, prevent stockouts, and control costs associated with supplies and assets.

?  Instantly process payments in multiple currencies via our integrated payment gateway

? Get a comprehensive overview of your hotel’s financial health and performance metrics through advanced revenue, finance, and in-hotel reports.

Backed by the Booking Engine and Channel Manager, which increase your visibility and reach across OTA channels and your website, OTA SYNC is a powerful tool that caters to all the pre-, during-, and post-stay aspects of your business.

Ready to give OTA SYNC a go?

Try OTA SYNC for free and efficiently manage hotel operations while delivering exceptional services to your guests.

Keep Learning:

Hotel Channel Manager System – Complete Guide

Top Digital Transformation Ideas For Your Hotel

10 Ways To Improve Your Hotel Business In These Challenging Times

6 Essential Mobile Apps To Help You Grow Your Hotel Rental Business

Nowadays, you can hardly find any aspect of the hospitality industry that mobiles haven’t brushed upon. 

Mobile devices accounted for two-thirds of global travel and hospitality websites’ traffic in 2023. 

Thus, not using mobile apps to improve your hotel business would be a missed opportunity.

Mobile hotel rental apps vary in functionalities and purposes, but we’ve compiled a list covering every major aspect.

Let’s dive in!

6 Mobile Hotel Rental Apps To Boost Your Growth

Let’s highlight our top picks before we dig deeper.

mobile-hotel-rental-apps-overview

1. OTA SYNC — The Best Solution for Full Hotel Management

ota-sync-homepage

OTA SYNC is an all-encompassing hotel management solution that offers a full suite of features to help you streamline everyday hotel operations from a single dashboard.

In addition, OTA SYNC addresses not only efficient hotel management but also enhanced guest satisfaction.

Our software is cloud-based, but a mobile app is also available for Android and iOS systems.

It has the full functionality of its web counterpart and offers many add-ons, such as a Guest App, Housekeeping App, Automation, and Reports functions.

ota-sync-mobile-app

Thus, you can edit reservations in one click, monitor bookings, and change and adjust pricing plans on the go.

Regarding integrations, OTA SYNC has a 2-way XML connection, with iCal and API possibilities.

This way, you can seamlessly sync your availability calendar across different platforms, including:

ota-sync-calendar

Key Features

1. Property Management Solution (PMS)

? The stellar feature within the PMS module is the centralized dashboard, which provides a central view of all properties, channels, and functions without switching tabs.

? Within this module, you’ll also find in-depth statistics that provide insights into categories, such as revenue, average revenue, occupancy by months, etc.

As a result, you can identify areas for improvement but also see top-performing channels, etc.

ota-sync-statistics

? A vast collection of reports ranging from Maintenance and Housecleaning over Employee Stats to Manager reports to provide a clear overview of your property’s overall performance and maintenance.

You can even get your reports by email as often as you wish without logging in to the system first.

2. Channel Manager

? Channel Manager’s core function is to connect your property to a wide range of booking platforms, OTAs, GDS, etc.

? Therefore, a Channel manager is irreplaceable when it comes to increasing your online visibility and reach and tapping into new markets and guest types.

? Additionally, due to its great functionality, it helps you minimize double booking—it simultaneously syncs all the changes and updates in your bookings across all the channels.

? This allows you to manage and update room availability, rates, and bookings in real time.

3. Booking Engine

OTA SYNC’s customizable Booking Engine counterbalances the Channel manager and focuses on your internal channels, like your website.

Thus, you can still reap benefits from OTAs while generating more commission-free direct bookings.

Our widget allows you to fully customize the look of your Engine and apply logos, brand colors, etc.

You can even customize emails with custom headers and footers, customize invoices, etc.

4. Payments

OTA Payments is a fully integrated payment gateway that automatically processes transactions in multiple currencies while safeguarding your data.

It also allows you to charge all virtual cards automatically instead of doing it one by one daily.

OTA SYNC is a robust HMS solution that facilitates and automates hotel management tasks and operations.

2. Hootsuite — The Best Solution for Social Network Marketing

hotsuite-mobile-app-preview

Hootsuite is a popular social media management platform that enables you to:

  • Manage multiple social media accounts, 
  • Schedule posts, 
  • Track social media engagement and 
  • Analyze social media performance from a single dashboard. 

It provides various tools that not only elevate your social media presence but also catch your audience’s sentiments.

In addition to this, Hootsuite also has analytics tools to track your performance.

Key Features

Social Media Management

  • Manage and monitor multiple social media accounts, such as Facebook, Instagram, etc., from a centralized dashboard.
  • Schedule posts in advance, plan content calendars and publish posts across various social media channels simultaneously.

Engagement and Communication

  • Monitor social media conversations, engage with guests, and respond to comments, messages, and mentions in real time.
  • Collaborate with staff members, assign tasks, and streamline social media communication and engagement efforts.

Analytics and Reporting

  • Track social media performance, measure key metrics, such as likes, shares, comments, and reach, and generate customized reports for data-driven insights.
  • Analyze social media data, identify trends, and optimize social media strategies based on analytics and reporting features.

Social Listening and Monitoring

  • Monitor your hotel’s mentions, hashtags, keywords, and social media trends to stay informed about conversations related to your brand or hospitality industry.
  • Engage with guest feedback, track sentiment, and identify opportunities for community engagement and reputation management.

Social Ad Management

  • Create and manage social media ads, boost posts, and analyze ad performance within the Hootsuite platform.
  • Track ad campaigns, monitor ad spend, and optimize ad targeting for increasing social media advertising ROI.

Hootsuite is a versatile tool for streamlining social media management, enhancing audience engagement, and optimizing social media marketing efforts. 

3. Dropbox — Best for Cloud Storage

dropbox-homepage

Dropbox is a cloud-based file storage and collaboration platform that enables you to store, share, and synchronize files and folders across devices.

It also offers file hosting services, file synchronization, cloud storage, and file sharing capabilities for storing and collaborating on documents, photos, videos, and other types of files. 

Its mobile app lets you view, edit, upload, and share files.

Furthermore, you can sync files across desktop and mobile devices, ensuring access to documents and media from anywhere.

Key Features

File Storage and Syncing

  • Store files and folders in the cloud, synchronize content across devices, and access them online or offline.
  • Automatically sync changes to files, documents, and photos across linked devices, ensuring real-time access to the latest versions.

File Sharing and Collaboration

  • Share files and folders with your staff, control access permissions (view-only, edit, comment), and collaborate in real time on shared documents.
  • Collaborate on projects, work on shared files simultaneously, leave comments, and track file version history to streamline teamwork and enhance productivity.

Data Backup and Recovery

  • Back up important files and data to the cloud to protect against data loss and recover files in case of accidental deletion or device failure.
  • To prevent data loss and ensure data security, maintain file versions, recover deleted files, and restore previous file states.

Security and Privacy

  • Ensure data security with encryption, secure file transfers, password protection, and two-factor authentication to protect sensitive information.
  • Maintain privacy controls, manage user permissions, and monitor file access to secure confidential data and maintain compliance with data protection regulations.

File Sharing Links and Folders

  • Generate shareable links or folders to easily share files with others with or without a Dropbox account.
  • Customize sharing settings, set expiration dates for shared links, and track link activity to control file access and distribution.

4. Booking.com — Best for Online Visibility and Reach

booking.com-appstore-page

Booking.com is one of the most popular OTAs, and with 556 million visits in 2023, it is a great candidate for listing your hotel or rental there.

It connects travelers with a wide range of accommodation options, including hotels, apartments, villas, hostels, and resorts.

In addition to accommodations, Booking.com provides options for booking flights and rental cars to facilitate all aspects of travel planning.

But what are its key features that cater to hotels and rentals?

Key Features

When we speak about Booking.com’s features, we actually speak about the benefits it can bring to your property.

✨ Property Listings

  • Create detailed property listings, showcasing rooms, amenities, high-quality photos, and property descriptions to attract potential guests.

✨ Rate Management

  • Set room rates, special offers, discounts, and promotional deals to attract more guests and optimize revenue.
  • Adjust pricing based on demand, seasonality, market conditions, and booking trends to maximize occupancy and revenue.

✨ Availability Management

  • Manage availability, block off rooms, update inventory, and synchronize booking calendars in real time.
  • Control room availability, prevent overbookings, and maintain an accurate availability calendar to optimize occupancy.

✨ Guest Reviews and Ratings

Guest reviews and ratings provide valuable feedback and insights into guest experiences.

  • Respond to those, address feedback, and enhance your reputation and service quality based on guest comments.

✨ Analytics and Reporting

  • Access performance analytics, booking statistics, revenue reports, and financial data to analyze property performance on the platform.
  • Track key performance indicators, monitor booking trends, evaluate revenue sources, and make data-driven decisions to optimize operations.

✨ Promotions and Visibility

Booking.com offers various campaigns, featured listings, and programs to increase your property visibility and attract more guests.

  • Showcase special offers, last-minute deals, and seasonal promotions to reach a larger audience and drive bookings.

?If you want to explore how Booking.com can boost your online presence, then you don’t want to miss our blog, How To Start Advertising On Booking.com [Step-by-step Guide].

5. Trello —Best For Team and Staff Collaboration

trello-mobile-app-preview

Trello is a project management tool that uses boards, lists, and cards to help you and your staff organize and collaborate on tasks and streamline workflows. 

Its visual interface allows you to drag and drop cards across lists, rearrange tasks, add details to cards, and customize boards to suit your workflow.

Trello offers connections with other productivity, communication, and project management tools, such as Slack, Asana, Jira, etc.,

Key Features

Visual Task Management

  • Easily see task statuses, progress, deadlines, and priorities at a glance.
  • Create multiple boards for different projects, lists to categorize tasks, and cards to represent individual to-dos, ideas, or action items.

Collaboration and Teamwork

  • Facilitate collaboration among team members by enabling them to share boards, assign tasks, add comments, mention team members, and attach files to cards.
  • Provide real-time collaboration and feedback among your staff and foster effective communication. 

Checklists and Due Dates

  • Create checklists within cards to break down tasks into smaller sub-tasks, mark off completed items, and track progress toward task completion.
  • Get a clear overview of task deadlines, prioritize work, and manage timelines effectively.

✨  Labels and Tags

  • Add labels or tags to cards to categorize tasks, differentiate priorities, assign labels to specific projects, or denote task types.
  • Visually organize and filter cards based on different criteria, making it easier to locate specific tasks.

Notifications and Activity Tracking

  • Get notifications for mentions, status updates, due date reminders, and card actions to stay informed about task changes and upcoming deadlines.
  • Track activity history, view updates, and monitor changes and task or project progress.

6. FreshBooks Invoicing App — Best for Invoicing and Accounting

freshbooks-mobile-app-preview

FreshBooks is cloud-based accounting software to help you manage invoicing, expenses, time tracking, and financial tasks. 

Moreover, it provides solutions that simplify accounting processes, automate invoicing, and help you stay organized financially. 

Among its features, FreshBooks offers the FreshBooks Invoicing App that helps you create, send, and manage professional invoices on the go.

Key Features

Customizable Invoices

  • Create professional-looking invoices with customizable templates, branding options, and personalized messaging that reflect your business style.
  • Add company logo, colors, and personalized details to invoices for a professional and consistent brand image.

Automated Invoicing

  • Set up recurring invoices for subscription-based services, retainers, memberships, or regular clients to automate billing cycles and save time.
  • To streamline invoicing processes, schedule invoice delivery at specific intervals, such as weekly, monthly, or annually.

Online Payment Options

  • Offer flexible payment methods such as credit card payments, online payments, ACH transfers, and PayPal integration to simplify the payment process for guests.
  • Allow clients to pay invoices online directly through the invoice portal, improving payment speed and efficiency.

Expense Tracking

  • Track expenses, upload receipts, categorize expenses, and attach billable expenses to guest invoices for accurate billing and reimbursement.
  • Capture expense details, monitor spending, and manage costs more effectively to maintain financial transparency.

Guest Management

  • Manage guest information, track contact details, view guest histories, and access their data to maintain guest relationships and streamline communication.
  • Store guest preferences, manage communications, and track each guest’s invoices, estimates, and payments.

Reporting and Insights

  • Generate financial reports, track invoice status, view payment histories, and access guest payment details to gain insights into business finances.
  • Analyze business performance, monitor cash flow, track revenue streams, and assess financial health through data visualization and reporting tools.

Wrapping It Up

The above hotel rental apps are all great for tackling and solving typical hotel and rental business management issues.

However, all of them, except OTA SYNC, focus on a single functionality. 

Although focusing on only one major functionality usually means a tool has mastered it, effectively running and growing your hotel and rental business requires addressing more than one feature. 

This is what sets OTA SYNC apart.

It hosts comprehensive features for efficient hotel management under one roof, saving you the hassle and money of using individual solutions and switching between multiple tabs.

With our solution, you can:

Centralize all bookings and even multiple properties in a single view.

Improve guest experience through our multi-faceted Guest App, which serves as concierge, chatbot, tips and recommendations giver, etc.

Automate invoice creations and apply advanced invoice operations, such as splitting or merging by Item, Room, Guest, or Amount.

Make informed decisions based on the advanced finance, revenue, and in-house reporting tools to track your performance.

Expand reach while driving direct booking simultaneously.

Enticed to see what else OTA SYNC “hides”?

Sign up for a 14-day free trial and equip yourself with tools to grow your business.

Keep Learning:

Top Digital Transformation Ideas For Your Hotel

How To Start On Airbnb And What You Need To Know [Rental Guide]

10 Best Hotel Guest Apps for Your Business

How Can Hotel Management Software Help You Improve Your Business

A common misconception is that if you run a small hotel, you can do everything on your own and that you don’t need much technology to run your business.

This can’t be further from the truth—Small hotels face the same challenges as their bigger counterparts, just on a smaller scale.

You also need to manage reservations and ensure efficient daily operations while catering to guests’ needs and satisfaction, right?

The key to successfully streamlining these processes lies in leveraging powerful tools, such as hotel management software.

Not sure if you’d benefit from it? Read on to find out more about this robust software for small hotel management.

Let’s dive in!

What is Hotel Management Software(HMS)?

Simply put, hotel management software helps you streamline your daily operations.  

It brings together different hotel departments and services in one place, acting as the central hub for all hotel activities.

hotel-management-software

Hotel management software covers all hotel front and back office hotel operations, such as:

  • Reservation management, 
  • Room assignment, 
  • Housekeeping management, 
  • Point of sale (POS) integration, 
  • Billing and invoicing, 
  • Guest management, and
  • Reporting and analytics.

Thanks to its robust functionalities, automation of the hotel operations leads to faster and more accurate task completion. 

8 Main Types of Hotel Management Software

Hotel management software comprises multiple solutions for the seamless running of your hotel. Each solution caters to different aspects of hotel operations:

Property Management System (PMS)—Represents the core of hotel operations, managing tasks like reservations, check-ins, check-outs, room assignments, billing, etc.

Booking Engine—Enables guests to book rooms directly through your hotel’s website, eliminating the need for third-party booking platforms.

Channel Manager—Conversely, the Channel Manager helps you manage your availability and rates across various OTAs and booking platforms to maximize reach.

types-of-hotel-management-software

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)—Helps you track guest preferences, manage loyalty programs, and personalize guest communications.

Revenue Management Software—Assists you in optimizing pricing strategies based on demand, occupancy rates, and competitor pricing to maximize your revenue.

Point of Sale (POS)—Handle transactions at various hotel outlets such as restaurants, bars, gift shops, etc.

Housekeeping Management Software Streamlines housekeeping operations by assigning tasks to staff, tracking room cleanliness status, and ensuring timely turnarounds.

Inventory Management—Helps efficiently manage and track hotel assets, supplies, and consumables.

? ProTip:

Although initially, you may not need all the options but rather a single functionality, it would be a good idea to immediately look for software for small hotel management that comprises all or most of the functionalities.

As your business grows, so will the demand, and being able to implement the system to digitalize your hotel’s operations immediately, will give you a competitive advantage.

For example, with OTA SYNC, you can address the full hotel management rather than a single functionality.

This way, you’ll get a clear overview of all the operations without switching tabs or using separate tools to achieve the same.

How Can Hotel Management Software Improve Your Business in 8 Amazing Ways?

Instead of just listing the benefits of the hotel management system, let’s get practical and check the actual ways in which the software can boost your hotel’s management.

1. Automate Operational Tasks 

Imagine the following scenario: a guest is checking out of a hotel room. 

Without the HMS, meaning without automation, the front desk staff would:

  • Manually update the room status, 
  • Check the minibar consumption, 
  • Calculate the bill and
  • Update the room’s availability for cleaning.

The emphasis here is on manually. However, with the HMS in place, here’s how automation would go:

Room Status Update—When the guest checks out, the software automatically changes the room status from occupied to vacant in the PMS.

Minibar Consumption— The system tracks minibar consumption and automatically adds these charges to your guest’s bill based on predefined rates.

Billing—The system calculates the final bill for the guest, including room charges, minibar consumption, additional services used during the stay, and any discounts or loyalty points.

Availability Update—Once the room is vacant, the HMS updates the room availability in real-time on your website, booking engine, and OTAs through the Channel Manager.

Housekeeping Notification—The system notifies the housekeeping staff to clean the room, ensuring efficient turnover for the next guest.

The emphasis here is on automatically.

Thus, the HMS saves time, reduces human error, improves efficiency, and enhances the overall guest experience

Moreover, it allows your staff to focus on delivering exceptional service rather than getting bogged down in administrative tasks.

2. Minimize The Chance of Overbookings

Channel Manager, one of the cornerstones of hotel management software, ensures all your advertising channels, such as OTAs, GDS systems, and your website, are in sync.

What does that mean in practice?

When a guest books a room through an OTA, the channel manager instantly updates the room availability across all connected channels. 

For instance, if someone books a room on Booking.com, the channel manager immediately reduces the available room count on other channels and your hotel’s website.

Since the channel manager monitors real-time availability and automatically syncs changes across all channels, the risk of overbooking is minimal.

? Furthermore, you can even set thresholds for each room type. 

When the available rooms reach a predefined threshold, the system can stop further bookings for that room type to prevent overbookings.

? In case of any discrepancies or issues with inventory updates, the channel manager can alert the hotel staff immediately to address the problem promptly.

? ProTip:

OTA SYNC’s Channel Manager has a 2-way connection and integrates natively with the PMS and Booking Engine, so it syncs all prices and bookings across all sales channels and on your site.

3. Increase Online Visibility

The Channel Manager isn’t only handy for syncing all the booking info, but it is also a great asset for promoting your hotel online and expanding reach.

Thanks to its integration possibilities, the good Channel Manager can connect your property to a great number of OTAs, GDS systems, metasearch engines, etc.

role-of-the-channel-manager-in-hotels-distribution

? Advertising your hotel on high-traffic platforms will expand your reach and visibility, allow you to tap into new markets, and increase bookings and occupancy rates.

? Furthermore, multi-channel distribution allows you to integrate with international and niche OTAs, attract guests from different regions, and target specific traveler segments.

? ProTip:

With OTA SYNC, you can easily integrate with major OTAs to drive bookings from diverse sources and improve revenue streams.

For even more customization, you can use our iCal link generator to share calendar data smoothly across different platforms and apps.

4. Boost Direct Bookings

Another potent “weapon” for increasing your hotel’s booking rate is your website. 

The biggest perk is that you don’t have to pay any commissions, as you do for OTAs.

By the way, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use OTAs but rather combine all the resources you have for a maximal impact.

? But getting back to direct bookingsThe Booking Engine allows you to create and customize the booking page to align with your brand and raise brand awareness.

benefits-of-booking-engine

? Furthermore, direct booking is also beneficial for your guests because they can immediately see availability for selected dates. 

Thus, they only need to fill in the necessary reservation data and book their stay in your hotel.

? ProTip:

OTA SYNC’s Booking Engine offers a user-friendly interface for visitors to check room availability, view pricing, and complete secure bookings in real time. 

You can also customize system branding with your logo and colors and customize booking forms, emails, invoices, and settings to make your brand recognizable.

5. Maximize Revenue

Same as the Channel Manager, the Booking Engine also has more than one functionality. 

Besides being an excellent assistant in sending direct bookings your way, you can use it as an additional source of revenue.

The Booking Engine enables you to upsell or cross-sell additional services and offer special promotions, discounts, promo codes, etc.

booking-engine-for-uspelling-and-corss-selling

? ProTip:

For example, OTA SYNC allows you to sell additional services or amenities and use promotional and discount codes to say “thank you” or attract new guests with promotional offers.

ota-sync-promotional-and-discout-codes

6. Streamline Financial Management

At the core of any hotel management software is automation. 

In addition to automation of everyday operations, the HMS also automates financial management by providing solutions to:

  • Generate various invoices directly from the system
  • Track expenses
  • Send payment reminders.

Furthermore, many hotel management systems integrate with accounting software, allowing for seamless transfer of financial data such as revenue, expenses, and tax.

? A great benefit regarding financial management is that the HMS can integrate with payment gateways.

They facilitate secure online payments, manage pre-authorizations, and process refunds efficiently to simplify payment handling.

? OTA Payments, for instance, is such a system—It allows you to instantly process transactions securely and automatically charge virtual credit cards.

As a result, you can add to the guest checkout experience.

Moreover, OTA SYNC operates in over 150 countries and supports multiple currencies, with automatic daily exchange rate updates.

7. Get Valuable Actionable Insights From Reports

Naturally, financial management is inseparable from analytics and reports. 

Thus, integrations with accounting systems facilitate financial reporting and ensure consistency between operational and financial records.

Furthermore, the HMS reporting functions provide insights into revenue performance, occupancy rates, average daily rate (ADR), and total revenue generated per period.

Besides revenue reports, the HMS generates detailed financial reports, including profit and loss statements, balance sheets, cash flow statements, and occupancy reports.

All these reports should help you identify areas for improvement and make informed business decisions.

?ProTip:

Did you know that OTA SYNC offers advanced revenue, finance, and in-hotel reports for a comprehensive overview of your hotel’s financial health and performance metrics?

ota-sync-reports

Additionally, you can get any report by email at your desired frequency without logging on to the system and adjusting the parameters manually.

8. Improve Guest Communication

Hotel management software can significantly enhance guest communication because it enables you to:

  • Personalize interactions, 
  • Streamline messaging processes and 
  • Provide efficient ways to engage with guests before, throughout, and after their stay.

Even more importantly, it shows that going digital doesn’t have to mean going cold or impersonal.

Truth be told, I have the feeling that embracing digital methods has sparked our creativity to come up with tools to make guests feel at home.

So, how can you break the ice with your guests?

tips-for-good-communication-with-guests

? ProTip:

OTA SYNC’s Guest App checks all the boxes above and enables you to adapt to your Guests’ needs and personalize their stay by providing:

  • Quick check-ins, 
  • Tailored recommendations, and 
  • Instant notifications to create meaningful interactions and address their needs promptly.

What’s more, with automated welcome, thank-you, and a variety of other automated messages, you can enhance their overall experience from booking to post-stay feedback.

How Can OTA SYNC Help You Improve Your Hotel Management?

There is a special power in having greater and more flexible control over your hotel, knowing that you can:

  • Easily control all functions in the overview system and 
  • Use your time more efficiently.

OTA SYNC, an all-encompassing software for small and big hotel management, can do just that and help you:

? View all your bookings and multiple properties on a single dashboard to have real-time updates and status.

ota-sync-dashboard

? Handle recurring invoices, split billing, and invoicing for group bookings seamlessly to facilitate financial management.

? Benefit from dynamic pricing and optimize prices depending on seasonality, holidays, special dates, occupancy rates, etc., to maximize revenue.

? Rest assured knowing your sensitive data is secure due to our fully PCI DSS- compliant system, backed by tokenization, end-to-end encryption, and other security standards.

? And the list goes on.

Ready to test OTA SYNC?

Try OTA SYNC for free and uncover the ways to transform how you manage and grow your small hotel business.

Keep Learning:

Top Digital Transformation Ideas For Your Hotel

10 Ways To Improve Your Hotel Business In These Challenging Times

10 Must-Have Features of A Hotel Management System

How To Promote Hotel Online [8 Expert Strategies]

The hospitality industry has evolved significantly over the years, mirroring guests’ changing demands and preferences. 

And guests today want to explore, find, check, and ultimately book their accommodation online.

To stay competitive, it’s crucial to adapt and embrace the digital era. An online presence is no longer a nice addition but a necessity for scaling your hotel business.

But where and how can you start with so many options available?

Read on to see how to promote a hotel online for greater revenue opportunities.

Let’s dive in!

Hotel Digital Marketing: What Is It?

All the digital channels and online strategies you use to promote a hotel and attract guests are part of hotel digital marketing.

The main goal is to enhance the overall online presence of your hotel property to:

  • Reach potential guests
  • Engage with current guests, 
  • Increase bookings and, consequently, drive revenue.

What digital channels and online strategies are we referring to? Let’s find out!

How To Promote A Hotel Online in 8 Effective Ways?

The following digital marketing strategies should provide a great intro to boosting your online presence by raising brand awareness and loyalty.

1. Start With Your Website

1.1. Use Professional Photos

Did you know that high-quality photos of your hotel, rooms, and available amenities will likely increase bookings through your website by 15%?

It’s hardly surprising, considering that images are the first thing potential guests will see. Furthermore, they will not only see your images but also decide whether to continue browsing based on them.

This is why the photos you include:

  • Must look professional, 
  • Have sufficient light and 
  • Showcase your property and everything that makes it special.
website-photo-example

Have you got a centerpiece that your guests may like? 

Or decorations? 

Perhaps a stunning balcony view?

Or anything that gives your hotel that unique vibe? Include it in the photo.

1.2. Pay Attention to Loading Time

A slow-loading site can deter potential guests from waiting for your website to load, but it can also significantly hamper your search engine ranking.

user-loss-with-wait-times-page-load

In addition, make sure your website is mobile-responsive, as guests make the majority of bookings via their mobile devices.

Other important factors regarding your website are SEO optimization and a seamless booking process—we’ll cover those in greater length soon.

? Note:

You should always test your website to experience how it feels to be on the other side of the screen. In other words, put yourself in your guests’ shoes.

  • Did you manage to capture your unique selling proposition, either in words or images, or both?
  • Do your descriptions and images speak to potential guests? Do the descriptions feel inviting and welcoming?
  • Is it easy to navigate the site and make a booking? Is it mobile-friendly?
  • If you’re struggling to find what you need, and you know your “product” best, how will potential guests find their way around?

Replying honestly and objectively to these questions will help you optimize your website.

2. Optimize Your Website For Search Engines

SEO is a complex topic, but the result of not having an SEO-optimized site is simple—it’s literally like having no site at all.

It plays a crucial role in improving online visibility, driving organic traffic, and increasing bookings. 

The way it works is that it involves researching and selecting relevant keywords that potential guests are likely to use when searching for hotels. 

seo-for-hotels

So, if you strategically incorporate these keywords throughout your website’s content, meta tags, and headings, the site becomes more searchable and likely to rank higher in search engine results.

Other factors that contribute to a better ranking revolve around the following:

High-quality, engaging content related to the hotel’s amenities, services, local attractions, and area information.

Fresh and relevant content can attract organic traffic and encourage guests to book directly on the website.

? Local SEO is super important for hotels, as guests often search for accommodations in specific locations. 

It implies optimizing the website for local search terms, including location-based keywords, Google My Business listing, and map integrations. 

strategies-to-improve-hotel-website-seo

?  Link Building

Acquiring quality backlinks or referral links from reputable websites in your industry can boost your hotel website’s authority and improve its search engine rankings. 

You can achieve this through partnerships, collaborations, and creating shareable content that attracts links.

? Optimizing meta tags and descriptions with relevant keywords and compelling information can increase click-through rates from search engine results pages (SERPs) and improve a website’s visibility.

? Note:

Make sure that your contact information and details are correct. 

An inaccurate location and contact number negatively impact search results.

consumer-trust-loss-in-business-quote

3. Leverage Direct Bookings

If you have an SEO-optimized website, it will gradually attract guests and increase booking rates.

By now, you’ve probably realized that each digital marketing strategy is like a puzzle piece, unable to create a complete picture without the other parts.

Thus, an SEO-optimized website is great for increasing your online visibility, but it has to be backed up by a smooth booking experience.

The other missing part of our puzzle is the Booking Engine. 

The Booking Engine is usually part of the property management system (PMS) and benefits you and your guests.

features-of-online-hotel-reservation-system

For you, it means not having to pay hefty OTA commission rates, and for your guests, it provides a better experience since they can:

  • Check room availability, 
  • View pricing, and 
  • Complete secure bookings in real time.

The tool, therefore, offers a convenient and efficient way for guests to secure accommodation. 

? ProTip

OTA SYNC’s Booking Engine provides an enhanced guest experience and serves as a powerful revenue management tool. 

How?

It enables you to upsell and cross-sell relevant services, amenities, etc., and provide specific offers and promotions.

Furthermore, its high customization options allow you to raise brand awareness and customize its appearance with your logo, colors, online booking form, emails, invoices, etc.

4. Distribute Your Hotel Across Multiple Channels

Your hotel’s website is invaluable since you can leverage direct booking and connect directly with potential guests.

However, to maximize your visibility and online hotel promotion, you should also consider advertising on OTAs, GDS systems, and other relevant third-party apps.

Yes, most of them, especially OTAs, come with a hefty price tag, but your exposure on these platforms is unparalleled. 

They can “open” your hotel to a much wider guest pool and new markets. 

Like creating your website, you must create a high-quality profile with relevant, accurate information and captivating images.

? ProTip:

Our Channel Manager lets you seamlessly connect with multiple OTAs and booking systems while it automatically updates and syncs all the changes across the channels.

Therefore, it acts as a centralized hub, allowing you to control room distribution and avoid overbooking or underselling efficiently.

5. Promote Your Hotel on Social Media

Besides promoting your hotel directly on your website and across multiple channels, don’t forget or underestimate the power of social media.

Which platform you’ll use will depend primarily on your guests’ demography and preferences.

Nonetheless, the most popular platforms remain Facebook, Instagram, and, as of lately, TikTok.

tik-tok-marketing-strategy-statistic

You should use social media the same way you’d use your website or any other advertising channel:

  • To showcase the hotel, 
  • Share updates, 
  • Run promotions, and 
  • Interact with guests to build relationships and brand loyalty.

Social media can also be a great place to find and connect with influencers and brand ambassadors.

They usually have a large follower base, and people generally find them trustworthy. Collaborating with the right influencers will allow you to tap into a new audience. Look for travel bloggers or lifestyle influencers who can showcase their stay at the hotel to their followers. 

They can promote your hotel through authentic content and personal recommendations, driving new bookings and increasing brand visibility. 

? ProTip

Did you know that with OTA SYNC, sharing your booking engine link with influencers or agencies allows them to earn commission on reservations they make for you?

For full transparency, they can monitor everything on their own dashboards.

6. Collaborate and Partner Up

Social media influencers aren’t the only ones you can team up with. A great promoting power lies in partnering with local guides, restaurants, cultural facilities, zoos, etc.

You can include tickets to those places at a special price or offer coupons or discounted prices for restaurants, spas, etc.

For example, food tourism has been growing in popularity, with most travelers finding food experience and cuisine to be significant decision-making factors.

top-food-tourism-statistics

Therefore, you can collaborate with a local restaurant and create joint packages and promotions to help each other and expand reach.

7. Benefit From Organic Marketing

Organic marketing refers to promoting and marketing efforts to attract guests and drive bookings through non-paid, natural methods

Thus, the focus lies on building a strong online presence, engaging with potential guests, and generating interest in your hotel without relying on paid advertising. 

Actually, some of the strategies we’ve mentioned, such as social media presence, SEO-optimized website, Google My Business, etc., are part of organic marketing.

Other key organic marketing methods include:

7.1. Content Marketing

Creating valuable and engaging content such as blog posts, articles, videos, and guides can help showcase your property, provide helpful information to travelers, and attract potential guests. 

7.2. Referral Marketing

Providing exceptional guest experiences, outstanding service, and exceeding guest expectations can lead to positive word-of-mouth marketing

Satisfied guests will likely recommend your hotel to others, generating organic referrals and bookings.

Same as with influencers, people tend to believe and trust other people much more than an impersonal ad.

This trustworthiness gets even more highlighted when referrals “spread” to friends, family members, colleagues, and the people we already trust.

For hoteliers like you, referral marketing represents an excellent way to retain existing guests by rewarding them for their loyalty.

tips-to-implement-referral-marketing-in-your-hotel

Once you’ve signed up for OTA SYNC, you can use promotional and discount codes to say “thank you” to your old guests or attract new ones with promotional offers.

ota-sync-promotional-and-discout-codes

7.3. Email Marketing

Email marketing allows you to send targeted emails, newsletters, event promotions, etc., to engage with guests and nurture relationships.

It is a valuable tool to engage with past, present, and potential guests and to drive bookings.

  • Welcome Emails—Thank guests who have recently booked, provide details about their upcoming stay, offer tips on local attractions or activities, etc.
  • Exclusive Offers—To encourage return visits, send targeted emails to past guests with exclusive offers, discounts, or promotions for their next stay.
  • Event Promotions—Inform guests about upcoming events, holiday specials, or seasonal packages.

Highlight unique experiences, dining options, or special activities at the hotel during specific times of the year.

  • Loyalty Program Updates—Regular email updates keep loyal guests in the loop about the loyalty program benefits, rewards, and member-exclusive offers. They also encourage guests to engage with the loyalty program and earn points for future stays.
  • Personalized Recommendations—Use guest data to personalize email recommendations based on past stays, preferences, and interests. 

This way, you can enhance a guest’s next booking and recommend special packages, room upgrades, or experiences that align with their profile.

  • Holiday Greetings—Send guests holiday greetings, seasonal messages, or special offers during festive periods. 

8. Run Ads For a Greater Impact

Organic marketing is an amazing cost-saving strategy that allows you to be creative and explore all the possibilities to determine what works best for your audience.

As a result, it will be easier to choose a paid marketing strategy that resonates with your audience and has a quicker impact and reach.

3 most common paid marketing strategies include:

  • Google Ads—Target relevant keywords related to your hotel, location, amenities, and services.
using-google-ads-to-promote-hotel-online
  • Facebook Ads—Help you create ads based on specific demographics, interests, and behaviors, and also enable you to create ads for Instagram.
  • Retargeting Ads—Display ads to previous website visitors and show personalized ad creatives and promotions to re-engage and encourage them to revisit the site and complete a booking.

Wrapping It Up

We hope that our list of ideas on how to promote a hotel online will help you see the incredible benefits and inspire you to find additional ways to boost your online presence.

And if you are looking for a solution to help you go digital while increasing your online visibility, we suggest OTA SYNC.

OTA SYNC—An All-in-One Solution For All Your Hotel Operations

OTA SYNC, all-encompassing property management software, streamlines everyday hotel operations without compromising the guest experience.

Packed with a robust Channel Manager and Booking Engine, it allows you to extend your reach and online visibility and reap the benefits of direct and multi-channel booking.

What else can you expect from OTA SYNC?

View, manage, and edit all the reservations from all the channels and properties from a centralized dashboard without switching tabs.

ota-sync-centralized-dashboard

✨ Create invoices quickly with automatic info pull and use advanced invoice operations to split or merge by item, room, guest, or amount.

✨ Get actionable insights into your hotel’s performance, occupancy, PACE reports, etc., from advanced reporting and analytics tools. 

ota-sync-insights

Increase room occupancy, close the gap between bookings with dynamic pricing, and adjust and adapt prices based on demand, peak or low seasons, etc.

Automate and process the payments instantly, thanks to integration with major payment gateways.

Boost guest experience with our Guest App that gives guests more flexibility and control over the online booking process.

In addition, the app provides valuable tips, recommendations, and suggestions to make your guests’ stay memorable.

Curious to see more of OTA SYNC’s benefits?

Start with OTA SYNC for free to elevate your hotel’s online presence to another level.

Keep Learning:

10 Ways To Improve Your Hotel Business In These Challenging Times

11 Proven Strategies to Boost Your Hotel’s Revenue

13 Tips on How to Improve Hotel Sales [Complete Guide]

Top Digital Transformation Ideas For Your Hotel

Digital transformation has emerged as a key driver of success for hotels seeking to stay competitive, enhance guest satisfaction, and improve operational efficiency.

If you are a bit terrified by the idea or don’t consider yourself tech-savvy, you’ll be surprised how easy it is to implement digital transformation strategies.

What’s more, you’ll be amazed at how a hotel digital transformation brings so many advantages and practicalities.

Ready to dive in?

Let’s go!

Hotel Digital Transformation: What Exactly Is It?

Hotel digital transformation refers to the process of integrating digital technologies and innovative solutions into all aspects of:

  • Hotel’s operations
  • Services, and 
  • Overall customer experience.

In other words, it involves leveraging technology to enhance operational efficiency, improve guest satisfaction, and drive revenue growth. 

The ways in which you can use technology for your hotel span multiple broad categories, from self-service kiosks to direct booking channels to smart room technology.

Why Should You Consider Digital Transformation for Your Hotel?

Just as the ways you can use digital transformation are so versatile, so are the benefits.

Besides providing operational efficiency by automating the hotel’s everyday operations, most benefits seem to revolve around delivering the ultimate guest experience.

Actually, 74% of hotels intend to implement a digital customer engagement app or tool by 2025.

Furthermore, guests also require better use of technology, such as mobile check-ins, online bookings, chatbots, etc.

Thus, by embracing digital transformation, you can meet the evolving expectations of tech-savvy guests.

digital-transformation-trends-in-tourism

Apart from enhanced guest experience, digital transformation helps you:

Gain Competitive Advantage by differentiating yourself from competitors, staying ahead of industry trends, and capturing a larger market share.

Make Data-Driven Decisions because you can collect, analyze, and leverage data to gain valuable insights into guest behavior, preferences, and trends. 

What’s more, you can also tailor offerings to guest needs.

Grow Revenue due to online booking platforms, upselling strategies, targeted marketing campaigns, and personalized guest services.

Be Sustainable and implement sustainable practices, green initiatives, and innovative solutions in energy management, waste reduction, etc. 

Not only will you lower operational costs, but also reduce environmental impact.

9 Hotel Digital Transformation Ideas To Adopt Today

1. Opt For a Cloud-Based Property Management System (PMS)

PMS is like a compact treasure chest with valuable tools and features to cater to every aspect of your hotel’s operations.

The software streamlines hotel operations, automates tasks, and improves internal communication and coordination.

Thus, you can optimize workflows and improve efficiency in various areas such as reservations, housekeeping, inventory management, and guest services.

? ProTip:

OTA SYNC, a cloud-based PMS, centralizes your hotel’s operations, allowing staff to efficiently handle bookings, monitor room occupancy, and manage guest services. 

It hosts a wide range of features, such as:

  • Reservation management, 
  • Room assignment, 
  • Check-in and check-out processes and 
  • Billing and invoicing to maximize efficiency.

In addition, it integrates with point-of-sale systems, ERP solutions, and reporting tools to provide a comprehensive overview of the hotel’s performance.

2. Leverage Direct Bookings

Advertising your hotel on multiple channels is a must if you want to expand your reach or enter new markets.

However, don’t underestimate the power of your website or an app. While OTA channels may provide a wider reach, they come with a commission fee.

✨ Thus, having a website or an app where guests can directly make bookings leads to higher profit margins for your hotel.

✨ Furthermore, this way, you also have more control over pricing strategies, promotions, and booking policies, allowing for greater flexibility and customization.

✨ Direct booking also gives you an opportunity to provide a more tailored guest experience through direct communication with guests.

? ProTip:

OTA SYNC’s Booking Engine has a user-friendly interface for visitors to check room availability, view pricing, and complete secure bookings in real time. 

Furthermore, you can customize the look of your online booking form, and send emails with custom headers and footers, invoices, and settings to boost brand awareness.

3. Go Mobile

Mobile check-ins and check-outs offer guests a convenient and hassle-free experience because they can bypass traditional front desk queues and save time.

If you know that a staggering 81% of travelers want mobile check-in options, not adapting is a missed opportunity.

Apart from being convenient, mobile check-ins and -outs:

  • Speed up the guest registration process, reducing wait times and enhancing operational efficiency for your hotel staff.
  • Minimize physical interactions and promote a safer and more hygienic guest experience.
  • Enable guests to provide preferences, special requests, and room customizations in advance so you can offer services tailored to individual guest needs.
  • Allow flexibility and give guests more control over their arrival and departure times.

? ProTip:

OTA SYNC’s mobile app is available for Android and iOS and allows you to keep an eye on your reservations on the go.

otasync-mobile-app

You can quickly choose dates and pricing plans and edit reservations with a single click.

4. Monetize Through Technology

Digital technology enables you to grow your revenue through upselling features that include additional services, amenities, or upgrades.

It is a great opportunity to increase the overall value of your guests’s booking while increasing your profit.

Check the list below to find effective strategies to leverage upselling features.

✨ Room Upgrades

Offer guests the option to upgrade to higher room categories, such as suites, premium views, or executive floors, for an additional fee. 

You should highlight the benefits and amenities of each upgrade to entice guests to choose a higher-tier room.

✨ Additional Services

Upsell additional services such as spa treatments, room service, airport transfers, late check-out options, or guided tours to enhance the guest experience and generate incremental revenue.

✨ Special Packages

Create special packages that bundle room bookings with extras like breakfast, dinner vouchers, spa packages, local experiences, or tickets to nearby attractions. 

Promote these packages as value-added offerings to increase overall revenue per booking.

✨In-Room Upselling

Incorporate in-room tablets or digital guest service platforms to showcase upselling offers, amenities, and services. 

This way, guests can conveniently browse and purchase extras directly from their room for a seamless and engaging experience.

? ProTip

With OTA Sync, you can offer Promo Codes and Offers & Packages features to create compelling deals.

otasync-promo-codes-and-offers

Furthermore, you can design and manage promotions efficiently, driving more direct reservations and increasing revenue.

5. Provide Seamless Guest Experience

We’ve already mentioned mobile apps as a great solution to boost guest engagement and loyalty. 

However, you can use Guest apps focusing solely on guest satisfaction and meeting guest needs.

These apps vary in their functionalities, but they usually allow mobile check-ins and check-outs, contactless payments, keyless entries, etc.

? ProTip:

Our Guest App is a multifaceted app that optimizes the guest journey without requiring guests to install it.

Furthermore, it integrates reservation management for streamlined bookings and check-ins, syncing it with property management systems

The app also hosts an up-to-date online guest book that provides your guests with all the relevant info, including recommendations on what to see, visit, where to eat out, etc.

6. Provide Contactless Check-Ins

In addition to mobile check-ins, your guests can do it through a number of methods. For example, you can set up self-kiosks in reception for guests to check in via a QR code, which can further speed up the process. 

This could allow guests who arrive at unsociable hours to check in without calling for staff.

7. Consider Digital Room Keys

Digital room keys, or virtual keys, are electronic alternatives to traditional keys that allow guests to unlock their hotel room doors using a smartphone or smartwatch.

They usually use technology such as Bluetooth, Near Field Communication (NFC), or radio-frequency identification (RFID) to securely transmit encrypted key data to the door lock, granting access to the room.

An additional benefit to digital room keys is that you can personalize the guest experience by offering digital room keys as part of a mobile app or guest engagement platform. 

Thus, guests can also receive notifications, directions, or information about their stay through the same digital platform.

✨ Digital room keys offer enhanced security features to protect against unauthorized access. 

You can quickly deactivate lost or stolen physical key cards and provide an extra layer of security.

8. Leverage VR, AR, and 3D Tours

If you really want to provide a stunning guest experience, virtual reality tours might just be the thing.

Not only are they extremely effective in showcasing your property in a more realistic way, but guests also find them interactive and interesting.

The more realistic your property looks, the easier for guests to imagine themselves in one of the rooms or amenities.

And why stop with showing rooms?

You can also use this technology to allow potential guests to explore hotel common areas, access interactive maps, recommendations, etc.

9. Use AI-Powered Chatbots

AI-powered chatbots come in many forms, but they all share one key similarity: they enhance customer service.

Perhaps the most popular are 24/7 Guest Support bots that provide round-the-clock customer support to:

  • Answer guest inquiries, 
  • Provide information on hotel amenities, room availability, local attractions, and 
  • Assist with common queries.

They can also offer personalized recommendations based on guest preferences, requests, and past interactions.

In addition, you can use chatbots to:

✨ Streamline the check-in and check-out processes by sending pre-arrival messages, providing room keys, facilitating mobile check-ins, sending reminders, etc.

Assist guests with room service orders, request additional amenities, report maintenance issues, etc.

Collect guest feedback, respond to reviews, conduct surveys, and gather valuable insights on guest satisfaction.

Deliver personalized promotions, discounts, and special offers to guests based on their preferences, booking history, and loyalty status.

? ProTip:

With OTA Sync’s Automated Messaging, you can personalize and streamline guest interactions by sending reservation confirmation emails.

Just enter your guests’ email address, choose the confirmation language, and you’re ready.

otasync-automated-messaging

Wrapping It Up

Embracing digital transformation allows your hotel to stay agile, responsive, and relevant in a dynamic and competitive hospitality marketplace.

And if you opt for a solution that provides multiple digital options to streamline more than one hotel operation and functionality, you’ll be fully ready to transform digitally.

OTA SYNC is such a solution because it provides tools and features that address the full hotel management rather than a solo functionality. ?

How Can OTA SYNC Help Your Hotel Digital Transformation?

OTA SYNC is an all-in-one online PMS providing your hotel with robust tools to facilitate all aspects of daily hotel operations without compromising guest satisfaction.

Thus, with OTA SYNC, you can:

? Address guests’ requests and feedback in real time and allow them to access crucial information about your hotel.

? Increase your hotel’s visibility via our Channel Manager which connects you with major OTAs.

? Adapt your pricing models depending on the market changes so you can boost revenue in low seasons.

? Manage all hotel chains and operations from a centralized dashboard without switching tabs.

ota-sync-centralized-dashboard

? Instantly process transactions through our fully integrated payment gateway in a secure and reliable way.

And this is just the beginning of what OTA SYNC can do for you.

Ready to give it a try?

Start now for free and efficiently equip your hotel for the inevitable digital transformation.

Keep Learning:

13 Tips on How to Improve Hotel Sales [Complete Guide]

7 Best Free Hotel Management System

Channel Manager vs PMS – What’s the Difference?

Hotel Channel Manager System – Complete Guide [2024]

Effective hotel distribution maximizes revenue, optimizes occupancy, and helps you reach a broader audience.

At the heart of efficient distribution management lies the Channel Manager system—an indispensable tool for connecting your hotel with multiple online distribution channels.

But how to benefit most from it, and what features to look for in a Channel Manager to choose the optimal one for your hotel?

Read on to find out how a top Channel Manager system can transform your hotel business.

Let’s dive in!

What is The Hotel Channel Manager System?

A Channel Manager system manages and distributes room inventory across various online booking channels.

channel-manager-example

Its primary function is to synchronize room availability, rates, and restrictions in real time across multiple distribution channels, such as:

  • Online travel agencies (OTAs), 
  • Global distribution systems (GDS), 
  • Wholesalers,
  • Metasearch
  • Booking Engines, and
  • Social media pages.
distribution-channel-types-for-hotels

How Does The Hotel Channel Manager System Work?

Imagine you have units you want to advertise on, let’s say, 5 OTA channels. 

If it weren’t for a Channel Manager, you’d have to constantly update availability and prices, which would be a very arduous and error-prone task.

However, with the Channel Manager, you can avoid over or double-bookings and eliminate time lags and human errors.

It synchronizes room inventory in real time between the hotel’s PMS or central reservation system and the connected distribution channels, such as OTAs, GDS, etc.

channel-manager-system-process

This way, the Channel Manager automatically updates availability on all channels, so

you can be sure that room availability is consistent across all those channels.

Why Should You Have a Hotel Channel Manager System?

In addition to saving time and eliminating double bookings, implementing a Channel Manager system provides a load of benefits regarding room inventory.

1. Centralized Inventory Management

A Channel Manager allows you to centrally manage room inventory across multiple distribution channels, ensuring consistent and up-to-date availability information.

Thus, you can view and manage all channels from a centralized dashboard without having to switch between channels.

? ProTip:

With OTA SYNC, you can: 

  • Easily manage reservations with drag and drop, 
  • Do quick check-ins and -outs, 
  • Check payment and reservation status, 
  • Automatically assign rooms, all from a central place.
otasync-platform-example

2. Increased Online Visibility

Accessing a variety of distribution channels allows you to tap into new markets more easily and attract more potential guests.

What’s more, you can also factor in social media and your own website to maximize impact and cover all booking possibilities.

Therefore, you can expand your reach, and consequently increase online visibility that will drive more bookings and revenue.

? Note:

While listing on major OTAs is a great way to boost visibility, don’t rely solely on big players—Instead, connect with more niche channels that cater to your audience.

For example, if you want to attract guests from China, you should connect with Ctrip or Fliggy, which Chinese travelers frequently use.

Simply put, combining global channels with more niche ones will expand your distribution strategy.

3. Rate Parity

The Channel Manager maintains consistent room rates across all distribution channels to ensure fairness and transparency for guests regardless of the channel they use.

Rate parity enhances the guest booking experience and provides a competitive advantage by preventing rate undercutting or disparities across channels.

Furthermore, it is essential for effective revenue management strategies since it allows you to optimize pricing decisions and implement dynamic pricing strategies across all channels.

? ProTip:

OTA SYNC enables you to apply special rules for certain periods and seasons and adjust and adapt your price depending on market conditions, seasonality, special holidays, etc.

otasync-price-adapt

Thus, you can attract new guests or reward loyal ones with special discounts and price rates that will reflect on all channels.

4. Efficient Room Distribution

Automating the distribution of room inventory, rates, and availability streamlines the booking process.

  • Rate Management—The Channel Manager system automates updating room rates across channels based on your pricing strategies.

Thus, all the rate changes will instantly reflect on the connected channels to maintain rate parity.

  • Real-Time Updates—Changes, such as new bookings, cancellations, or modifications, trigger immediate updates across all connected channels. 

This ensures that all distribution partners have the most current information on room availability and rates.

  • Availability Controls—Through the Channel Manager system, you can set restrictions on room availability, such as the minimum length of stay, closed-out dates, and stop-sell limits. 

This puts you in control to prevent overbookings and any discrepancies. 

For example, with OTA SYNC, you can apply restrictions and set minimum and maximum stays to maximize revenue. 

If you set minimum stay requirements during high-demand periods or events, you can fill rooms for peak periods and prevent gaps in the booking calendar, leading to increased occupancy and revenue.

otasync-pricing-plans

When you set minimum and maximum stay rules, it allows you to plan staffing, housekeeping schedules, and other operational aspects more effectively.

✨If you offer incentives or discounts for guests who book stays that meet the minimum or exceed the maximum requirements, you can encourage longer bookings and drive direct bookings through their website.

5. Time and Cost Savings

The Channel Manager systems automate time-consuming manual tasks, such as updating rates and availability across multiple channels, saving valuable time Furthermore, by eliminating manual errors that lead to under or overbookings, you can also reduce operational costs while boosting guest satisfaction and experience.

6. Data Analysis and Reporting

In order to make data-driven decisions and not rely on assumptions and predictions, the Channel Manager will provide you with reporting tools and analytics to:

  • Track performance metrics, 
  • Monitor booking trends, 
  • Analyze channel profitability, etc.

The valuable data and insights that you’ll collect should help you optimize revenue management strategies.

? ProTip:

OTA SYNC’s reporting tool provides advanced analytics and helps you manage revenue, finance & in-hotel reports.

Therefore, you can get insights into revenue, occupancy, length of stay, and other valuable metrics to see where your hotel shines and where it can improve.

otasync-analytics

Moreover, we can email you specific reports at your desired frequency, and you don’t need to log into the system or set any parameters manually.

What To Look For in a Hotel Channel Manager System?

The benefits that a Channel Manager provides already speak heaps of its robust features.

Nonetheless, there are a few more things you should consider when choosing the optimal channel manager system for your hotel.

1. OTA Connectivity

We’ve already mentioned how important it is to connect to various OTAs and distribution systems. 

Thus, opt for a Channel Manager that provides connections that are relevant to your guest base and niche.

Naturally, check if the Manager connects to major OTAs and if it offers API integrations or iCal links for maximizing distribution strategies.

iCal links provide a universal format for calendar sharing, so you can easily connect with a wide range of booking platforms and distribution channels. 

This flexibility allows you to expand your reach and visibility without the need for complex integrations.

? ProTip:

Besides providing connections with all major OTAs, OTA SYNC also has its own iCal link generator for channels not on the list.

Therefore, you can sync your availability calendar across different platforms by updating one central calendar that pushes changes to all linked channels.

Furthermore, we offer API integration, so you can choose to customize the widgets we provide or use our API to develop your own solution.

2. 2-Way XML Connection

2-way connectivity means that the systems continuously exchange info about rates, bookings, availability, and restrictions. 

This way, all the data is constantly in sync and updated in real time and as a result, you eliminate the chance of overbooking or a mismatched price.

Another important factor related to the XML connection is the speed at which the Channel Manager processes bookings and changes.

The faster it is, the lesser the chance of discrepancies between channels.

? ProTip:

With an average reservation import speed of 5 seconds and a 2-way XML connection, OTA SYNC provides fast and secure info exchange and synchronization.

3. Integrations with Important Systems

The Channel Manager is a powerful tool, without a doubt, but it shouldn’t be a solo player.

It should seamlessly integrate and be compatible with your PMS, Booking Engine, CRM, and other systems you use regarding hotel management.

Centralizing all info in one place will make hotel running much more efficient and easier, allowing for smooth data flow between the systems.

Consequently, you’ll minimize hiccups and missteps in daily operations.

? ProTip:

Our Channel Manager has native integrations with the PMS & Booking Engine, meaning that all the changes and synchronizations will take place simultaneously.

Furthermore, thanks to integrations with the Booking Engine, you can use the booking system on your website as an additional sales channel, with synchronized prices and bookings across all channels.

4. Training and System Set Up

Changing to a new system is always stressful and intimidating, especially if you have never done it before.

Thus, if possible, opt for a hotel Channel Manager that has a user-friendly interface with great customer service and enough training.

All these factors can make a learning curve less steep and get you up and running much quicker.

Did you know the OTA SYNC’s onboarding process takes less than a day, and you don’t need external help from an account manager? ?

On top of that, the dashboard is easy to navigate and is great for newbies.

5. Mobile App

Having a mobile app gives you the freedom and flexibility to manage bookings and everyday hotel operations on the go and get instant access to all the updates and changes.

Therefore, it is a good idea to look for a Channel Manager that has a user-friendly and intuitive interface.

? ProTip:

With an Android and iOS-compatible mobile app, OTA SYNC enables you to instantly access the full PMS features, including the Channel Manager and Booking Engine.

otasync-mobile-app

You can manage and check reservations and all the important details on the go and edit reservations with a single click.

Wrapping It Up

Hotel Channel Manager system represents much more than a tool to connect you to multiple distribution channels.

You can use it as a great asset to facilitate price and availability management, ultimately resulting in more reservations, revenue, and longer-term business.

Nonetheless, the best way to leverage its powerful benefits is to integrate it with an all-in-one PMS that provides an overall solution for managing your hotel

Enter, OTA SYNC! ?

Master Hotel Distribution With OTA SYNC

OTA SYNC is an all-encompassing online PMS that combines robust features to streamline and facilitate every aspect of hotel operations and management.

Packed with the Channel Manager, Booking Engine and Payment Processor, our tool provides everything you need to make running your business more efficient.

? Customize the look of your online booking forms, emails, invoices, and settings, including custom logos and colors.

? Instantly process payments and let your guests decide which payment methods they prefer and which currency.

? Run multiple properties from the centralized dashboard without switching tabs.

? Set dynamic pricing based on your criteria and parameters.

? Improve guest experience and satisfaction via our Guest App and provide tailored recommendations and tips, quick check-ins, etc.

? Choose from multiple calendar layouts and views, and check the room status, number of nights, floor plans, etc.

otasync-calendar-layouts

Ready to see what more have we got in store for you?

Start the OTA SYNC journey for free and unlock the secrets of effective hotel distribution.

Keep Learning:

13 Tips on How to Improve Hotel Sales [Complete Guide]

Channel Manager vs PMS – What’s the Difference?

5 Best Hotel Channel Manager Software for Hotels