Confused with Hotel distribution strategy? : This is what Individual Hotel/Group Hotels must check
Price fixing and channel management with different OTA in the hotel business is increasingly in the spotlight. When it comes to negotiating rates and commercial agreements with the OTAs, however, it is fair to say that the chains have more clout.
With hundreds of OTA showcasing their online booking engine in the internet day by day, it has become difficult for the revenue manager to update multiple systems with each rate change. In addition, there are so many third party websites that the ROI is very small because it takes time and money to get real traction on the marketing front. In such a situation, you as a travel agent require to adopt certain strategy. Below I have mentioned certain strategies that can help you to grow as a travel agent.
http://www.hotelreservationssystem.com/
For many independent hotels, the issue of rate parity is, well, a very different shade of grey. Many rely heavily on OTAs to deliver room bookings, and must pay heftier commissions than the chains to boot. The marketing dollars that are spent to ensure guests are exposed to third-party sites makes it difficult for an individual hotel to compete, and sometimes even a big brand.
Nobody can survive alone today. We live in a world of clusters and we need to work with these in order to remain competitive. And admittedly the OTAs can drive business that hotels would otherwise never have received.
The problem arises, however, when independent hotels, which are paying very high commissions to guarantee that they remain on the first page, are unable to control pricing in their own market.
While yatra.com or makemytrip.com may be in the driving seat today, the reality is that much of their revenue still comes from independent hotels. In other words they need the business of independent hotels. And increasingly hotels are seeing the light.
Many hotels would sign different rates for different markets based on the conditions in that country. “We can go back to that model as today it is technologically possible. It makes the revenue landscape much more sophisticated and in the end it improves the bottom line for hotels and reduces the cost of customer acquisition,” says one of the travel technology partner PROVAB
So here are few tips to help independent hotels regain control and reduce their dependency on OTAs. Provided by PROVAB TECHNOSOFT, a leading channel management software (channel management system) development company, has delivered a best in class online booking system to individual and chain of hotels
1. Have a clear distribution strategy and drive a harder deal
2. Diversify your supplier base
3. Manage inventory
4. Pay greater attention to the direct channel
5. Consider using an e-channel and distribution manager:
The Supplier Module of e-channel and distribution manager – property owners can enlist their property using this module. They can add general information, allocation, pricing, images and contacts.
Laced with a state-of-art CRS system, this property management software boasts of intrinsic and clean GUIs. The entire property management system is based on the search for individual hotels, service apartments etc. across the globe. The supplier section enables the wholesalers to put their rates directly with unique facility of “channel distribution system”, a great asset for the suppliers.
What information does B2C, B2B hotel extranet software store?
The information stored in hotel extranet system includes room types, room rates, room conditions, inventories, plan rate architecture, information regarding reservation, graphical information that includes video and pictures and details hotel information like address, phone, fax number and geographical code information.
Regarding Author:
Author is a senior business analyst and an expert in hotel reservation system and marketing strategy implementation.
Resources:
http://www.hotelreservationssystem.com
http://www.hotelreservationssystem.com/hotelreservationsystem.html
http://www.hotelreservationssystem.com/hotelbedsxmlapiintegration.html
