Without a competent channel or manager to assist you in organizing your activities, if you’re short-term property management who lists your rentals on several booking platforms, your life will be exceedingly tough, if not impossible.
What is the role of a channel manager?
One of the most significant things short-term property management may have is a channel manager. What it does is let the many channels you use connect via a common dashboard, ensuring that all of them display consistent, up-to-date data.
What is the role of a channel manager?
After you’ve connected your channels to your property management software, your channel manager will be able to interact directly with them to acquire or push information as needed.
When a booking is made solely on a single channel, the channel manager limits the booking dates on the other channels to avoid double bookings.
That’s not all, however. You may use a channel manager to send information to your channels. Rather than login into Airbnb, Booking.com, and HomeAway separately to post a new property, you can upload it to your single dashboard and have it published across all of your channels using your channel manager.
What elements should I take into account while choosing a channel manager?
When choosing a channel manager, make sure the software can do all of the channel manager’s functions. This will save you time from having to log into different channels separately. This implies it should be able to post fresh information to all of your channels and retrieve reservation information from each of those channels to update all of your calendars.
You should utilize the channel manager of a program with as many direct connections with the channels you use to make your life as easy as possible. Direct integrations allow for seamless communication between your channels and your channel manager, which is critical given the sensitive information they share.
What is the difference between a PMS and a channel manager?
While both property management software and a channel manager are software solutions that help short-term property operators streamline their operations, there is a difference between them.
While a channel manager is a feature that pushes and pulls data to and from the numerous channels you list on, property management software is a broader term that refers to a platform with more features.
While some property management software is restricted to the administration of several channels, others include functions such as:
- Property managers may use analytics to get valuable information about their business’s performance.
- A single calendar gives you instant access to all of your bookings across all of your platforms.
- A central inbox allows you to contact visitors from a single, well-organized area.
- Housekeeping management
A gateway allowing homeowners to check the performance of their listings, a direct booking website builder, task management functions, and other features are included in some property management software.
These capabilities greatly simplify the property management process, saving property managers time and energy while ensuring that no vital obligations are overlooked.
