Most accommodation providers will use a PMS (property management system) and a channel manager for their online distribution. Some use PMSs that have the capability of channel managers to distribute availability and rates to OTAs, GDSs and other booking extranets and engines.
Reporting from your PMS is vital because it captures data at the end of the buying journey. Many consider this data, the most accurate representation of conversion.
A channel manager sits in the middle of the booking journey and facilitates the flow of data between points of sale and the PMS. In that sense the information it reflects is not final and is subject to change. However, because it links directly to a property’s online points of sale, the channel manager interestingly captures significant data points of the booker at the start of his/her buying journey. From this point of view, it can help you understand ‘intent’ i.e. the variables that motivate buying.
“Information captured at the start of the buying journey helps to understand Intent.”
So, what are the data points that your channel manager collects? It is worth taking a closer look at these
Time of Day
The ‘Bookings’ page, notes the time of day your bookings drop in. People make bookings depending on the activities in their day and their priorities. Glance at this regularly and you will recognize a trend in the time bands within which you get bookings repeatedly. Knowing when most of your booking are made and then correlating it with which days of the week this trend occurs, allows you to understand when your rates are most impactful. Some revenue tools automate this feature for you and allow for effective pricing strategies that reach the customer, when he/she is in the buying mind.
Lead Time
The number of days in advance of arrival that the customer makes a booking is an important indicator of buying confidence and use of opportunity. Evaluating this along with booking source, rate conditions and other variables, allows you to align your decision-making to customers motivations.
Room Nights
Look at the total number of room nights per channel and compare them over periods of time. This helps you understand the trend of buying volumes from different channels. Studying what affects this variable and how you can impact it, helps you work on getting better visibility and conversion.
Cancellations
This is an important data point to measure. As much time as you spend trying to get more bookings, it is critical that you pay as much attention to understanding what motivates cancellations. Interestingly, if you’re looking at time of day & day of the week, as mentioned above, it is very likely that you will notice a trend for cancellations as well. Tracking cancellations reported by your channel manager gives you an understanding of cancellation by booking channel and by rate plan. It is a good way to measure if your cancellation policies are actually working for you and how strategic decisions with rate plans can reduce cancellations within certain time periods.
RevenueGen helps tourism businesses transform their distribution & data narrative to generate better revenue outcomes.
We work with businesses based on their requirements. We train teams and design reporting that suits their specific needs.