Vacation Rental: Breakthrough of technology
What is a PMS and why does it need a Channel Manager
Property management systems initially include basic features which are property, rate structure, and price configuration but often include also auxiliary tools to organize cleanings:
- Maintenance Management
- Reservation Management
- Guest Communication
- Workforce Management
- Bureaucratic and Legal Compliances
- Data and Trend Analysis
- Payment Processing
Fatal Attraction: A world of integrations
In the meantime, the fostering of this tourist niche has understandably attracted many different individuals to invest in their ideas on how to improve the overall product quality and guest experience. This when multiple companies started introducing into the market smart locks, cleaning, and check-in/check-out apps, just to name a few. Comprehensively PMS channel managers cannot simultaneously develop a solution for everything, so the answer was often found in integrations between players.
The search of a competitive advantage brought PMS Channel Managers to integrate external services to avoid developing these solutions themselves while adding value to its product. Property Management Software , not all software houses opted for this solution though, there few who decided to remain momentarily behind and develop these solutions on their own when possible. This is an approach someone looking for a PMS Channel Manager should look for because the more integrations there more solutions are available, true, but the higher the cost will because more companies, or intermediaries, are involved and the more bills are going to sent to the property manager.
How to Choose the right PMS Channel Manager
When a property manager decides to begin their search for a PMS channel manager, he should look for a solution that satisfies at least the following five criteria:
- Friendliness – It must intuitive because we are dealing with a product that is very articulated, just like the business itself, so the easier it to learn and use the better. If the product is messy it will harder to learn how to use it and more time consuming when using it.
- Completeness of the PMS – Property Management Software the PMS must include features to simplify all possible tasks via automatization and/or delegation as possible.Leave nothing behind even if it does not seem important in that moment because it may very well become so when the business grows.
- Channel Manager – The technology used by channel managers must be as advanced as possible, ideally through API technology. Also, the more channels it can connect to the better because this amplifies the range and diversify sources of reservations to more independent from a single channel.
- Integrations – As mentioned before, integrations are important because these give access to more solutions but never forget that the more you rely on external companies the more bills you will receive. The ideal would to find a PMS Channel Manager that tries to develop solutions themselves because this should keep its cost contained.
- Price – PMS Channel Managers have various ways to charge their clients and often hide costs or belittle their impact. If possible, try to absolutely avoid PMS Channel Managers that charge commissions, even if it is as low as 1% on each reservation it is still a lot considering available options in the market.
By Xavier Marin – Founder of Icnea
Icnea it’s a Spanish software house with over forty years of activity . Also specialized in technological solutions for professionals operating in the vacation rental market. Property Management Software their PMS Channel Manager grants its users the possibility to manage. All aspects of their business using the most modern technologies. To synchronize with over 100 online sales channels.