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Channel manager, quo vadis?

Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2015 11:55 am
by AndilgE
Dear all,

Let's find out with the hosting clients who are working with channel manager which OTAs and/or services are important, nice to have or simply no longer interesting. Please contribute to generate a big picture of what's going on in the market. I'm sure this way we can achieve something, some when.

What we have
booking.com (channel manager works bidirectional on prices, availability and new reservations in booking are set up automatically in HotelDruid)
expedia.com (will still be activated, guess it's the same as booking.com)
airbnb.com (one way availability calendar synchronization, made with Google calendar in the background).

What we miss
revato.com (0 to low commission affiliate of hotelscombined.com, the booking engine for our website, not being treated with digitaldruid channel manager)
Direct export to Google calendar (one way availability calendar synchronization)

What is your current situation, what are your wishes for future?

Happy HotelDruiding and brgs

Re: Channel manager, quo vadis?

Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2015 10:42 am
by softfaber
Hi there,
We tried with the channel manager partner Octorate last year, and even though prices seem to be low it was really painful: customer support is lagging to say the best and our password to log into airbnb was stolen and we had to cancel the relevant ads that had been modified (description, calendars, payments...) and begin from start.
So we are now looking into something else or maybe a channel manager that is bullet proof.
We don't like booking.com as a partner and prefer airbnb, homeaway, housetrip and other minor portals.
But still the perfect solution is not available as far as we know.
SoftFaber

Re: Channel manager, quo vadis?

Posted: Wed Jan 06, 2016 6:08 am
by bluealmondhostel
Try myallocator, they are very good and super cheap.

I tried octorate when it was bbliverate and although it was good, support was terrible and they had a very serious security flaw handling credit cards.

Re: Channel manager, quo vadis?

Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2016 10:37 am
by frank_did
I use booking.com

My wishes: airbnb (bidirectional)

Re: Channel manager, quo vadis?

Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2016 7:21 pm
by CutNGlass
Well, after reading the following regarding Airbnb's intention of limiting rentals to actual homes, I believe that you should re-think trying to find a "channel manager" for them:
... CLIA Expo that was held at LAX. The guest speaker was Chip Conley, head of global hospitality with Airbnb. ...
...One of the other points they got my attention was that next year Chip says that Airbnb will make it even more difficult for any lodging company to participate with Airbnb. This includes cabins, small inns, guest houses and small properties. They don't want you on their site. They want a guest bedroom or a living room floor or maybe an occasional condo. They are limiting the number of rental days allowed per year so even if you do list you will be limited to how many nights you can book. On the other hand, they are also working with the taxing authorities to make sure that everyone is collecting correct sales and bed tax. This rates a big thumbs up. ...

as of 28Jun2016, from the Airbnb website makes me believe that the above is accurate :
LIVE THERE Book homes from local hosts in 191+ countries and experience a place like you live there.
If you listen to Chip on TED, and look at his personal website and twitter posts, then you may come to the same conclusion as I:
that he intends Airbnb to be competing with what he refers to as the "accommodations biz" and actually revels in being able to compete with and "disrupt" current accommodation business models. I believe that would include current "hostels". Though hostels are often "immersive", they do not have the "personal touch" of an actual home.

That being said, adding another aggregated channel manager, such as MyAllocator, to HotelDruid would make sense.
:idea: