Channel managers claim to be 95-97% accurate, depending on which one you talk to. So as channel management becomes the norm, with one of the busiest seasons in years in NZ, a number of double bookings are an unavoidable part of distribution. But don’t despair, there are ways to minimize them.
 

1. Education is Power

It is vital that you spend time to learn how your channel manager works - how to update rates, specials and how the connections with each Online Travel Agent (OTA) works. There is a learning curve but much stress and frustration can be mitigated by putting in the groundwork and time to understand the system.

2. Strategy

A recommended strategy is to leave one room off the channels in high season to kep for direct bookings and/or minimise double...

Part III in our Halloween 2015 blog series.

As the world’s number-one tourism website, TripAdvisor is an audacious and powerful beast. For travellers sharing a review or researching a trip, it works a treat. For tourism operators it can prove a powerful marketing and distribution tool. But for all of these treats, this powerful beast can serve up a trick or two.

Handling Reviews

Since anyone can post a review on TripAdvisor, it can create some scary situations for a tourism operator. Travellers threatening a negative review as an attempt to get a discount, competitors purchasing fake reviews to boost their rankings, or a sinister traveller who is simply miserable about life and uses the platform to constantly complain.

Some operators believe fake or venomous reviews are...

online travel purchasing and distribution trends

Today, travellers are empowered by instant access to information, at any time and on any device be it computer, tablet or on a mobile phone, and while at work or waiting in line for a coffee. So it is easy to understand why over 78% of travel research is now done online.

And it is not just about research but inspiration; 29% of Facebook users claim they have been motivated to book a trip based on a posting they saw.

Internet travel booking revenue has grown by more than 73% over the past five years providing over 50% of a businesses' bookings. A company's online presence can make or break them. But you don't have to take our word for it, see the latest statics from June 2013 about online travel sales

As many of our readers are frequent users of our online booking and property management system, Resbook, we will be releasing some really helpful tips to help you understand how this online booking software can help you grow your business, and convert your website visitors into guests.

First up, we will go over adding specials to your rates in Resbook.

To access Specials in Resbook, head to Admin > Stock Configurations > Rates > Select the room type > Select the rate to which you wish to offer the Specials for.

Click on 'Create Special'.

Note: You should have already set up rate periods for your room type before you can create specials.

You can offer 3 different types of specials for your customers:

1) Pay a certain amount for a specified number of...