PMS and channel manager in one system
A property management system runs the desk. A channel manager keeps the OTAs in step. Here is why the two work best as one system.
thelobbyboy brings the property management system (PMS) and the channel manager together in one system. Everything from mapping your rooms to each channel to setting rates and availability happens in the same place, connected to Booking.com, Airbnb, Expedia, Hostelworld, Agoda and more than 50 OTAs in all.
Two jobs that depend on each other
A PMS is where the property runs: the bookings calendar, check-in and check-out, housekeeping, invoices and payments. A channel manager sends your rates and availability to the OTAs and brings their bookings back. Each needs the other's information all day long.
When they are separate tools, someone has to copy between them, or a connection has to keep them in step. Every gap between the two is a chance for a double booking or a rate that is out of date.
One inventory, every channel
With both in one system, there is only one inventory. A booking from Booking.com lands on the calendar and the room closes on every other channel straight away. Move a guest, extend a stay or cancel a booking at the desk, and the channels update on their own. There is no second screen to check and no gap between one extranet and the next.
Rates and restrictions from one screen
Rates work the same way. Set a price once on the front desk screen and send it to every channel, or give a channel its own rate plan where it makes sense. Minimum and maximum stays, and dates closed to arrival or departure, reach every channel from the same screen. Hostels can sell per bed or per person, and long stays can have pricing of their own.
Set up for you
Connecting the channels is often the hardest part of a channel manager. In thelobbyboy, our team maps your room types and rate plans to each channel, so you can start selling without any technical work on your side.
Why it matters
Every booking, change and cancellation is recorded once and shown everywhere. The desk works from the same picture as the channels, the reports count every booking from every source, and your team spends its time on guests instead of extranets.