Hotel Channel Manager: Get More From the System You Have

A hotel channel manager is meant to keep your rooms, rates and availability in sync across every place you sell them, from the large booking platforms to your own website. Yet many small and independent hotels still update availability by hand, or own a capable system that nobody on the current team fully knows how to use. The result is familiar at the front desk: overbookings on one night, empty rooms on another, and a team that spends its time on paper instead of on guests.

Susanne Frankenhauser, Senior Project Manager at Travel Hospitality Experts, worked her way up in hotels from reservations and front office management into sales, and now advises private hotels on their PMS, channel manager, website and booking engine. Her view is practical: most hotels do not need more technology. They need the right amount, set up properly and actually used.

Why manual availability stops working

In Frankenhauser's experience, the paper chaos survives in many houses long after the market has changed. She remembers working with occupancy charts, a pencil and an eraser, and sending rates by fax, at a time before the large booking platforms existed. Those structures are sometimes still in place today, even though the number of sales channels has grown.

Her key point is that your own website is also a channel. Once you sell through several platforms plus direct bookings, keeping availability correct by hand becomes unmanageable. That is the moment, she says, when the paper system literally collapses, and you get either overbookings or empty rooms. Which of the two is worse depends on the region, but neither is acceptable.

There is a staffing cost as well. Younger employees who learned the job in hotels with connected systems often struggle when they join a business that still runs on paper. Frankenhauser has seen it many times: a step back like that makes it likely that the new hire will not stay long.

Check the hotel channel manager you already have

Before buying anything, look at what is already installed. Frankenhauser finds that hotels very often have really good systems, a solid PMS and a capable hotel channel manager, but no longer use them the way they were meant to be used. Someone was trained once, and those people left years ago.

“Und dann geht halt von jedem Mitarbeiter auf den nächsten das Wissen verloren.”

Susanne Frankenhauser, 11:57

(Translated: “And then the knowledge gets lost from each employee to the next.”)

Each new colleague learns only what is needed for the task in front of them, not the extra features running in the background. After a few rounds of staff turnover, much of the system's value has quietly disappeared. Her team therefore works in clear steps:

• First the outside view: how does a guest see the hotel online, and where does the booking journey get stuck?
• Then the inside view: with access from the hotel, they check how the channel manager is set up and which contracts are in place.
• Next they list which features are not used at all, or are used incorrectly.
• Finally they check when the last software update was installed, and why later ones were skipped.

Only when both views are combined do they present their findings and agree on next steps with the owner or director.

Clean up the data before blaming the software

A system that is used the wrong way produces the wrong numbers. Frankenhauser points out that incorrect use can generate completely wrong data, which then has to be cleaned up before any report or rate decision can be trusted. The same question comes up in hotel forecasting for independent hotels.

“Manchmal ist es ja so, dass einfach durch falsche Nutzung komplett falsche Daten produziert werden. Und das muss dann halt aufgeräumt werden.”

Susanne Frankenhauser, 13:03

(Translated: “Sometimes incorrect use simply produces completely wrong data. And that then has to be cleaned up.”)

Part of the work is translation between the hotel and the software vendor. She describes many problems as a sender and receiver issue: the vendor says one thing, the hotelier understands another, because each lives in their own vocabulary. Sometimes the fix is simply asking the vendor to explain a feature again in a presentation, with someone in the room who speaks both languages.

Consistency across channels matters just as much. In her view, there is nothing worse than appearing on every portal with a different price, or with different cancellation conditions. A related article looks at choosing a hotel booking API from the OTA side. It also hurts the credibility of your own website, which she sees as the main focus for sales, even though the platforms have their place. A well configured hotel channel manager is what makes that consistency realistic for a small team.

Choose a system that fits your size and budget

When something new really is needed, the right choice depends on the type of property. A small hotel needs something very different from a large conference hotel or a wellness hotel with many extra interfaces. Then comes the budget. Because her team is not tied to any software provider, Frankenhauser says they can stay on the hotelier's side and recommend what fits. A related article looks at choosing a hotel PMS system for a small hotel.

“Du musst nicht unbedingt den Ferrari kaufen, wenn's der Golf auch tut.”

Susanne Frankenhauser, 14:35

(Translated: “You don't necessarily have to buy the Ferrari if the Golf does the job.”)

If the full package is too much at once, she suggests going step by step: start with one part now and add the next one a quarter or half a year later. That keeps the investment manageable and gives the team time to learn each piece properly.

Give a new system time to settle

Frankenhauser compares a new system to new shoes: sometimes you get a blister. Systems have teething problems despite all professionalism. Sometimes it is a misunderstanding, sometimes one system does not talk to the other correctly. No one can promise one hundred percent certainty.

Patience is often the bigger problem. Privately run hotels are more willing to experiment than chains, which is a strength, but she has seen projects called off after four weeks because the results were not immediate. Her advice is to agree on a realistic period first. Some effects show quickly, such as cleaner content and better control of the portals, but quick in her terms means roughly four to eight weeks, not a few days.

She is equally clear about unrealistic hopes. A new website with a booking engine will not bring thousands of direct bookings in four weeks so that you can switch off the platforms. Distribution, she says, is a marathon and not a sprint. To hear how she handles those conversations with owners, watch the full conversation.

Frequently asked questions

Does a small hotel need a hotel channel manager?

Once you sell rooms on more than one platform plus your own website, keeping availability right by hand gets very hard. Susanne Frankenhauser sees that as the point where overbookings and empty rooms begin. Before you buy one, check whether your PMS or an existing hotel channel manager already covers this and is simply underused.

What causes overbookings in small hotels?

In Frankenhauser's experience, the usual cause is availability that is maintained by hand across several channels. Every platform, including the hotel's own website, needs the same current inventory. When that runs on paper or memory, mistakes follow, and they show up as overbookings on some nights and empty rooms on others.

Should we buy new software or fix what we have?

Start with what you have. Many hotels own capable systems but lost the knowledge when trained staff left. An audit of unused or misused features, missing updates and messy data often solves more than a new purchase. If something new is needed, match it to the type of property and the budget, step by step if necessary.

How long does it take to see results?

Frankenhauser warns against expecting change within days. Quick wins such as better content and tidier portal listings can show in about four to eight weeks. Longer-term work, such as contracts and building direct bookings, takes much longer. She calls distribution a marathon, not a sprint, and advises agreeing on a realistic test period first.