Why Travelnest is more than a channel manager

It's a jungle out there!

When it comes to researching different channel manager options for your holiday rental, there is a LOT to choose from – it’s a pretty crowded market with lots of companies offering very similar things. Traditionally, channel managers were used by hotels, however the vacation rental industry has seen a huge influx of companies now offering channel management solutions for holiday rentals as well.

Comparison site NeedMoreRentals lists a huge number of channel manager companies aimed at the holiday rentals market, and provides lots of useful information.

What is a channel manager?

If you list your holiday property on more than one booking site it can be tricky to keep track of your availability and, more importantly, your bookings across multiple platforms. It’s stressful, takes time and mistakes can result in dreaded double bookings! 

That’s where a channel manager comes in. A channel manager is a software solution that distributes a property to multiple booking websites (e.g. Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia, TripAdvisor) and links information across them all.

How does a channel manager work?

When a booking is made via one booking site, the channel manager works by updating availability across all booking channels it is linked to – keeping everything up-to-date and preventing double bookings. 

Essentially, a channel manager pushes key information about your holiday property out to all of your channels. So, instead of logging into Airbnb, logging into Booking.com and any other channels you list on individually, you can add it to your central dashboard and publish to all of your channels through your channel manager. 

However, it’s important to be aware that there are some downsides to using a channel manager. Having originated from the hotel industry, many channel managers are aimed at high scale property management companies with multiple properties, and are not designed for the individual host. Some solutions only update availability and pricing information to the booking websites. Typically, separate listings need to be set up and maintained on every channel, and connected to the channel manager individually. The amount of admin involved means this can be quite time-consuming.

Examples of channel managers include Tokeet and Rentals United.

What's the difference between a channel manager and a PMS?

There’s a lot of crossover between channel managers and a Property Management System (PMS) – there are so many different options available that it can be quite confusing to get your head around! A traditional PMS automates many aspects of property management, and can also include channel management too. 

For hosts with multiple properties, the PMS is a key tool – it stores availability and rates in a central calendar and shows bookings. It enables bookings to be taken via the host’s website (and other channels when connected to a channel manager) and updates availability, syncing that information out to channels. 

Many traditional PMS providers have diversified their offerings to provide additional channel management solutions e.g. Guesty and SuperControl.

Travelnest is much more than a channel manager

At Travelnest, our goal is to provide an easy way for hosts to market their holiday homes. We offer much more than simple channel management. Our platform provides one place to store and manage all your property information, from descriptions, photos, amenities, pricing and more. We remove the inconvenience of dealing with multiple booking websites.

We list your holiday home across 30+ top booking websites like Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia, HomeAway, TripAdvisor, TUI and many more. But we don’t stop at just listing your property – with our property marketing expertise we’ll optimise your listings and get you more bookings. Our friendly, UK-based team takes care of all pre-booking enquiries, and we also process bookings and payments – saving you a huge amount of time!