FAQ

What is a Channel Manager?

A Channel Manager is a central management tool for hotels that transmits availability, prices, and restrictions to various online booking portals. It’s not just about maintaining and forwarding data, but also about implementing a revenue strategy. Hosts who are not very familiar with the process should place great value on good support, training, and a qualified support team to help them use the Channel Manager effectively. A good Channel Manager is characterized by technical reliability, ease of use, and user-friendliness.

What are the advantages of a Channel Manager?

The hotel guest’s journey starts on the internet. Here, they search for the right hotel and compare offers. Current availability and prices for the hotel, holiday apartments, or other accommodations on various online platforms are therefore crucial. This is very time-consuming for hoteliers and, in today's world, is almost impossible to manage without the help of a tool.

A Channel Manager significantly simplifies this process by automatically updating available rooms, prices, and restrictions. Since these systems are generally online-based, hoteliers can make changes globally and in real-time. A Channel Manager centralizes management and eliminates the need to manually manage each portal. This minimizes the risk of overbookings by automatically synchronizing reservations and adjusting available rooms. This ensures that the hotel remains optimally bookable across all portals, increasing the chances of full occupancy.

Compared to similar systems, Viato places special emphasis on ensuring that the system adapts to customers’ needs and existing processes, operating largely automatically.

Are Channel Managers worthwhile for small hotels or hosts?

Yes, Channel Managers are also extremely beneficial for small, often family-run hotels. An online presence is becoming increasingly important to achieve both local and global reach. Hosts who often perform multiple roles simultaneously particularly benefit from automated digital processes. This allows them to focus more on guest care.

Viato also offers tailored products for hosts and providers of holiday apartments, helping them market their properties optimally. Automated systems help reduce administrative work and increase efficiency, ultimately improving guest service.

Do I still have full access to my OTAs after going online?

Yes, you will retain full access to your OTAs after going online. Our Viato ChannelManager only synchronizes the availability and prices of your rooms across all connected distribution channels. You can still access all the features and data in your OTA accounts, view and manage bookings, and make specific settings. However, please note that any data managed via the Viato ChannelManager interface should not be manually changed in the connected portal's extranet to ensure consistent and error-free synchronization.

Can multiple accommodations be managed simultaneously in the Viato Suite?

Yes, with the Viato Suite, you can conveniently manage multiple accommodations at the same time in a Multi-Property Edition, increasing your operational efficiency. However, please note that each accommodation also requires its own ChannelManager contract if separate accounts for each accommodation exist on the OTAs.

Can I set occupancy-based pricing?

Yes, in our Viato Suite, occupancy-based pricing can be set quickly and easily. On many portals, these prices are then applied based on occupancy. However, some portals cannot accept the occupancy-based pricing (OBP) feature. In such cases, fixed surcharges per person are used. If prices are maintained through our Viato Suite, there is also the option to automate price adjustments regularly through our Task Manager.

With a few exceptions, Property Management Systems can transmit occupancy-based prices.

Can I control the distribution of my availability across different online booking portals?

Yes, starting with our Viato SuitePro version, you can control the distribution of occupancy-based availability across the desired portals using channel splitting. For example, on high-demand days, you can reduce or completely block the availability on certain portals, or leave your own booking engine open during peak times to attract more direct bookings.

With our paid add-on tool "Task Manager," you can also schedule this distribution.

Is the Viato Suite an All-in-One system?

Yes and no. We are often asked why Viato doesn’t include a Property Management System. The Viato Suite is not an all-in-one system because Viato specializes in the areas of Channel Management, Booking Engine, and Website. We see ourselves as experts not only in developing our products but also in expanding various interfaces.

However, this is precisely the point. The interfaces to and from our system to other front-office systems are so well developed that the combination can function as an all-in-one system. What could be better than using specialized systems in both areas? And let’s not forget the expert team behind it all.