To seek more, one should be able to offer more. As a PMS provider, floating in new markets, keeping control of the organization blueprints and bucks tags along with managing resources effectively.
When adaptability is the name of the game, relying only on existing resources may not be sufficient. This is why becoming an all-in-one solution makes perfect sense. Here are 6 reasons why you should consider becoming an all-in-one solution:
1. If you are going to expand to new markets
As a property management system, expanding into a new market can come across as an impossible task. One of the major challenges in expansion is unfamiliarity of the local landscape. It can pose many hurdles such as understanding the customer preferences, cultural nuances, regulatory requirements; building a strong distribution network; establishing brand awareness, and more. But when a PMS becomes a comprehensive solution, an all-in-one partner, the mammoth process becomes manageable.
When you become an all-in-one partner, you provide access to hundreds of online travel agents (OTAs). Each OTA caters to a specific customer type and geographical region. Travelers use a variety of resources in their path to purchase and OTAs account for more than 60% of that resource at the booking stage. Offering a broad range of OTAs to properties gives the all-in-one PMS a competitive edge and provides room for experimentation in new markets without the integration and operational hassle of specific category partners. When you become an all-in-one solution, you become fully independent and don’t have to depend on local partners to enter the market.
2. If you are looking to expand your existing offering
All-in-one solution providers have integrations with a wide network of leading B2B hospitality companies. These hospitality companies are direct channels of travel wholesalers or bed banks. They work as intermediaries between travel demand (OTAs) and travel supply (properties). They purchase inventory in bulk at a discounted rate and sell them to OTAs. This allows properties to deal with less entities and let go of the sales headache, not to mention the last minute booking trend.
An optimal distribution strategy must always include a healthy mix of OTAs and bed banks. It broadens the revenue stream for properties. In fact, as per Skift, a travel news platform, rooms sold through wholesale agents, which was once $50 billion before pandemic times, is only going to grow going forward.
Many OTAs are niche and only a few properties may need to be connected to them, making it a negative ROI to build the connection directly. When you use a white label solution, it makes connecting with an OTA more accessible without the additional investment and therefore avoids churn from unsatisfied properties in the long run.
3. You want to keep control of your development roadmap and budget
Think of an all-in-one partner as a buffet system where you, the PMS, are the chef orchestrating the entire experience. Having a buffet system comes with many benefits:
- Have control over the dishes you want in the menu (you don’t have to spread your resources thin across multiple partners)
- Connecting with the vendor to get ingredients is a predictable experience (integrations with a variety of partners is seamless when you are an all-in-one partner)
- Cost control is easier in buffet than in a la carte system (you maximize the value that you derive when you partner with an all-in-one channel partner).
- Kitchen management becomes easier (Since the management is centralized, managing of operations become more efficient)
- Usage of most ingredients and reduction in food waste (reduces redundant expenses associated with separate systems)
Choosing the buffet system, an all-in-one solution, allows you to have more control over your development roadmap and embrace flexibility. It allows you to add new services, respond to changing trends, pivot when necessary without managing multiple partnerships and their rules.
4. You want to focus on building your PMS, but offer a more comprehensive solution
Working on what you are proficient at creates room for innovation. It welcomes excellence. As a PMS provider, your target should be to focus on your core competency but offering a more comprehensive solution can make you stand out amongst the crowd. Becoming an all-in-one solution allows you to focus on building your PMS, and at the same time, offer much more than a fragmented solution to your clients.
For a PMS, challenges such as self check-in and check-out, smart locks, POS systems, and other innovative features demand attention to maintain a top-tier PMS. At the same, allocating resources to develop an entirely separate product like a channel manager seems impractical. Therefore, partnering with a channel manager is a practical and the right strategic choice for providing holistic solutions.
5. You need to upskill and get some assistance from a proven partner in order to become a true all in one
Be it getting technical assistance for integrations, solving frictions in API connections, expanding service offerings to become a holistic solution, devising a distribution strategy to tap untapped regions, accelerating time to market, or developing feedback channels, channel managers assist PMS in various areas to help them become a true all-in-one solution provider. The hotel channel management market is speculated to value over $1.6 trillion by 2033. This increase in growth is an example of the important role that channel managers play in enhancing revenue and optimizing workflows for PMS.
A white label channel manager will not only provide you with a reliable solution, guidance on the tech side, but will also train you, provide you great intellectual property by sharing experience and know-how, which accelerates deployment and ensures less mistakes are made along the way.
6. You want to take advantage of the best APIs with top OTAs, without the efforts
When you partner with a trusted solution provider, you get access to a host of APIs. The API suite facilitates integrations to serve multiple requirements. Some APIs are essential to perform fundamental tasks such as updating property and room information, managing availability and rate, and processing reservations. Additionally, a PMS can use other APIs for various purposes such as communicating with guests, implementing location-based services through mapping; and managing inventory, rate, & stop sell control for revenue management. These can help PMS providers save time, money, and effort spent on manual operational work.
APIs help PMS maintain real-time data synchronization with other OTA software. This simplifies content management across different distribution channels.
Channel manager like Su/STAAH is amongst the top ten in the world, awarded elite connectivity partner by Expedia and most innovative partner by Booking.com. This calls to question why a PMS should reinvent the wheel when access to such a great solution already exists.
What type of accommodation providers should you target?
An all-in-one solution provider should consider focusing on small and mid-size properties. These properties have limited resources as compared to larger chains. They don’t have much personnel to keep things humming at multiple places. Therefore, they are looking for simplicity in their operations. They don’t want the hotchpotch of maintaining different and complex software. They need an all-in-one solution provider that brings efficiency with ease and is reliable.
Hotel occupancy is projected to increase 2.5% globally in 2025, small and mid-size properties will be seeking a solution that can help them capitalize on this opportunity. Having a one for all partner enhances all the touchpoints of the guest experiences at the property. When you offer a comprehensive solution that meets most of their needs, you establish yourself as a trustworthy candidate.
