Do you ever wish you could wave a wand and make all those separate booking channels talk to each other?
Maybe you're using a robust property management system (PMS) to handle your hotel's daily operations, but you crave that extra power—the ability to connect with the wider world of online bookings, automate tasks, and make pricing decisions that boost revenue.
That's the job of a central reservation system (CRS).
However, to see any benefits at all, your CRS needs the right mix of qualities.
This article will tackle just that, unpacking six essential qualities that will set you up for success.
With these insights, you can choose a CRS that truly transforms the way your business manages reservations.
Let’s begin!
User-Friendliness
Once you choose a CRS for your business, it's likely to become one of your most frequently used tools.
And because of that, you don't want your staff dreading the idea of opening the software each day—you want them to find it easy and straightforward to use.
In other words, you want your CRS to be user-friendly.
The idea is simple, as explained by a Quora user.
Source: Quora
User-friendly software should be accessible to both tech-savvy and non-technical people, requiring minimal staff training to figure out the tool’s procedures and features.
So, what does that look like for a CRS?
Illustrated below are some aspects to consider when choosing your system.
Source: WebBookingPro
Intuitive navigation and clear menus are central to ease of use.
These qualities can save you a lot of time while using the software and its many features, while reducing the chance of costly mistakes and frustrations.
Next, you want the system to be equipped with detailed dashboards and visual reports.
Source: WebBookingPro
Why would you get lost in complicated tables and spreadsheets when these visual options can provide quick insights into your hotel's performance?
Clean, organized visualizations make it much easier to understand key metrics at a glance, so check whether the CRS of your choice has them.
Finally, consider the speed and responsiveness of the software.
A slow or laggy CRS is more than just annoying; it can have the following effects:
- Loss of productivity
- Staff and guest frustration
- Increased chance of errors
Endless waiting for loading screens to finish, slow search functions and an overall buggy system wastes valuable staff time and causes everyone involved to be annoyed.
But, more importantly, it can also increase the chance of easily avoidable mistakes.
Just imagine incorrect room prices being displayed across booking channels due to a software lag.
So, be careful to find a user-friendly CRS that makes your hotel run more smoothly and keeps your staff happy.
Integration Capabilities
Your central reservation system likely won't be the only tool powering your hotel's operations.
To ensure seamless workflows, you'll want a CRS with strong integration options for the other hotel management systems you rely on.
One key reason integration capabilities are important is that they allow seamless data sharing between systems, preventing manual errors like double data entry and inconsistent data.
Combining multiple tools through seamless integration can be a serious power-up for your hotel.
For example, let's start by looking at how a CRS and a Property Management System (PMS) complement each other in the image below.
Source: WebBookingPro
While a PMS handles the day-to-day activities at your property, like guest check-in and check-out, a CRS will unlock the possibility to seamlessly get bookings from different channels, syncing room price and availability data across all of them.
This centralized control saves time and prevents issues stemming from mismanaged booking channels, like overbookings or drastic price differences.
So, a PMS and CRS integration is one of the most powerful combinations for a growing hotel business.
When evaluating a CRS, take a close look at their integrations page to see which PMS solutions they integrate with.
For instance, the WebBookingPro central reservation system integrates with several popular ones:
Source: WebBookingPro
Beyond a PMS, another crucial tool might be a customer relationship management system (CRM).
Take a look at how Phan Le, the founder of the B2B global travel network platform VLeisure, explains the benefits of CRM tools.
Illustration: WebBookingPro / Quote: Hotel Technology News
A CRM keeps track of guest data, preferences, and past interactions, which is invaluable for personalized marketing and building guest loyalty.
A CRS and CRM integration might look like the following example.
Whenever a guest books a room with you, their contact information, booking dates, and preferences are automatically sent to your CRM.
The CRM can then use this data for personalized email campaigns, targeted offers, or for recognizing returning guests.
A simple integration, but it can save a lot of time and manual effort.
So, look for integrations with popular CRM platforms like the following:
- Salesforce
- HubSpot
- Mailchimp
- Pipedrive
Overall, a well-integrated CRS allows your hotel to benefit from powerful tools throughout its operations.
Multi-Channel Distribution Functionalities
Other than integrating with your PMS and CRM tools, a cornerstone of a robust CRS is its ability to connect with your channel manager.
This essential feature unlocks the power of multi-channel distribution.
In short, multi-channel distribution means putting your hotel rooms in front of potential guests across various booking platforms.
Some key channels that a CRS should connect to via your channel manager are illustrated below.
Source: WebBookingPro
Beyond your own website and travel agencies, your CRS should seamlessly integrate with OTAs like Expedia, Booking.com, and Agoda, offering broad reach to guests worldwide.
It's also important to consider Global Distribution Systems (GDS), which connect to travel agents and corporate booking platforms, tapping into a different traveler segment.
Additionally connecting with metasearch engines like Google Hotels, Kayak, and Trivago allows guests to compare prices across multiple channels, increasing your visibility.
However, simply connecting to these channels isn't enough.
There are specific aspects of multi-channel distribution to consider carefully, and you can see them outlined below.
Source: WebBookingPro
First, your CRS should help you maintain rate parity, meaning consistent room prices across all distribution channels.
This is important to avoid confusion and maintain your hotel’s pricing integrity.
Avoid scenarios such as the one shown below, where one room price is displayed on Booking.com and Priceline, and other sites display a different one.
Source: Google
Next is inventory management.
Your CRS should update your inventory in real time across all your channels.
When a room gets booked on one website, it immediately becomes unavailable on all others, preventing overbookings and helping you maximize room occupancy.
Finally, a good CRS provides data and reporting to analyze how different channels perform.
Understanding which channels bring in the most bookings or highest revenue empowers you to optimize your strategy and make smarter decisions.
A CRS with these powerful multi-channel distribution capabilities gives your hotel increased visibility and control over your online presence.
Revenue Management Features
A significant portion of a CRS's power lies in its revenue management features.
A good CRS should offer flexible rate management capabilities, enabling you to implement dynamic pricing strategies and sync them across all your distribution channels.
The difference between static pricing and dynamic pricing can have a substantial impact on your revenue, as seen in the illustration below.
Source: WebBookingPro
By offering different price points based on factors like guest demand, you can provide appealing prices to potential guests and increase the likelihood of them booking a room.
This feature is popular among many successful hotel systems and booking platforms, and for good reason.
Take Airbnb's Smart Pricing feature as an example.
Source: Padlifter
Airbnb's feature can take several factors into consideration and automatically increases or lowers room prices accordingly, with a minimum price set by the user.
This option ensures a consistently high occupancy rate and increased revenue.
When choosing a CRS, look for a system that automates dynamic pricing changes based on factors such as:
- Seasonality
- Supply and demand
- Day of the week
- Special events and festivals
- Number of days left to book
- Competitor occupancy and prices
For example, our own central reservation system, WebBookingPro, boasts a revenue management feature that allows you to set specific rules for price changes, as shown below.
Source: WebBookingPro
The software can automatically adjust prices based on these specific rules and scenarios.
For example, prices can be increased during busy periods or lowered during low season, with the goals of increasing revenue or occupancy, respectively.
So, make sure to go for a well-equipped CRS that allows you to maximize revenue by strategically adjusting pricing.
Scalability
Any software solution, particularly a CRS, should grow alongside your hotel without limiting your progress.
But what exactly does that mean?
Well, imagine your business is fortunate enough to get a headline like the one below.
Source: Hotel Management Network
A surge in guests and bookings is a dream come true, but it can turn sour if your CRS can't handle the growth.
Some central reservation systems are designed with smaller hotels in mind, and if yours expands beyond their capacity, it could compromise functionality and performance.
For example, the system might slow down significantly under increased load, frustrating staff and guests alike.
Because of this, it's important to check whether your software is scalable.
You can start by asking some of these key questions:
Source: WebBookingPro
Let's look at some of these questions in more detail.
A scalable CRS should efficiently handle a large spike in bookings, such as after a successful marketing campaign.
Otherwise, you could run into issues like slow loading times on your website, lost reservations due to system errors, or even a complete crash.
Additionally, the system should support multi-property growth if you expand in the future, as well as handle connections to multiple distribution channels seamlessly.
Finally, consider whether there are any scalability limitations in terms of pricing.
A pricing tier might have all the features you need now, but if your hotel grows, you might need to jump up to a higher tier.
Factor this future cost into your decision-making process.
Choosing a scalable CRS ensures your hotel's success won't be hindered by your technology choices.
Reporting Options
Finally, with all the data flowing through a CRS, it's incredibly beneficial if the system provides robust reporting and analytics features.
Analytics can give you the upper hand by providing detailed insights into various aspects of your business, allowing you to make data-driven decisions that fuel growth.
So, some essential information you want your software to provide are the following:
- Reservation trends
- Occupancy rates
- Revenue performance
- Guest demographics
For instance, let's take the occupancy rate, a crucial metric that shows the health of your business.
Illustration: WebBookingPro / Data: RateGain
By comparing occupancy rate changes across different months and against industry averages, you can see if your business strategies are effective or if adjustments are needed.
Alternatively, consider guest data.
Take a look at what Ahmet Can Kemaloglu, a data analyst for a hotel and tour agency, had to say on the topic.
Illustration: WebBookingPro / Quote: LinkedIn
Your customer insights can be one of your greatest assets.
Knowing your target audience allows you to tailor your marketing efforts, offers, and even hotel amenities to better suit their needs.
As a basic example, if your customer demographic data reveals that your guests are primarily families, you might create a kids' play area or offer family-friendly packages to boost your appeal with this audience.
All of these analytics and reports need to be presented in a clear and user-friendly way, with helpful graphs and visual representations like the one below.
Source: WebBookingPro
These visuals give you a quick understanding of trends and changes within your hotel, making it easier to spot areas for improvement or identify successful strategies.
Simply put, a CRS with strong reporting options empowers you to make informed decisions that can drive your hotel's success.
Conclusion
Choosing the right CRS is a big decision, but hopefully, our article made the choice a bit less overwhelming.
We've explored six core qualities to look for: user-friendliness, multi-channel distribution, revenue management capabilities, seamless integrations, reporting options, and the ability for the tool to scale with you.
Of course, your hotel might have other specific requirements, but we believe these qualities form the backbone of any great CRS.
With a powerful CRS by your side, you'll streamline your operations, boost bookings, and make data-driven decisions that benefit your business.
So, don't just sit on this knowledge—put it to work and find a system that will make you thrive.
