How Can You Choose The Best Hotel Online Distribution Channel Management Strategy?

John Hobs
Hospitality Technology
3 min readDec 20, 2019

The hospitality industry is getting more and more competitive these days. Hotel properties that form a part of well-branded and major hotel chains usually have the advantage of having a trained marketing team. These hoteliers are only motivated to develop an effective and efficient hotel distribution strategy and execute the same. But independent hotels and smaller hotel chains do not have the manpower, money and necessity to work out things automatically. They need to detect potential streams for revenue and decide what would best work for their business, as well as determine how to remain ahead of competitors. These are some ways to analyze your hotel online distribution channel management network strategy.

Think big, yet focus on local business:

When you have sound portal management, hotels can expect to generally around 50% of its revenue with the help of a GDS (Global Distribution System). Although you might like to think big, and globally, it is important to act locally. Any hotel property with a modern and well-developed conference center would possibly generate 25% more of its gross income by hosting business conferences and board meetings. When it comes to location, even in case it is not that central, local organizations and businesses are always looking for a meeting venue.

Some local connections that might be potential clients for your own hotel can be Sports teams, parking venues, colleges and universities, entertainment venues, local government bodies, local council bodies and regional and local chambers of commerce.

Analyze the online presence of your business:

You have to check the online presence of your hotel in the e-commerce world. You have to reflect on an online impression that can appeal to your niche consumer market. There are two areas that you have to concentrate on:

Social media:

These days, online hotel distribution software is not the be-all and end-all. Social media is ubiquitous and is being used by everyone around. You have to determine whether your niche customer spends long hours on Facebook and other social media platforms. Corporate employees and even those who belong to the older generation possibly do not spend a long time on social platforms. However, you still need to have a major presence in there. This is because potential clients who belong to the younger generation are extremely active on social platforms. This demands that your business has to be marketed on different social media websites — such as Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.

Website:

You have to determine how the website of your hotel appears against other competitors that come from the same zone. In case you wish to be ahead of your competition, it is important for you to keep a close watch on the same. You have to study whether the content is functional, as well as convinces customers and appeals to them. The website should load fast and be interactive. The videos and images on the site should be of the most superior quality preferably, and quite ample without seeming to be cluttered. The entire content on your website should be search-engine optimized.

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John Hobs
Hospitality Technology

The author likes to write about hotel channel management in his spare hours, for the information and knowledge of readers out there.