If you’re managing a vacation rental, you may have already experienced the difficulties of being listed on multiple online travel agencies (OTAs).
It can be difficult to manage listings across these different platforms. You have to upload images and descriptions every time you want to list on a new OTA site, which can take hours out of your day. To make managing vacation properties a more seamless process, use lodgable – a free property management platform that gives property managers all the tools to be successful and connect to all major booking sites.
So how do you manage multiple OTA sites effectively?
Here are some things to consider when choosing an OTA management software.
Platform compatibility
The first thing you’ll want to look at is whether or not the software is compatible with the platform you use. If you have a website you will want to make sure that it can be integrated with the software you chose to go with.
To completely integrate with an OTA a software will have to have built what is called an API connection. This is a connection that allows for communication between the two systems. You may have the option to link calendars through iCal sync, this option does have a higher potential for mistakes to happen.
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Not only will this help streamline your workflow, but it will also ensure that your listings are being posted correctly on all platforms! Lodgable offers free custom websites that will be able to sync directly with your calendars from other OTA’s.
Time management
Another important factor in managing your vacation rentals is to ensure that you’re allocating enough time to check on your listings. Remember, each site has its own set of rules and changes can happen anywhere from daily to monthly (usually weekly). You don’t want to be caught off guard by a website’s update—that’s why we think it’s best practice to reserve time every morning for checking in with your channels and making sure everything looks good. There are from time to time problems that happen
Avoid double bookings
Keeping track of bookings is another important part of staying organized. A channel manager will keep track of all your bookings for you and keep your calendars synced. This will decrease the chances of double bookings. This can help with estimating projected income for the year or just simply knowing your occupancy rates.
Customer service
No matter how well-managed your vacation rental listing is, there is always a chance that something could go wrong. When it does, customers will be looking to contact you—which means not having an easy way to communicate with them across multiple channels in different languages becomes incredibly difficult. As such, make sure any platform management tool you choose has the ability to connect all of your customer service channels so that you can quickly respond to your guests regardless of their communication preferences.
Final words
With a few simple steps, you can manage your vacation rental across multiple OTAs. Lodgable makes it easy to stay on top of the latest rates with built-in dynamic pricing and by syncing with all major OTA’s in one place. After all, it’s not just about posting listings—it’s about managing your vacation rental business across different channels.
