Distribution
What is a hotel channel manager?
A channel manager is software that connects a hotel to its online travel agencies (OTAs). It sends the hotel's rates and availability to every channel at once and passes bookings, changes and cancellations back, so the same room is not sold twice.
How a channel manager works
When a room is booked anywhere, availability drops everywhere. The channel manager pushes the new count to each OTA and delivers the reservation to the property management system. Rate changes and stop-sells travel the same way.
PMS vs channel manager vs booking engine
The PMS runs the hotel: reservations, check-in, billing. The channel manager distributes inventory to OTAs. The booking engine sells rooms on the hotel's own website. All three need to share one inventory to prevent overbooking.
In StaySynq
StaySynq connects two-way with your channel manager, so OTA bookings arrive in the front-desk calendar with their source attached.
Common questions
Do I need a channel manager if I have a PMS?
If you sell on more than one OTA, yes. Some PMSs include one; others, including StaySynq, connect to a channel manager you choose.
What is two-way sync?
Rates and availability go out to the OTAs, and bookings, changes and cancellations come back automatically.
Related terms
- Rate parityRate parity is the practice of offering the same price for the same room, dates and conditions on every public sales channel, including OTAs and the hotel's own website. Many OTA contracts require it, and visible differences can push a hotel down in OTA search results.
- Stop-sellA stop-sell is an instruction to stop selling a room type or rate plan for particular dates, on one channel or all of them, even though rooms may still be available. Hotels use it to protect inventory for higher-value bookings or to prevent overbooking.
- OverbookingOverbooking is when a hotel accepts more reservations than it has rooms for a given night. Some hotels do it deliberately to offset expected no-shows and cancellations. It also happens by accident when OTA availability is not updated quickly enough after a booking.
- PMS (property management system)A hotel PMS, or property management system, is the software that runs a hotel's daily operations: reservations, room allocation, check-in and check-out, housekeeping status, guest billing and reports. It is the system of record for rooms, guests and revenue.
Ready to unify your operations?
Book a 30-minute demo. We'll walk through your specific property type, room count, and channel mix, then show you exactly what your data looks like on StaySynq.
Early access · founder-led onboarding · launch pricing locked through year one