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There are many channel managers on the market, each tool with its own focus, target audience, and strategy. Of course, as an accommodation owner, you want to be aware of the offerings and the potential extra benefits and conveniences of other software. Switching is not something you handle during lunch break. Yet often, it is unnecessarily looked upon with dread. Therefore, we provide you with tips in this article to ease the threshold of switching away.
Migration Service
Inquire with your new channel manager if they have a migration service. This allows you to discover the service of the company, but also the people behind the channel manager know exactly what is needed and which steps you need to take to deploy their channel manager smoothly. If there's no good migration service? Be sure to use the following tips to make the change without issues.
Demo and/or Tour
A trial account can help you get to know the software. And not only you, but also your colleagues can get used to it. It prevents you from running two software packages side by side for your own security (which is often unmanageable and sometimes even impossible), and you can check if it really works as you envision. With a trial account, you can be sure it suffices and whether all functionalities you expect from a good channel manager are possible. Also, involve your colleagues in this step and ask yourself which operations you want to perform within the software. Leave nothing to chance, test everything! 'I assumed this would be possible' is an excuse you don’t want to use later. Once everyone knows and understands the software, the actual step becomes much simpler.
Exporting and Importing
Allowing your old channel manager to overlap for several months won’t hurt. Not only as a temporary fallback but absolutely to ensure that you don’t miss any data. Think you have everything transferred, then after a week find out you haven’t included the crucial revenue figures from last year. Imagine having no access to the old software anymore! Testing exports from the old, and imports to the new application is good practice. Do this before making the actual switch and assess whether the data is transferred correctly. This step can be performed again later (just check if that’s possible and you won’t get duplicate data). And hold on to those old exports for a while ;)
Schedule a Date and Inform Everyone
It’s an old-fashioned thought that when you flip the switch 'everything goes down and everything goes wrong' despite careful planning. That doesn’t have to be true anymore! But honestly, that switch has to be flipped at some point. You want to prevent your receptionist from starting the morning surprised while a completely unexpected and different screen appears. A carefully prepared migration - and this is where that migration service comes in again - prevents headaches and stress on the day of the changes. All in all, it’s a piece of cake! But do schedule that date.
Note the Steps to Take
Inform your web developer to adjust the booking engine, perform exports and imports again, and adjust the software on the computers at the reception. Make a task list for yourself for the date set for migration. Structure ensures that on the migration date you are usually back up & running within an hour and your guests do not experience any disruption. The worst thing that can happen is chaos in cleaning, check-in/check-out etc. Also, prepare a cleaning and breakfast list in advance, and know who is departing or arriving that day. Print it out if necessary so you can perform check-ins/outs the old-fashioned way with pen and paper.
Establish Connections
A channel manager leads in dispatching availability and pricing. So ensure the new channel manager is well configured. All price profiles, charges, promotions, and differing amounts should be set correctly. Do not forget check-in/out restrictions (e.g., for weekend arrangements), required costs such as your end cleaning and bed linen, the min. and max. stay duration, and of course the availability of room(type)s. Only after the import of bookings from the old system has succeeded and all these settings are correct do you connect with your booking sites. This is essentially the final and most definite step. After this, you can confirm the switch has been executed.
Support
Finally, know where to turn for questions and issues during the switch to a new channel manager. But also check when the service desk is available and what their average response times are. This may affect the day you choose for switching. You don’t want to make ‘that step’ on a Friday afternoon when you can’t reach support staff on Saturday morning.
Conclusion
Switching to a new channel manager doesn’t have to be complicated, time-consuming, or risky. Generally, we see data being migrated to our channel manager within just a week. Of course, you don’t plan this right in the busy season and select a day when the software’s service desk can assist you should questions or issues arise. A trial account helps ensure that the software meets your desires and requirements, and a migration service gives you the certainty that nothing is overlooked during the transition to a new channel manager.
