Guide
Channel manager or booking planner? When you need one and when you don't
Everyone who sells rooms or apartments on several booking sites asks this sooner or later. The answer depends on how many bookings arrive online, on how many channels, and how often you change rates and availability. This guide is written by people who make a planner, not a channel manager: we also tell you when our product is not enough.
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Real Planner screens with fictitious demo data.
What a channel manager does
It connects your units to the booking sites (Booking.com, Airbnb, Vrbo and others) and keeps availability and rates aligned: when a night is sold on one channel, it is closed on the others. It is usually a subscription and needs an initial setup of rooms, rates and rules on every site.
What a planner like MAXORI Booking Planner does
It keeps every booking, from any channel, in one calendar, with each booking's commission, the payments received, the expenses and the numbers of the period. Bookings are recorded in the Planner: there is no connection with the booking sites.
And a PMS? Channel manager vs PMS
A PMS (property management system) runs the property: bookings and often invoicing, check-in, housekeeping and guest registration; many include a booking engine or a channel manager. A channel manager distributes availability and prices to the booking sites. MAXORI Booking Planner is lighter than a full PMS: a booking planner with channel and commission, payments, expenses and the numbers — no invoicing, housekeeping, guest registration or sync.
When you need a channel manager
If this sounds like you, automatic sync is worth what it costs.
- You sell the same units on three or more sites, with many instant bookings
- You change rates and availability often and updating them by hand takes hours
- You have already had an overbooking between two sites
- You have many units and few people to look after them
When a planner is enough
If you recognise yourself here, a planner brings order without the complexity of a connection with the booking sites.
- You work mostly with one booking site and with direct guests (phone, e-mail, your website)
- Online bookings are few and you close dates by hand on the other channels
- What you need most is to know who arrives, who has paid and how much you earned
- Today you use a notebook or a spreadsheet
Already have a channel manager?
The planner does not replace it. You can use MAXORI Booking Planner beside your channel manager for the part that is often missing: guest payments recorded, expenses, net profit and reports per room. Keep in mind the two systems are not connected: bookings have to be entered in the Planner too.
Channel manager and planner compared
- Syncs availability and rates with booking sites
- Channel manager: Yes, it is its main job
- MAXORI Booking Planner: No
- Calendar of every booking
- Channel manager: Yes
- MAXORI Booking Planner: Yes: Month, Week and Day
- Blocks overlaps
- Channel manager: Across the connected sites
- MAXORI Booking Planner: On the same unit, for bookings recorded in the Planner
- Payments received and balance per booking
- Channel manager: Depends on the product
- MAXORI Booking Planner: Yes
- Expenses and net profit
- Channel manager: Depends on the product
- MAXORI Booking Planner: Yes
- Occupancy, ADR, RevPAR per unit
- Channel manager: Depends on the product
- MAXORI Booking Planner: Yes, by month or period
- Setup
- Channel manager: Mapping rooms and rates on every site
- MAXORI Booking Planner: Add units and channels, no mapping
- Price
- Channel manager: Varies from vendor to vendor
- MAXORI Booking Planner: From €169 to €369 a year excluding VAT, up to 30 units
Channel manager features vary a lot from one vendor to another: always check the page of the product you are considering.
What MAXORI Booking Planner does not do
- It does not connect to the booking sites and does not sync availability or rates.
- It does not take online payments from guests.
- It does not issue invoices to guests.
Can a planner prevent overbooking between Booking.com and Airbnb?
Not on its own. MAXORI Booking Planner blocks two overlapping bookings on the same unit when you record them in the Planner, but it does not close dates on the booking sites. If you get many instant bookings on several sites, preventing overbooking across channels needs a channel manager (or closing dates by hand).
Can I use MAXORI together with a channel manager?
Yes, but the two systems are not connected: bookings have to be entered in the Planner too. In return you get payments, expenses, net profit and reports per room in one place.
Does the Planner record which channel a booking came from?
Yes. You set up your channels with their commission; each booking stores its channel and commission, and the reports show revenue and commissions by channel.
How much does MAXORI Booking Planner cost?
From €169 a year (up to 5 units) to €369 a year (up to 30 units), excluding VAT and charged in euros; quarterly billing is available too, from €49.90. All plans have the same features.
How do I know whether a planner is enough for me?
Try it with your own units and the bookings of the coming weeks: the free trial lasts 14 days, it is the real Planner and needs no credit card.
Is a planner enough for you? Try it with your units
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