Leaving Hostaway because of their booking fee?

API/Channel Bridge, do I have to use them?

E & R Vacation R
Jan 18, 2021 1:40 PM
Joined Jan, 2020 56 posts

Right now I only have 2 properties on OR. One I almost exclusively use "book direct" for my bookings, the other I use only HA/VRBO and sporadically abnb. I don't like using Chrome and it seems that I need chrome to use Channel Manager, and I see no real advantage for my small property that uses OTAs. I have different prices for Book Direct and don't want to have to keep on eye on what is "pushed" to the OTAs...am I missing something?

Ken T
Jan 18, 2021 2:35 PM
OR Team Member Joined Aug, 2019 1706 posts

Channel Bridge and the APIs are still useful for small companies.

- They can bring in full guest and booking details, which are then stored in your OwnerRez account and can't be removed by the channels. They've started blocking viewing contact information for old bookings after awhile, but you never know when you may want to do marketing to all your past guests.

- You can set a Rate Adjustment on each channel to increase its rates by a given percentage compared to your OwnerRez rates. This saves you from having to manually set three different rates.

- With the APIs, if you get new photos or change the amenities in your properties, you only have to change that in OwnerRez. The changes are then automatically pushed to the channels.