The significance of a Central Reservations System (CRS) in the hospitality industry can not be overemphasized, as the vast majority of reservations and bookings today are made online.
But what is hospitality CRS and how can it be used to increase the visibility of your property across multiple online channels, including Online Travel Agencies (OTAs), Travel companies, metasearch engines, and Global Distribution Systems (GDS)?
Let's look at some of the features and advantages of hotel CRS.
What is a Central Reservation System?
Essentially a CRS is an automated system that links to many networks from a single location to store, distribute, and disseminate information on hotels, resorts, and other accommodation facilities to the online community.
Whenever a booking is made, or rates are updated, the CRS updates the hotel's rates and availability across all channels. Call center and remote reservation agents can generate and amend reservations using the CRS from a single location.
To prevent overbooking hotel rooms across channels, ensuring that the booking engine and channel manager come with or at least easily interact with your CRS is beneficial.
The CRS sends updated hotel reservation data to both your website and third-party channels like the GDS or OTAs after a hotel room is reserved on the hotel website. The CRS then shares this information with the Property Management System (PMS).
It's crucial to understand that the CRS is not the sole source of truth for visitor profiles, nor is it the single repository for room inventories. These tasks are allocated to your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software and PMS, respectively.
6 Benefits of a CRS
A hotelier may take advantage of many benefits of using a CRS. The CRS resembles a worldwide distribution hub in that it keeps track of hotel rates and availability to make it more readily available to internet channels like OTAs and travel agencies.
But what are some of the other advantages of a CRS? Let’s dive in and explore how a CRS enhances customer interactions, synchronizes data, boosts adaptability and efficiency, conserves time and resources, manages reservations, and simplifies payment.
1. Enhance & Personalise Guest Relationships
The hospitality industry thrives by offering high-quality services and developing enduring relationships with clients, as a satisfied consumer is more likely to generate recommendations and additional sales.
A CRS aids in developing long-lasting partnerships by analyzing the purchasing trends of guests and capturing pertinent data to understand their behavior better.
Information collected through the CRS allows hoteliers to offer more individualized services tailored to the likes and requirements of guests and enhance the overall guest experience.
2. Synchronize Information
A CRS's ability to gather hotel data, such as available rooms, rates, and inventory, and make it accessible on a global scale via numerous channels is one of its main advantages.
Any computer, and sometimes tablets or phones, used within the business, can be employed by hotel management to access data and make the necessary adjustments. Additionally, real-time data on room pricing and occupancy levels are available.
For instance, if a customer reserve a room, the system will change the status to ensure that other guests cannot make the same booking. Thanks to synchronized data, customers can also use a time-saving search tool to narrow their preferences based on dates, locations, and accommodation types.
Additionally, the online booking system lets guests benefit from extras and special offers like meal discounts and airport transfers.
3. Increase Flexibility & Efficiency
Hoteliers must adapt to changing market trends by adjusting their policies, procedures and pricing strategies. A well-suited CRS will go a long way to increasing flexibility by adopting new rates and practices according to corresponding marketing conditions.
As the global hospitality market is not uniform, hoteliers can change various room rates, and the booking website will always reflect the latest prices. Apart from occupancy rates, commission and cost of distribution resources can also be adjusted depending on market fluctuations.
A CRS also allows multi-channel marketing strategies to boost online presence and increase bookings.
All traffic from third-party distribution channels and OTAs will be directed to the particular booking engine. Therefore, if a CRS is linked to the hotel website, one can provide relevant information such as room availability, price comparisons, and other helpful and persuasive resources.
4. Save Time & Money
Before hotel booking system software became the norm, hoteliers required additional front-office staff to take care of reservations and data management.
During busy seasons, hotel managers needed to employ extra staff to assist with check-ins and booking requests. With the rise of reservation systems synchronizing with distribution systems, the burden on hotel management is eased.
Not only does reducing the need for additional front-office staff contribute to lower operational costs, but implementing an effective CRS means that staff will be able to devote more time to other customer needs.
Furthermore, by employing a CRS, hotels can update room availability and pricing structures on all distribution channels via a single integrated system across their entire portfolio.
5. Reduce Booking Errors
A CRS ensures real-time connectivity between various distribution channels, reducing booking errors, making the reservation process more efficient, and ensuring a seamless experience.
From booking hotel rooms to tables and rental cars, a CRS empowers travelers to book months in advance without the fear of mixing up reservations.
A CRS seamlessly distributes all inventories to the OTAs and channel managers, leaving no scope for errors.
6. Ensure Ease of Use & Secure Payment
A CRS is compatible with various distribution and property management systems, allowing hoteliers to streamline information more efficiently without needing to find new distribution systems.
A CRS also provides a user-friendly interface for hotel staff, which enables guests to easily navigate the booking process, and hotel staff can access or update information with minimal effort via the platform.
Multiple hotels can also run separate reservation systems and integrate them into a CRS to monitor business activities.
Furthermore, visitors who make their bookings via the CRS will enjoy data security, meaning that guests have no reason to be concerned about sharing confidential information as they can access various secure payment options.
What is the Difference Between A Channel Manager & CRS?
Although a Channel Manager (CM) and CRS essentially perform the same function regarding the distribution of rates and availability, this is what CMs focus on as core functionality. A CRS, on the other hand, has far more functions and functionality.
Essentially, a CRS operates as the booking engine for direct hotel bookings, the Global Distribution System (GDS) for corporate reservations, and a platform for offline bookings via smart devices.
Further to this, the CRS also acts as the system of record for all booking channels in terms of accuracy of availability, rates, and inventory (ARI).
Dive into ExploreTECH to find the best CRS for your hotel
A Central Reservation System allows hotels to manage inventory and rates in real time so that reservations and related processes can be managed more efficiently.
With the extensive range of CRS systems and Integrations available to the hospitality industry, ExploreTECH digital marketplace allows users to explore and compare various solutions in the market side by side, to make an informed purchasing decision of the best-suited technology to their unique hotel requirements.
Each CRS solution provider has particular benefits and features, so it is worth investigating and comparing them all via ExploreTECH.io.
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