I’m pleased to share that we were recently nominated for an award for the “best channel manager” in the short-term rental industry.

Will you please consider voting for MyVR as the best channel manager?
Please click here to vote now - polls close this Tuesday February 25, at 10am PST.

Being recognized for your hard work is always nice, but this was particularly rewarding because it was within the channel management category. We’re often thought of as property management software (PMS), which makes sense given the breadth of our tools. However, we’ve believed since day one that the best solution for property managers is one where the PMS and channel manager were built together in one tightly integrated solution. The management of the channels is too critical to how your property management software works to use two different solutions, built by different companies and not designed specifically with the other in mind.

No solution is perfect, but we’re proud of the powerful, robust, and reliable solution we’ve been building for the short-term rental industry since launching in 2012.

Here are a few of the reasons why I believe MyVR was recognized as a leading channel management solution:

  1. Breadth of channels - MyVR directly connects to the major OTA’s, like Airbnb, Expedia, Booking.com, Vrbo, and TripAdvisor, but also connects to the GDS (Global Distribution System) for added breadth in reaching travel agencies, corporate travelers, tour operators, and more. Diversify your customer acquisition channels while reaching more travelers.

  2. Channel performance - MyVR’s focus and expertise is in getting your inventory to rank high and to optimize conversion on the channels. Direct connections help avoid the game of “telephone” where your data is passed along to multiple companies before reaching the traveler, hurting conversion. MyVR’s new Unit Type Management also helps aparthotels and other hotel-like inventory to perform higher on the channels.

  3. Reliability & troubleshooting - by offering a solution where the PMS has direct channel connections and work together as one solution, there’s no extra layer between you and the channels, where things can go wrong and kick off a blame game among the multiple companies between you and the traveler. With MyVR, we work directly with you and the channels with which we have direct connections.

  4. Access to funds - MyVR can allow you to act as the merchant of record across many of your major channels (e.g. your own website, Vrbo, Booking.com, Expedia.com, etc). This can allow you to get the traveler’s funds deposited directly into your bank account - often quicker than you’d receive them if listing directly with the channel. This design also lessens administrative work and greatly lowers the risk of never receiving your funds if you let a party between you and the traveler hold your funds.

  5. Integration with your direct channel - MyVR provides a powerful and unique drag-and-drop website builder so that you can launch and grow your own direct sales channel (as well as API integrations for enterprise clients). This allows property managers to leverage the channels for customer acquisition and eventually migrate travelers over to lower-cost direct bookings for future bookings via their MyVR website, once a relationship has been established.

  6. Control - with MyVR, you can set your own rates (or use one of the many rate management companies who work with our platform). With some other 3rd party channel managers, you may give up this control of your rates and allow them to add additional fees for travelers, impacting your conversion and capturing profits that you could be capturing.

  7. CRM - many management software systems and channel managers start with the concept of a reservation, and don’t support inquiries, messages, and quotes between you and a traveler. MyVR supports these interactions and operates as a CRM for all your channels which support these interactions with travelers (including your own integrated website).

  8. User experience - MyVR’s property management software and channel manager were designed hand-in-hand to work together, providing the ultimate user experience which you just can’t get by using two different software solutions built by separate companies.

We’d appreciate your vote for the Shortyz “Best Channel Manager” award.
You can vote here, but please act fast! Voting ends at 10am PST on Tuesday!

Thanks for your support!

Jonathan
Founder & CEO, MyVR.com