Two kinds of connection
Calendar links (iCal). The site publishes a feed of booked dates and reads yours back. It needs no agreement and costs nothing, but it carries dates only — no prices, no restrictions — and refreshes periodically rather than instantly.
Certified two-way connections. The channel manager exchanges rates, availability, restrictions and bookings with each site directly and near-instantly. Each such connection needs a signed connectivity agreement with that site and certification against its systems.
Either way, the reasons are the same: fewer double bookings, less time typing the same numbers into several extranets, and prices that stay where you set them (rate parity).
Example
A 12-room guest house sells on Airbnb and Booking.com and at the desk. A booking for the 20th arrives on Airbnb; the channel manager blocks that room for the 20th in the hotel's own calendar, and the next time Booking.com reads the hotel's feed, the room is closed there too.
How Nivasik handles it
Nivasik's channel manager does three things:
- Two-way calendar sync with Airbnb and Booking.com — a booking on either blocks the room in Nivasik, and a booking in Nivasik blocks it there. It carries dates, not money: an imported booking arrives with no rate on it.
- A commission register — each channel with its commission, so the maths on every booking is visible.
- A parity sheet for the next 30 nights — per room type, rooms free, your own rate, and the price to list on each commissioned channel so you net your own rate.