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Hello and welcome to the YouTube channel I display Complete. I hope you're doing well. If you don't know the J'poster Complet channel, this channel helps seasonal rental companies, professional sub-renters, and seasonal rental concierge services to increase their turnover with revenue management methods.
Today, we're going to talk about Channel manager, and we're going to talk mainly about the Channel manager who's called Smoobu – I don't really know how it's pronounced, I'm going to call him Smoobu if you allow me, for the whole video. I'm sorry, if I ever mention Smoobu's name.
I'm going to leave with that, and I'm going to help you find out if this Channel manager is for you. I see a lot of people who want to move towards this Channel manager, and who therefore ask themselves the question of choice: is it a good choice for you, or not? Me, it's true, I was able to share in particular in our private Facebook group, which is called, if you want to join it, seasonal rental prices and maximization of turnover, some reluctance in relation to this Channel manager for different reasons that I will share with you in this video. Which allows me, therefore, to respond to everyone simultaneously on this Channel manager. Before starting, I still share what we often see called on the internet "a disclaimer", because obviously, I do not intend to criticize, brush aside the quality of the work that is carried out both by the or the leaders, and the Smoobu teams. My idea is not to say that there are good Channel managers or bad Channel managers, because obviously, the reality is much more subtle than that. Channel manager Smoobu has many qualities. It may be suitable for a certain number of players in the field. But so that you can make the choice that is best for you, precisely, it seemed important to me to specify what you will be able to find there, what are the strong points, and conversely, what are the points that could be missing, especially if you want to have a revenue management strategy. If you are not yet in the private group, I gave you the name just now, know that by subscribing to this private group, you will receive your bonus, obviously free, of the 6 mistakes not to make when you determine your selling prices. These are the mistakes not to make, and how to resolve these problems. So, this is a compendium of valuable ideas that will really help you.
If you join the live with me now, feel free to say hi. It's always a pleasure. Do like Romain who greets us every time, it's very pleasant.
− Welcome, Romain. I hope you're well.
− Hello, Benjamin. Welcome. I hope you are doing well today too.
Do not hesitate to say hello, do not hesitate to ask your questions, which will allow me to exchange views with us, and either to clarify obscure points of what I am about to share with you, or to respond at the end of the video to other questions on topics that are problematic for you at the moment.
Before talking about Smoobu, I will clarify an important point. If some of you have never heard of what Channel managers are, know that on Sunday, I think, I made a video on what the definition of a Channel manager is. You can find these videos on the YouTube channel J'poster Complet, in the playlist category. You have a specialized playlist on Channel managers, and you will see that there is plenty of content that will help you understand what this type of tool is, and is it a tool that will help you, or who is important to you at the moment. So if you already know what a Channel manager is, you are probably wondering: which one to choose. We are going to talk about the faults and qualities of Smoobu. Me, obviously, I will limit myself to what the defects and the qualities are, in my opinion, on the pricing part, optimization of the levers. Managers are tools that we use a lot, since we currently work for around ten concierge services. We are now optimizing almost 300 properties, so it’s really a tool that is essential for us. We have good visibility, a good understanding of what is necessary, in fact, to be able to work correctly and in an agile manner.
− They said to me: “What is the private group please? »
In fact, you have the link just below or above depending on whether you are on Facebook or YouTube. So, don't hesitate to go get it. In any case, the name of the group is seasonal rental prices and maximization of turnover.
I'll start, I think, with the strengths, obviously, of Smoobu, because he has a lot of them. And I'm going to share with you what, for me, is greatly lacking in this Channel manager. Note again, a disclaimer, is that I saw Smoobu from the inside quickly, in contact with certain clients, but I have never worked with this tool myself, already, because that we immediately announce to clients who want to work with us that with Smoobu, there are quite a few things that we will not be able to do. So it's true that in general, people change Channel managers. But I wanted, therefore, to call Smoobu to be able to ask them specific questions about the items, which, to me, seem to be missing, so that they can confirm, indeed, if it is missing, or if it is present on the system. And I haven't been able to get them, the sales line doesn't answer. So I looked at the content that is online on this system, in order to get an idea of the functionalities on the pricing part, in particular a video that they produced on an introduction to Smoobu, where they talk about the price part. I think I have a fairly clear vision, but it is not impossible that I miss certain aspects. So don't hesitate to challenge what I share in this video, by confirming with them, and making sure that all of this is correct.
So, first three positive points about this Channel manager on the pricing part. The first thing is that we can modify the average duration, the reduction coefficients which are applied to stays of seven nights or twenty-eight nights. On Airbnb, you can modify it directly from Smoobu, so that's great. It saves time, it saves us from having to go back to the interface, to the Airbnb extranet. This is a positive point of this system.
A second positive point of this system that I identified is that we have the possibility of setting our normal prices, and of applying mark-up coefficients to the different sites. You can absolutely say: “I'm at 50 euros per night, on the other hand, on Airbnb, I would like my prices to be increased by 15%, as soon as they are sent to Airbnb. Or on Booking: “I would like my prices to be increased by 17%, as soon as they are sent to Booking. » So that, in the same way, is a second positive point about Smoobu.
The third point is that you can modify several dates at once in the pricing section. That's a good thing, it saves time. If you only have one item, it is a functionality that is sufficient to be agile in your pricing changes, the fact of being able to modify an entire period in the pricing part.
So three positive points on optimization, revenue management, and price management in this manager challenge. Now, I have nevertheless identified four points, which really seem very blocking to me, and which are quite problematic for having a real revenue management strategy.
The first thing is that we do not have, in Smoobu, what is called a gap-fill system. What is the gap-fill system? It's being able to say to the system: “Usually, I require a three-night minimum stay. On the other hand, if between three stays, if between two stays of three nights, I have two orphan dates left, therefore a gap, let's say, of two nights, in this case, indeed, I agree to sell the two nights, because they are, in reality, stuck between two stays, and that at this
At that point, I obviously won't be able to sell three free nights. » This logic, this option, which is proposed by a certain number of Channel managers, is extremely valuable. Because it will allow you, instantly, to make these two nights available in advance, and therefore, to maximize your chances of filling them, and therefore, to finish at a occupancy very close to 100%. Smoobu does not offer this. And in my opinion, it's really something extremely problematic not to have the gap fillers. This is part of the standards for properly optimizing filling. Because if we don't have that, basically, what happens? If we happen to have these famous orphan dates which remain empty between two three-night stays, until the end, we will remain empty, and they will never be offered for marketing on online sales sites . And that’s really a shame, actually. And that’s a colossal loss of earnings. On the scale of an entire year, it can really be colossal. So first point, the gap-fillers are missing.
Second point, from the moment you start to expand your assets, and here I'm not necessarily talking about having 15 properties - yes, this is already the case, if you are a seasonal rental concierge service, which you have 10 or 15 properties, so this is completely unavoidable. But even if you are a seasonal renter, and you say to yourself: “Today, I have one property, but maybe tomorrow, I will have three or four. » In these cases, in both cases, being able to be hampered, in any case, not having the maximum functionality on one point, which is the fact that the prices cannot connect with each other. I give a concrete example. If you have, in a city, two studios, a T2 and a T3, in this case, the price of the studios cannot be connected. You will have to constantly copy the pricing between the two studios, even though you could very well have relatively similar strategies. Obviously, we can say to ourselves: “Hey, I have a studio that corresponds to a price level. The second studio is roughly the same thing, but increased by 10%. » It could be that, but in any case, you really have a link on pricing between the two. What is really ideal for us is to be able to say that studio no. 1 gives its price directly to studio no. 2. And even if we add, as I said, a mark-up coefficient. This functionality does not exist at all in Smoobu, and as a result, it is a colossal waste of time, in my opinion. For a concierge service, it's completely impossible, in fact, not to be able to connect prices together. That is to say that it will extremely limit your growth, or limit your ability to do revenue management. Because it's certain that if you have 5 studios, and each time you want to make a price change, you have to do it 5 times, it's still not as agile as if you do it once, and as a result, it changes on all studios. So that's the second point, which for me is still quite prohibitive, too, on Smoobu.
The third point is that we cannot manage Airbnb and Booking promotions. In fact, the level of modifications that can be made is still extremely limited on Smoobu. This means that prices can be changed. With the biases that I mentioned just before, we can modify the length of stay. But with the post I mentioned, we can just change the coefficients on the 7 days and the 28 days for Airbnb, but after that, overall, it's quite limited. On other Channel managers, we have the possibility of directly launching promotions, notably on Booking, with an interface, which, therefore, prevents us from leaving the system, and allows us to centralize as many actions as possible in the Channel. manager. That, for me, is also damaging on Smoobu. Since we will also have a professional approach, and quite digital, and effective, in fact, in our management of our assets.
The fourth thing is that the quality of the extractions is completely chaotic. What do I mean by the quality of the extractions? When you have a Channel manager, when you start to have a fairly professional approach, it is very likely that you will need to extract the list of your reservations from the system to be able to process them, to inject them into an Excel tool. revenue management. For example, we have an Excel revenue management tool, which is also given in our training courses. It is a tool that seems essential to me to be able to work. But to be able to feed this tool, you have to extract the reservations. I give another example. A seasonal rental concierge may also need to extract reservations from the system to invoice owners. Likewise, if you are just an individual, you may need to extract your reservations to prove to a banker that your performance is good, and therefore be able to reinvest. In all these situations, you must have an extraction that provides sufficient information and is of good quality. On Smoobu, the experience I had, perhaps it will change in the weeks, in the months, in the years to come, but the extraction is not very exhaustive, and the quality of the data is not is not good. For example, dates that are in text, and that's really not usable, unless you change everything by hand.
These are the four biases which are, for me, quite important. Really, the biggest problem is that we can't connect the prices, we don't have the gap-fillers. In connecting prices, it's a colossal waste of time, and in not having the gap-fillers, it's a colossal waste of money, because we miss out on a lot of reservations. That's why. Afterwards, Smoobu is a system that is quite friendly, inside, which is quite simple to connect. So, it may be suitable for getting a little hands-on experience with Channel managers. If you don't want to get into something too complex, this will allow you to have a first Channel manager. Afterwards, the reality, sometimes I hear people tell me: “I'm going to start with Smoobu, and then after, I'll change. » It depends on the project you have, that is to say, if today you only have one apartment, and you say to yourself that overall, your project will be to have only one apartment, you Maybe you can start with Smoobu. Afterwards, one day, having a larger, more advanced Channel manager. But the reality is that if you increase your assets, there is a certain point where you will find it very restrictive, in fact, to move from one Channel manager to another. So, my recommendation is really to take care of your time, and immediately hire the right Channel manager, whether it's Smoobu or another, just to start with the right foundations, and to invest your time in something that will be sustainable in the long term. That's why.
If the question arises, because I imagine that's the question I'll be asked: do you recommend Smoobu? On the perspective of revenue management, and I weigh my words carefully, with a view to implementing a revenue management strategy, and having a real logic of maximizing turnover, to date, in the state progress and developments of Smoobu, it is February 2021, I do not recommend using Smoobu. For revenue management, it's too limited. But it is possible that it will evolve in the months to come, and that perhaps, in six months, in a year, there will be a tool that offers all the functionalities necessary for revenue management.
Don't hesitate to ask me questions if you have any.
− Hello, Maryline. Welcome.
− “It’s not worth Beds24”
Indeed, it's not worth Beds4. We use Beds24 a lot. And in fact, what is also very good in Beds24, which we do not have in Smoobu, I could have also talked about it in the faults, is that in fact, in Beds24, we can create what These are raids, which are combinations between pricing and length of stay. You can even associate reductions by length of stay. We can connect the goods together. Increase coefficients can be applied to them depending on the property. And all of that is a colossal time saver. For what ? Because we, in fact, are creating this block, a raid, which will be the strategy for a type of period. That is to say, we are going to create a weak raid, and inside, there is everything we want to do. That is to say the price which corresponds to weak periods, the length of stay which corresponds to weak periods, the goods which will be connected together, with or not percentages of increase, and we could also put percentages of reduction by length of stay. So, it's a sort of coherent block that we can then add by period, to the periods which correspond, in fact, to this typology. So that too is a weak raid. We are going to put it on all the weak periods. And so, we have an overview of all the good strategy. This is an extremely important reduction in the risk of error. We configure a lot of things all day long, so it's important to reduce our risk of error, and it allows us to have something faster to set up, because everything is inside. For me, that is really extremely valuable.
Look, I don't see a lot of questions about Smoobu. I would like to take this opportunity to share with you that if you have an idea of topics that would help you, points on which you have doubts at the moment, and you would like to have feedback from I'm posting Complete, feedback from me in video, Do not hesitate to share with me in the comments the ideas, or the problems or the thorns in the foot you have at the moment. I would be happy to make a video of it in the coming days. I make a video every day, Sunday to Thursday. Thursday is devoted to interviews: I interview famous people who are always extremely interesting. There's another incredible interview coming up on Thursday. Don’t hesitate to subscribe to the J’annonce Complet channel. You really have qualitative content that will come to you often, frequently.
− “Smoobu, they are very strong in complementary sales, website management, and especially in application interaction. »
Quite. This is why I specified that my opinion is limited to the revenue management part, that is to say all the tools and levers which will allow you to increase your turnover, and to have maximum possible turnover. So.
I hope this video was able to help you, I hope it was able to give you a clear vision of what interesting Smoobu can bring, and what it cannot bring you, so that you can form your own conviction, and make the decision that is best for you, regardless of the Channel manager you choose. I'll see you tomorrow for the next video. Take care of yourself.