Cloudbeds Channel Manager Review

Anuj Punjani
2 min read
May 4, 2024

Cloudbeds is an all-in-one hospitality management solution that offers a range of tech solutions to hoteliers worldwide. Their channel manager is another such product, aiming to streamline hotel operations through rapid inventory syncing and management. 

The tool stands out due to its high ease of use (89%) and integration (76%), making it the number one choice for a better user interface and better ability to work with others. While there are some obvious areas of improvement, like technical reliability and marketing reliability, overall, the tool gets positive feedback.

Need a complete review? Jump into the article below, and you’ll get a complete feature-by-feature analysis.

1. Ease of Use

| Positive | Negative | Ok  |

|----------|----------|-----|

| 89%  | 8%       | 3%  |

Positives: 

Cloudbeds' channel manager for hotels shines with an 89% positive score in ease of use, highlighting its user-friendly interface. This high score suggests that the platform simplifies training and daily operations for staff, making it a preferred choice for hotels aiming to streamline their booking management without worrying about learning and development. 

The ability to prevent overbooking and enhance reservation management through centralized control and auto room assignment is frequently mentioned, indicating a significant impact on operational efficiency.

Negatives: 

Despite its high ease of use score, Cloudbeds faces some challenges, as its 8% negative score shows. Issues such as a non-intuitive interface for non-tech-savvy users and difficulties managing ample accommodations due to manual settings highlight areas for improvement. 

Additionally, the payment and checkout process is criticized for being lengthy, suggesting that simplifying these aspects could further enhance user satisfaction.

2. Technical Reliability

| Positive | Negative | Ok  |

|----------|----------|-----|

| 38%  | 33%      | 29% |

Positives: 

Cloudbeds' technical reliability receives a moderate 38% positive score. Its strengths include automatically updating availability and rates, seamless integration with Stripe for online payments, and effective synchronization across all channels to prevent overbooking. 

These features are crucial for reducing manual work and ensuring smooth operation, highlighting the platform's capability to maintain technical reliability.

Negatives: 

On the other hand, Cloudbeds' technical reliability is also met with a significant 33% negative score. 

Recurring system bugs, issues with managing multiple currencies, and experienced downtime without backup are significant concerns. 

These technical challenges can cause operational disruptions and affect the user experience, indicating a need for Cloudbeds to address these issues to improve reliability.

3. Customer Support

| Positive | Negative | Ok  |

|----------|----------|-----|

| 71%  | 27%      | 2%  | 

Positives: 

Cloudbeds excels in customer support, receiving a cumulative 71% positive score. 

The support team is praised for being responsive, helpful, and attentive, offering quick and personalized responses. Users highly value the availability of live chat and 24/7 support, along with proactive problem-solving, indicating a solid commitment to customer satisfaction. 

Negatives: 

Despite the high praise, Cloudbeds' customer support has a 27% unfavorable score. Issues such as the lack of direct phone support and support often plague the system, redirecting to articles instead of providing direct assistance. This highlights another area for improvement. 

Slow response times and limited support hours are also mentioned, suggesting that enhancing these aspects could further improve the customer support experience.

4. Price

| Positive | Negative | Ok  |

|----------|----------|-----|

| 34%  | 63%      | 3%  |

Positives: 

A minority of users find Cloudbeds' pricing to offer a good cost-to-value ratio, appreciating the increase in direct bookings, which offsets the product cost. 

The platform's pricing includes a comprehensive onboarding process, which some consider cost-effective compared to competitors.

Negatives: 

As a 63% negative score proves, the high cost of Cloudbeds is a significant concern. 

Users find the connection to payment gateways expensive and the rates uncompetitive for smaller properties. Many consider the subscription cost unreasonable, and extra fees for additional features are viewed as a barrier to good service.

5. Operations Management

| Positive | Negative | Ok  |

|----------|----------|-----|

| 58%  | 28%      | 14% |

Positives: 

Cloudbeds score well in operations management too. It gets a pretty good score of 58% positive there. The centralized management of reservations, inventory, and billing is a highlight that stands out here. 

Moreover, the system's scalability supports property growth, and its integration with OTAs helps sell more rooms. Automatic room assignments and effective guest experience management are also praised.

Negatives: 

Despite its strengths, Cloudbeds' operations management system requires enhancements to handle customer history and room details. The housekeeping module and VAT integration need significant improvement, and the system's inability to maintain blocked dates for events is a noted issue.

6. Integration

| Positive | Negative | Ok  |

|----------|----------|-----|

| 76%  | 23%      | 2%  |

Positives:

Cloudbeds offers effective integration with major booking platforms like Booking.com and Expedia, and its seamless payment processing through Stripe also stands out. No wonder it gets a 76% positive score here. 

The well-documented API and robust connectivity with multiple channels increase visibility and facilitate the addition of new sales channels.

Negatives: 

The system's inability to consolidate guest folios for repeat guests and issues with the invoicing system's compliance in certain regions are significant drawbacks.

Weaknesses in the sales module and problems with PMS integration lead to dissatisfaction among some users.

7. Revenue Management

| Positive | Negative | Ok  |

|----------|----------|-----|

| 66%  | 31%      | 3%  |

Positives: 

Cloudbeds' revenue management is done right; it has a modest 66% score here. 

The platform also contributes to a significant increase in RevPAR and continuously adds new features to improve sales. Its tools for price management and efficient analysis of revenue statistics are appreciated by many users, along with the provision of customizable websites to save on hosting fees.

Negatives: 

While it mostly does okay in revenue management, system issues like inadequate revenue report functions are significant concerns. Due to this, it gets a 31% negative score. The lack of advanced features for competition monitoring and rate adjustments, along with misleading RevPAR and ADR metrics for properties with mixed accommodations, are noted weaknesses song users.

8. Marketing Visibility

| Positive | Negative | Ok  |

|----------|----------|-----|

| 35%  | 56%      | 9%  |

Positives: 

Cloudbeds' marketing visibility needs tons of improvement, as its meager score of 35% shows. 

Still, there are some silver linings. The Cloudbeds Amplify feature, for instance, enhances property visibility on TripAdvisor and Google, and the platform's connection with Google Hotels improves booking metrics through metasearch ads. 

Direct bookings are also facilitated through custom website creation, increasing property exposure.

Negatives: 

There’s tons to improve when it comes to market visibility. The system's aesthetics are considered outdated, and the guest communication module requires enhancement. 

The channel manager's struggle with synchronizing promotions across different channels and the lack of functionality to view competitive sets in one chart are significant issues. 

Understandably, the tool receives a 56% negative score in aggregation.

9. Reporting Analytics

| Positive | Negative | Ok  |

|----------|----------|-----|

| 44%  | 46%      | 10% |

Positives: 

Cloudbeds' reporting analytics gets a 44% positive score. So it’s doing some things right here. 

The comprehensive reporting capabilities facilitate business decision-making, and the easy setup and accessibility of reports are valued. The user-friendly dashboard and variety of reports available for inventory and revenue management provide valuable insights for strategy building.

Negatives: 

The graphical representation of property performance and the intuitiveness of reporting tools are areas for improvement. The integration of financial reports and the lack of essential reports like Pace and Pick Up are significant drawbacks.

This is what majorly seems to account for the 46% unfavorable score. Users also report issues with data analysis and inconsistencies in reports.

Should You Choose Cloudbeds?

So that was all about Cloudbeds from our side. In a nutshell, it's a fantastic tool for seamless integration and ease-of-use needs for hoteliers everywhere. It connects with over 300+ hotel channels and offers a beginner-friendly design, making managing your bookings almost a cakewalk.

Anuj Punjani

Anuj Punjani co-founded Brance and leads its engineering team. He studied at NSIT and the University of Michigan before working at Apple for about four years, where he worked on products like the iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

He's an avid trekker and enjoys playing lawn tennis and cricket in his free time.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is First Response Time important in inside sales?

First Response Time holds a great importance in inside sales because it influences customer satisfaction. Ultra-fast responses improve the chances of potential leads getting converted into paying and loyal customers.

What are the consequences of a delayed first response in inside sales?

A delay in First response time can result in missed opportunities, customer frustration, and a negative impact on conversion rates. Potential leads may lose interest or shift to competitors when experience a delay in response time.

What role does technology play in reducing first response time?

Technology plays a vital role in reducing first response time through automation. AI-driven chatbots streamline the communication process and enables faster interactions.

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