For online travel businesses, ensuring that customers find the perfect room for their needs can make or break a booking. But what happens when a “Deluxe Room” on one platform is called a “Luxury King” on another? This confusion, often stemming from inconsistent room descriptions and mismatched data, can lead to frustrated customers, missed opportunities, and lost revenue.
However, with a room mapping solution, there are a few to no chances of any such instances.
Use this blog as ‘a beginner’s guide to understanding room mapping’.
From its challenges and solutions to its undeniable benefits, we’ll dive into everything you need to know about ‘room mapping’
Whether you’re an online travel business, hotel supplier, or travel tech provider, mastering room mapping is the first step toward creating seamless and reliable customer experiences.
What is Room Mapping?
Room mapping is the process of standardizing and matching room data across platforms to provide clarity and consistency. Often facilitated by an advanced API, room mapping prevents travelers from encountering duplicate room listings on your booking page, ensuring that bookings are accurate and seamless.
It helps resolve discrepancies in room attributes, descriptions, and availability, ultimately enhancing customer’s booking experiences
Mapping all rooms against all providers is essential to ensure every room on your frontend is unique, it enhances customer satisfaction, mitigates the risk of negative reviews stemming from booking errors, and optimizes your bottom-line by maximizing occupancy rates.
Also Read: What is hotel mapping and why it matters for your online travel business
Why Do You Need Room Mapping?
Same room, different names.
Whether you’re a hotel provider, wholesaler, or an online hotel booking business, sorting a huge room inventory can be challenging. Often, there are duplicate rooms with different names, inconsistent room descriptions, etc.
Online travel businesses also deal with similar issues- duplicity in room listings, inconsistent or incorrect hotel room descriptions, etc.
The duplicate and poorly sorted room inventory created by different room descriptions can leave customers feeling confused and may cause them to lose trust in your platform, eventually leaving them with a bad experience.
Now, for a better understanding, let’s look at the challenges room mapping helps solve for hotel suppliers & hotel booking platforms separately.
Challenges for Wholesalers
Hotel wholesalers/ suppliers face several challenges in managing and distributing their inventory across multiple platforms. Effective Room mapping helps them address these pain points effectively, providing benefits for both suppliers and their distribution partners.
Let’s learn how:
1. Inconsistent Room Descriptions
Different wholesalers use multiple names for the same room types (e.g., “Deluxe Room with Sea View” vs. “Oceanfront Deluxe”). This leads to confusion and misrepresentation of inventory.
Room mapping standardizes room descriptions, ensuring consistent presentation across all platforms, minimizing customer confusion, and increasing bookings.
2. Duplicate Listings
Inventory duplication occurs when the same room is listed multiple times on a platform under slightly different descriptions or rates.
Room mapping not only consolidates duplicate entries, but also presents a unified inventory view, reducing redundancy, and improving inventory management.
3. Mismatched Amenities and Features
Variations in how room features (e.g., Wi-Fi, breakfast, view types) can lead to inaccurate customer expectations and complaints.
Room mapping aligns amenities and features accurately across channels, ensuring customers get what they expect.
4. Overbookings and Double Bookings
Misaligned room data between systems can result in overbookings, negatively impacting customer satisfaction and revenue.
Room mapping helps avoid booking errors by ensuring real-time alignment of room data across platforms.
5. Time-Consuming Manual Updates
Hotel suppliers often spend significant time manually updating room descriptions, prices, and availability across multiple platforms.
Automated room mapping tools eliminate the need for manual updates, saving time and reducing errors.
6. Reduced Trust and Partner Relationships
Mismatches in room data can lead to disputes with OTAs and wholesalers, eroding trust.
Accurate room mapping strengthens supplier relationships by ensuring data consistency and transparency.
7. Difficulty in Implementing Dynamic Pricing
Dynamic pricing strategies require real-time data consistency, which can be difficult without accurate room mapping.
Room mapping ensures pricing consistency across platforms, making dynamic pricing more effective and reliable.
8. Customer Complaints and Refunds
Misrepresented room information often results in customer dissatisfaction, cancellations, and refund requests.
With accurate room mapping, customers receive clear and reliable information, reducing complaints and enhancing their experience.
Challenges for Hotel Booking Platforms
Online travel businesses also face challenges similar to those faced by hotel wholesalers or suppliers. Implementing a robust Room Mapping API into their booking platform helps them increase their overall customer satisfaction.
Let’s learn how:
- Inconsistent Room Descriptions: Hotels and OTAs often use different naming conventions, leading to mismatched data.
- Duplicate Listings: Inventory overlaps between wholesalers, OTAs, and direct bookings can cause redundancy.
Here’s an example of duplicate listing:
Supplier A- Standard room king with sea view
Supplier B- Double standard king, sea view
Supplier C- Standard room with sea view kg
Supplier D- Double Std Sea king bed – 2 Per
- Data Discrepancies: Variations in amenities, features, and pricing create inconsistencies.
- Manual Errors: Relying on manual processes increases the risk of human error and delays in updates.
These challenges can create frustration for both customers and businesses, highlighting the need for efficient room mapping solutions.
In the example above, the same room is described in four different ways by four different suppliers which makes it look like an extensive supply of different rooms within a specific hotel. This duplicate and poorly sorted room inventory created by different descriptions can leave your customers feeling confused and may cause them to lose trust in your platform, eventually leaving them with a bad experience.
Room Mapping helps prevent such instances.
It standardizes the peculiar room details like bed size, room views, smoking/non-smoking, board types, etc., and displays competitive prices for the unique rooms available.
Now, let’s understand how integrating a Room Mapping API enhances hotel booking experiences for customers.
Also Read: Effective strategies for OTAs to optimize conversions
The Advantages of Using Room Mapping API
A Room mapping API, is like a smart tool that helps hotel booking platforms organize and map room details accurately across different systems. Think of it as a translator that ensures every room’s features like bed size, view, or amenities are correctly listed no matter where the data comes from.
Let’s understand this with an example of Vervotech’s Room Mapping API that standardizes room data in just four steps:
Step 1: Data Collection
Enterprise-level web service collect room information.
Step 2: Data Standardization
Identification & standardization of raw data through Deep Learning algorithms.
Step 3: Data Processing
Analysis & grouping of similar rooms with identical parameters in one category.
Step 4: Outcome
Completely mapped rooms with accurate and detailed information.
This way, room mapping API ensures that:
- No single room is listed twice (no duplicate listings)
- Room descriptions are accurate (no incorrect details).
- Room listings are precise (no missing details).
For example, instead of seeing “Deluxe King Room” in one place and “Luxury Room with King Bed” in another, the API ensures it’s listed the same way everywhere. This level of data accuracy & precision builds trust and helps customers quickly find exactly what they’re looking for.
List of the Top Room Mapping Providers
Check out the list of the top room mapping solution providers:
1. Vervotech
Vervotech offers AI-powered room mapping solutions designed to standardize room data for travel businesses. Their Room Mapping API helps reduce duplicate listings, ensure accurate & consistent data, and enhances customer trust.
Key Features:
- High-accuracy room matching.
- Automated mapping to minimize manual intervention.
- Scalable technology for large inventories.
Case Study: Tripjack Recorded a 30% Increase in Conversions with Vervotech’s Room Mapping Solution
2. RateGain
RateGain’s room mapping solutions help travel businesses improve operational efficiency and provide consistent customer experiences by optimizing distribution, reducing booking errors, and improving inventory management.
Key Features:
- AI-driven mapping algorithms.
- Integration with existing systems.
- Real-time updates to inventory.
3. GIATA
GIATA’s room mapping solution specializes in data management solutions for the travel and tourism industry, including room mapping. It helps travel companies present accurate, globally accessible room information.
Key Features:
- Multilingual room data standardization.
- Integration with major OTAs and wholesalers.
- Detailed room attributes and descriptions.
4. Hotelmize
Hotelmize’s mapping solution focuses on optimization solutions that improve booking efficiency for wholesalers and online hotel booking platforms.
Key Features:
- AI-based room matching technology.
- Integration with dynamic pricing tools.
- Accurate and consistent room descriptions.
Now that we’ve learned about the top room mapping solution providers out there, let’s look at the best room mapping practices.
Room Mapping Best Practices for Hotel Suppliers & Online Travel Businesses
Efficient room mapping is essential for ensuring operational success and enhancing customer experience in the travel industry. Focusing on the best room mapping practices such as collaboration, technology investment, data quality, and regular audits, can help businesses streamline operations and maximize bookings.
Map at Source
Wholesalers or large hotel suppliers should integrate room mapping API to make sure the room data is standardized at source, minimizing discrepancies and improving the accuracy of listings.
This helps ensure that room attributes such as amenities, pricing, and availability are consistently communicated across multiple booking platforms.
Invest in Technology
Technology is the backbone of efficient room mapping. Manual processes often lead to errors and inefficiencies, especially when managing large inventories. Advanced room mapping solutions powered by AI and machine learning, can automate data matching and provide accurate, real-time updates.
Prioritize Data Quality
Data quality lies at the heart of a successful room mapping strategy. Travel businesses must regularly update room data to reflect changes such as renovations, seasonal promotions, or inventory adjustments. High-quality data not only enhances customer confidence but also optimizes the performance of automated room mapping tools, leading to better outcomes for both businesses and travelers. Standardizing attributes such as room size, amenities, bed types, and pricing ensures clarity and reliability for end users.
Audit Regularly
Routine audits are a ‘must’ to maintain the effectiveness of room mapping processes. The travel industry is constantly evolving, with new inventory, pricing structures, and customer preferences emerging frequently.
Conducting periodic reviews of mapping solutions helps identify and correct inconsistencies, ensuring that room data remains up-to-date and aligned with industry standards. Looking into customer feedback also provides insights into potential gaps or areas for improvement. Regular benchmarking against competitors can also reveal innovative practices to adopt.
Take Away
For businesses to thrive in the travel & hospitality industry, room mapping is no longer an option- it’s a necessity. To stay ahead, evaluate your current room mapping processes and invest in technology to ensure higher booking conversions, and establish a stronger brand that people trust, and vouch for.
This precision and accuracy of room attributes (details) enhances your customer’s hotel booking experience as they can focus on choosing their ideal stay, confident they’ll get exactly what they booked.
Try Vervotech’s Room Mapping technology at no cost.
