Notes from the independent house.
A working journal for independent hoteliers, written by people who have stood at the desk, set the rates, and balanced the books. Read, share, argue with us.
Results for “Channel Manager”.
MCP for hotels: how AI assistants will find, sell and help run your property
ChatGPT, Claude and Google can now read live hotel prices, and some can take a booking. The standard behind it is called MCP. Here is what it is, what it changes for a small hotel's visibility and daily work, and what to do about it now.
Tribii
Hotels using Tribii: three real setups for direct bookings
A canal house in Amsterdam, a village guest house in the Douro and two apartments in Kampen all take commission-free bookings with Tribii. Each one set it up differently. Here is what they did, and how to choose the setup that fits your property.
Tribii
OTA terms explained: a plain-language glossary for independent hotels
Commissionable rate, net rate, merchant model, narrow parity. The words in your OTA contract, explained in plain language, with what each one means for your money.
Tribii
What's new in Tribii: September 2026
A team that sets up Tribii for you, guest messages that send themselves, and iCal calendar sync on Pro as a lighter, more affordable alternative to the channel manager. Here is everything new this month.
Tribii
How much commission does Expedia take? The 2026 guide for independent hotels
Expedia's headline commission is only the start. Here is what a booking really costs once you add the payment model, the visibility tools and the card fees, and how to pay less in 2027.
Tribii
Own your guests
An OTA booking doesn't hand you a guest. It hands you a stay, and the OTA keeps the name, the email and the right to ever talk to that person again. Here's what that costs an independent hotel, and how Tribii is built on the opposite assumption.
Tribii
The street outside is part of your hotel
How guest messaging, local experiences and a traveller board turn a stay into three connections, and why one of them lands as a real line on the folio.
Daniel Vidal
Free booking engine with a payment gateway: what a small hotel should actually look for
Three business models hide behind the word "free", and only one of them leaves your direct bookings alone. Plus the payment question most vendors would rather you didn't ask.
Tribii
What is a hotel PMS? A plain-language guide for independent hoteliers
Not a definition from a brochure. What the software actually does between 7am and midnight at a twenty-room property, and which words mean what.
Tribii
Open-source hotel software vs free SaaS: the real cost of self-hosting
The licence costs nothing. The server, the updates, the backups and the person who fixes it during check-in are not included.
Tribii
Is there a truly free hotel PMS? What "free" covers in 2026
Three different things get called free hotel software, and only one of them is free in the way you mean. Here is how to tell them apart.
Tribii
How much does a hotel booking engine cost in 2026?
Published prices, hidden tiers, and per-booking fees. What the market actually charges a small property, with every figure sourced and dated.
Tribii
Do small hotels need a channel manager?
The honest answer is sometimes. Here is how to work out which sometimes you are in, using your own numbers rather than a vendor's.
Tribii
Cloudbeds pricing for small hotels: what you will actually pay in 2026
Cloudbeds does not publish a price. Here is what is known, what is estimated, what to ask on the sales call, and when a small property is overpaying.
Tribii
Channel manager vs booking engine: what a small hotel actually needs
The two tools get sold together and confused constantly. One sells rooms on other people's websites. The other sells rooms on yours.
Tribii
One system, not twenty: the case for running your hotel on a single screen
How independent hotels ended up juggling a dozen disconnected tools, and what it looks like to put the whole house, guests included, on one.
Daniel Vidal
Welcome to Tribii: a fairer deal for independent hotels
Who we are, where the idea came from, and why we're building a commission-free way for independent hotels to win direct bookings. A hello from the Tribii team.
Daniel VidalRead it first, in your inbox.
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