Fractional Hospitality Systems & OTA Distribution Lead (Mews / SiteMinder)

# Fractional Hospitality Systems & OTA Distribution Lead (Mews / SiteMinder / OTAs / Guest Messaging) **Paid pilot audit of a 35-room property → 6–8 week stabilization engagement → ongoing fractional support** ## About us We operate a US-based portfolio of approximately 13 independent boutique hospitality properties (aparthotels and short-term rental buildings) using **Mews** (PMS) and **SiteMinder** (channel manager), distributing through **Airbnb, Booking.com, and Expedia**, with **Akia** for guest messaging and Mini Apps, plus direct booking channels. Vrbo connectivity is planned but not yet live. The initial paid pilot is a 35-room property that is substantially launched and operationally important. We are seeking a hands-on consultant to audit, stabilize, and document our complete distribution and guest-communication environment. This is implementation and remediation work — not general strategy, copywriting, or listing SEO. As existing joint Mews + SiteMinder customers, we expect to migrate to the new native **Mews Channel Manager powered by SiteMinder** in the coming months. Audit and remediation must be planned with that target architecture in mind: do not invest in fixing a legacy connection that is about to be replaced, or carry mapping defects into the migration. ## The problem We have found configuration defects across the portfolio: listings that never went live on certain channels, incorrect room/rate mappings, duplicate and contradictory guest messages (OTA-native vs. Akia), content from one property appearing on another’s listings, and fee/tax setups that do not match reality. We need someone who understands the full path from PMS inventory through channel mapping, public listing presentation, reservation delivery, and automated guest communication — and can prove each link works. ## Immediate priorities 1. Audit every property and room type across Mews, SiteMinder, and each OTA. 2. Identify missing, inactive, incomplete, or incorrectly mapped listings. 3. Complete Booking.com and Expedia onboarding for properties not yet live. 4. Determine and implement the correct Vrbo connectivity path from our Mews PMS. Candidate paths include the incoming native Mews Channel Manager powered by SiteMinder, BookingPal, or direct connection. Validate each for a currently supported production Mews integration, rate-plan fidelity (dynamic daily rates), restriction fidelity (min/max stay, closed-to-stay), and single-authority inventory control. Vrbo must never be fed by two systems simultaneously. 5. Audit Akia messaging, automations, guidebooks, registration flows, and upsells. 6. Eliminate duplicate, contradictory, mistimed, or wrong-property guest messages. 7. Create and maintain a master property × room type × channel matrix. 8. Open and manage support tickets directly with Mews, SiteMinder, Akia, OTAs, and distribution vendors — and drive them to resolution. 9. Test the complete reservation journey per property and provide evidence that each connection works. 10. Document final configuration and establish an ongoing launch and QA process. 11. Assess and plan migration to Mews Channel Manager powered by SiteMinder: timing, mapping conversion, channel coverage (including whether it resolves Vrbo), and validation testing. ## Hard rules (permanent, non-negotiable) - **Rates, minimum stays, availability, and restrictions are managed by an internal revenue-management system that pushes automatically. Do not manually alter live rate values, minimum stays, availability, or restrictions — in any system, at any phase of the engagement.** You may inspect and document rate-plan and synchronization configuration. Any proposed configuration change affecting revenue-system outputs requires written approval first. - No production configuration changes during the initial audit without written approval. - No changes to cancellation policies, payment collection, fees, or payout settings without written approval — ever. - No deleting listings or replacing established listing IDs. Listing history and reviews are assets. - Work from your own named user accounts (Mews roles, SiteMinder user, OTA co-host/sub-user access). No shared logins. - Log every configuration change: what, where, when, and why. ## Required experience - Demonstrable hands-on **Mews** configuration experience, including room/rate mapping with a channel manager. You will be asked to describe the mechanics; “I’ve used channel managers” is not sufficient. - Strong **SiteMinder** or comparable enterprise channel-manager experience. - Booking.com and Expedia property onboarding/troubleshooting through a channel manager. - Multi-property OTA listing and mapping audits: diagnosing sync failures, not just building listings. - Ability to coordinate software vendors and drive tickets through resolution. - Strong documentation discipline: clear, precise, audit-ready deliverables. - BookingPal, Rentals United, Vrbo connectivity, and Akia experience strongly preferred. Deep distribution experience plus the ability to manage vendor-led implementations is acceptable. ## Paid pilot: one 35-room property The first project is an audit only, delivered within two weeks of access. Deliverables: 1. Current-state system diagram. 2. Mews → SiteMinder → OTA mapping matrix, per room type × channel. 3. Defect register: every problem found, with severity, root cause, owning system, and proposed fix. 4. **Evidence for every finding** — screenshot, URL, or test reservation. “It looks fine” is not a finding. 5. Risk-ranked remediation plan, separating changes that can be made safely from those requiring vendor involvement or approval. 6. Vendor tickets required, drafted and ready to submit. 7. Estimated effort to remediate the full portfolio. ## To apply — answer all five questions Applications without specific answers will be declined. 1. Describe one Mews + SiteMinder or OTA-connectivity project you personally audited or implemented. State the property/portfolio scale and systems (no client name), your exact personal role and who would perform this work, the mapping/connectivity defect, diagnosis, and resolution. 2. **Mews–SiteMinder mechanics:** Explain how you would audit our current Mews–SiteMinder connection. Describe the room and rate identifiers, mapping artifacts, and configuration screens you would expect; how you would validate inventory, rates, restrictions, and reservation delivery; and how the new Mews Channel Manager powered by SiteMinder could affect this architecture. 3. A property is open in Mews and mapped in SiteMinder, but Expedia shows no availability. Walk through your investigation, step by step. 4. Guests at one property receive two different arrival-instructions messages, one referencing the wrong building. Which systems would you check, in what order, and why? 5. Provide a redacted example of a channel matrix, defect register, implementation plan, or comparable deliverable you personally produced. If everything is under NDA, describe its structure and one specific defect you diagnosed. **To confirm you read this post, begin your proposal with the phrase “Full chain.”** Proposals that do not will be declined unread. ## Engagement structure - Pilot: **$1,000 fixed price**, audit only; no production remediation. Deliver within two weeks of access. - Stabilization: 6–8 weeks across the portfolio, scoped after the pilot and contracted hourly. - Ongoing: fractional support for new property launches, audits, and systems administration (estimated 10–20 hrs/month). - NDA required before any system access. - Weekly written exception report: what went live, what was fixed, what is blocked, and what decisions are needed from us.