Context
I needed to get a quick grip on the PMS market for hotels, glamping sites and serviced apartments: who the leaders are, what drives their growth, how they package their products and where there's room to stand out.
The task
Build a picture of the competition and get practical takeaways for the positioning, website and marketing of a PMS product:
- what competitors promise (positioning)
- which modules and capabilities they sell (product)
- who they serve and which jobs they cover (people)
- how they make money (price)
- where they show up and how they capture demand (place and promotion)
What I did
- Built a 6P matrix of the key PMS players in the Russian market: TravelLine, Bnovo, Kontur.Hotel, SabyHotel, Shelter, RealtyCalendar, OtelMS (Agast), Lite PMS and Broniruy Online, compared against our product
- Broke each competitor down by:
- Product / Capabilities / Positioning / People (jobs and persona) / Price / Place / Promotion
- Separately analyzed competitors' marketing funnels (promotion):
- Brand reach → Capture (CTAs, forms, demos) → Nurture (content, cases, training) → Deal (implementation, packages, integrations)
- Added a quick snapshot of traffic and demand where available: engagement, share of direct and organic traffic, and paid search and keyword benchmarks (Similarweb, PR-CY, SpyWords)
Key insights
- The leaders package their product as "an ecosystem for the hotel and a way to grow sales", not just a booking grid
- For capturing demand, almost everyone relies on the same core: demo or consultation, forms, and product landing pages for each feature
- In nurturing, the winners are the ones with content for hoteliers, case studies, and a knowledge base or training
- For monetization, packages or modules plus a subscription fee are common, sometimes with commissions or mixed models
- A large share of direct traffic among the leaders means a strong brand, community and repeat visits. It's a useful sign that content and market presence really matter in this niche
Results
- A ready 6P matrix of the PMS market (one document for the product and marketing teams)
- A summary of competitors' positioning and offers (what they promise and how they describe their value)
- A map of modules and product capabilities (what counts as must-have and where you can stand out)
- A list of growth hypotheses for the website, content, demand capture and funnel improvement, prioritized by impact and effort
My role
Market research and product marketing analytics: the 6P structure, competitor funnel breakdowns, and findings and recommendations for packaging and growth.