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
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.