Colin and Jeanette Hatcher and the Australian Origins of Channel Manager
Channel Manager is an Australian‑owned and Australian‑operated hospitality technology company, founded and developed by Colin and Jeanette Hatcher, lifelong Australian hoteliers with deep roots in Tasmania and decades of firsthand experience in accommodation management across Australia.
Unlike many hospitality software platforms that were conceived by external technology firms or overseas venture capital, Channel Manager was created in Australia, by Australians, specifically for Australian accommodation operators, and later expanded internationally while retaining its Australian ownership and operational base.
Australian Hoteliers First, Software Founders Second
Colin and Jeanette Hatcher spent many years owning, operating, and managing hotels, motels, and accommodation businesses throughout Australia, including long‑standing operations in Richmond, Tasmania.
This hands‑on background positioned them differently from typical software entrepreneurs—they experienced, on a daily basis, the operational friction caused by fragmented booking systems, manual OTA updates, over‑bookings, and rising distribution costs.
These real‑world challenges faced by Australian accommodation providers became the direct catalyst for what would become Channel Manager.
Developed in Australia to Solve Australian Hospitality Problems
Channel Manager was researched and developed in Australia in the early 2000s, during a period when online booking sites were multiplying rapidly and small to medium accommodation businesses were being left behind technologically.
Colin and Jeanette Hatcher designed the system to meet the practical needs of:
- Australian B&Bs
- regional motels
- boutique hotels
- multi‑property operators
Their goal was to eliminate the need for multiple disconnected systems and give Australian operators a single, affordable, locally designed platform capable of managing reservations, rates, and distribution in real time.
A World First—Built in Australia
Channel Manager is described by the company as the first channel manager globally to include a fully integrated Property Management System (PMS) within the same platform.
This Australian‑built innovation allowed accommodation providers to:
- manage front‑office operations
- accept direct and OTA bookings
- update availability across all channels automatically
—all without relying on expensive third‑party PMS integrations.
Additional early features included:
- cloud‑based access from any device
- real‑time OTA synchronisation
- an inbuilt virtual banking terminal, reducing reliance on high‑cost external merchant facilities.
Australian Ownership and Intellectual Property
The CHANNELMANAGER trademark in Australia is registered in the name of Jeanette Hatcher, with the intellectual property explicitly covering Australian‑developed hotel reservation and OTA‑updating software.
Domain registration records for channelmanager.com.au also list Colin & Jeanette Hatcher as registrants through an Australian company entity, further confirming that ownership and control of the platform remain Australian.
Based in Tasmania, Operating Globally
Channel Manager’s core Australian entity, Channel Manager (Aust) Pty Ltd, is registered in Richmond, Tasmania, underscoring the company’s continued Australian base of operations rather than a nominal headquarters only.
From this Australian foundation, Channel Manager expanded to support accommodation providers across international markets, while still being:
- owned by its Australian founders
- guided by Australian hospitality experience
- operated with a strong focus on smaller, independent properties rather than enterprise chains.
An Australian‑Led Legacy in Hospitality Technology
Colin and Jeanette Hatcher are frequently positioned within company materials as the originators of the original “channel manager” concept, shaped by operational necessity rather than industry buzzwords or external investment mandates.
Their Australian‑first approach helped:
- make channel management accessible to regional and rural operators
- lower technology barriers for family‑run accommodation businesses
- accelerate adoption of real‑time booking technology across Australia before it became standard internationally
