Revenue Management. New times call for new tools

What does the future of revenue mean for your hotel?

Regardless of property size, implementing the right revenue management system (RMS) will get your hotel back on the fast-track to greater profitability and productivity.

For many hotels, the crisis exposed the risks of holding back on revenue technology. But there is simply too much at stake to rely on manual processes and outdated systems.

Hotel revenue management has reached a turning point, and the role of the revenue manager is expanding. Revenue optimization isn’t just about crunching numbers – it’s about strategic decision – making across all facets of the commercial organisation.

It’s time to evolve and re/invent the future of revenue management.

The key to growth include:

Smart data analysis

• The power of data: data – driven decisions – making requires the right data and the right sophisticated technology. With more people across the organisation asking to understand what is most likely to happen, the need for accurate and reliable data insights is clear
• A different type of demand: changes in demand require accurate and automated pricing to optimise a hotel’s revenue. With a significant number of hotels mispricing themselves- often in double digigit percentages- you need to optimise every potential revenue opportunity.
• Preparing for the future: most analytics approaches employ traditional forecasting techniques that rely on the availability of valid historical data. But these techniques lead to over -forecasting and under reacting- and fail to produce good revenue outcomes. An rms should serve as your reliable radar -reacting quickly and responding appropriately as business recovers.
• Size doesn’t matter: revenue management principles apply to all sizes of hotels. But for smaller properties, there is less margin for error. With an RMS, independent hoteliers can make fact-based,data-driven decisions on what they know will happen versus making decisions on what they think and feel might happen.

Doing more with less through intelligent automation.

All revenue leaders need automated technology to help them drive sustainable growth strategies. Regardless of your hotel type, size, segment or location, you need an agile revenue solution you can count on to grow with your brand and scale as you open the door to a brighter tomorrow.

• When you are increasingly responsible for multiple properties, across multiple time zones,you need to ensure your hotel rates reflect real-time market trends. You must be able to access your property system at any time of the day in any environment. But analysing multiple data points and collating this information into a single version of the truth, is a lengthy and laborious process. It leaves little time to think strategically and make effective decisions that drive long-term profitability.

• Automated revenue management is essential. It’s almost impossible to look at a hotel’s booking history and identify trends when booking partners fluctuate constantly. So how do you react in time to leverage opportunities and drive profit? This is where an RMS makes a significant difference to your top and bottom line. Through a series of specialised algorithms and calculations, an advanced RMS automatically assesses your hotels perfermormance and market demand- deploying pricing across the distribution ecosystem accordingly.

• Department collaboration and technology alignment: hotels whose marketing and revenue management departments work in unison have reported revenue increases of more than 6%, increased market share and increased demand for shoulder and low -demand periods.

Identifying new revenue opportunities before your competitors do.

Revenue Management has expanded beyond tactical rate and room inventory management to become more strategic, more focused on total revenue, and more profit orientated.

By applying revenue science to all revenue streams,you can find incremental revenue and savings in untapped areas. By factoring total revenue and costs into decisions, you can reduce any losses and increase profitability.

With market and competitive pressures,there is a need to think outside the guest room and optimise across all revenue streams.

A seamless, granular data integration between your RMS, PMS, CRS, CRM, booking engine system, market data, and other revenue streams is imperative to drive your hotel ‘s total profit optimization.

Exactly how the future will play out remains uncertain, but one thing is clear. Investing in smart revenue strategies and systems will help ensure your hotel is around to reap the benefits -and thrive.

To obtain more information from iDeaS ´s RMS go to: https://go.rev.ideas.com/re-invent