A very interesting article was recently released by Bloomberg News, about the trends in hotel development that we are currently experiencing. The report said that US hotel developers are investing less in luxury properties, as the cost of providing high-end amenities rises and profit margins shrink. According to STR, the RevPAR at luxury properties was $202 in 2012, down from the 2007 high of $213. According to the report, only …Read More

When most hoteliers think about the factors that have an effect on their revenue management strategy, they think of RevPAR, ADR and occupancy. They think about historical and current local demand. Most hoteliers don’t think about star ratings, beyond when they initially start working with an OTA and are creating their profile. But that doesn’t make good business sense. What many hoteliers sometimes forget is that the star rating is …Read More

The hotel industry is constantly changing, and evolving as technology evolves. That means that our pricing strategies, operations and overall business goals need to change as well. But because it can be tough to stay on top of what’s new, I have put together this quick overview of the top three new online sites that will have a big effect on hotels’ revenue management strategy and revenues. BackBid According to …Read More

There is a great deal of confusion around the plethora of revenue management-related technologies available on the market today. It’s hard to remember which technology calculates rates, which one manages inventory or if they do both. Some systems update rates in real-time, some only update once daily. Talk about technology overload! Never fear, REVPAR GURU is here to help you determine which revenue management technology will be most useful for …Read More

Revenue management was created in the mid-1980s based on the practice of yield management in the airline industry. For as long as revenue management has existed, so has the debate over which revenue management metric is most effective to determine the success (or failure) of a property’s pricing strategy. Each revenue manager has their own personal preference, but in general, today most hoteliers use occupancy and ADR as the key …Read More

It’s amazing to me how many of the hotel industry’s standard processes are based simply upon ‘what worked in the past’. Consider MLOS (check out last article “The MLOS Myth” on this very subject), historical pricing, apprehension about using OTAs and then today’s topic – jacking up room rates when your property’s occupancy hits a predetermined level. The one thing that all of these long-standing beliefs have in common is …Read More

Remember back in the day when consumers used rack brochures and travel agents to book their hotel stays? Remember when Minimum Length Of Stay (MLOS) and stay patterns was the only way to deal with unconstrained demand to try to control our revenues and occupancy?. Times have definitely changed since the days when MLOS and stay patterns were the norm for revenue managers. Back in the day, it was impossible …Read More

Published by HospitalityNET Revenue management is a seriously complicated process. There are literally hundreds of different factors that need to be considered in order to be as effective as possible in pricing each room. And these factors need to be examined on a regular basis, to ensure that rates change as the factors also change. Add to that, the data collection, manually updating rates across all of the online channels, …Read More

We are all about making our clients the most money possible; in some cases, that means using the OTAs but other times, the direct channel is best. Given the importance of the direct channel, we wanted to share our top five ways to increase website traffic and direct bookings. Rates are King When attempting to drive business to the direct channel, rates are of the utmost importance. Potential guests are …Read More

Many “old-school” hoteliers still firmly believe in the efficacy of the tour operator business model and rightly so. Although it should no longer be the only tactic that hoteliers used to bring in bookings, it still is a very important part of a successful revenue management strategy. The important part of that sentence is “no longer [should tour operators] be the only tactic that hoteliers use”. Should I repeat it …Read More

Today, we all live in a very fast-moving, high-tech society and yet our technology always seems to be disappointing us. From iOS 6′s crappy map app to Malware infecting our PCs, our technology seems unable to perform at 100%. Unfortunately for hotel owners and revenue managers, the same applies to most revenue management systems. Most revenue management systems overpromise and under-deliver, promising real-time pricing updates but only delivering once or …Read More

  We all watched as Hurricane Sandy, dubbed Frankenstorm by the media, pounded away at the North Eastern US, causing massive floods and serious damage. She caused many problems for the travel industry as well: flights have been cancelled, stranding travelers for days. Everyones plans were scattered in the wind. But as I watched the footage, I couldnt help but wonder about the effect that the storm had on hotels …Read More

Many hoteliers and revenue managers don’t know that revenue management in hotels actually developed from the successes of airlines’ yield management practices. I know what you’re thinking: “my hotel doesn’t fly, so I can’t use the same processes that an airline does. It just doesn’t make good business sense.” Actually, it does. Hotels have many of the same issues and challenges that the airlines do: “perishable inventory, customers booking in …Read More

You probably saw Part One of this series run here, but in case you didn’t, I’ll get you up to speed. “What Not to Do in Revenue Management – Part One” offered the following don’ts: DON’T Think That Your Customers Know Anything About Your Comp set DON’T Use Stagnant Rates DON’T Forget to Replenish your Inventory Online DON’T Overcomplicate Your Job DON’T Be Afraid of Technology Today, we’re going to …Read More

Today, most articles are full of advice: best practices, tips, tricks and information that will help you do your job better. But as useful as those tips can be, it can often be even more helpful to learn what NOT to do, especially when it comes to a field like revenue management where there are as many different opinions, as there are hotels. So let’s get down to business. Here …Read More

I’m sure that you are all familiar with the term comp set, which is short for competitive set. A comp set is defined as the “other, competing hotels against which a property measures its own performance.” In most cases, properties within a comp set are in the same geographical location, have the same star rating, provide similar amenities and customer experience. Comp sets can be comprised of many hotels or …Read More

Many “old-school” hoteliers still firmly believe in the efficacy of the tour operator business model… and rightly so. Although it should no longer be the only tactic that hoteliers used to bring in bookings, it still is a very important part of a successful revenue management strategy. The important part of that sentence is “no longer [should tour operators] be the only tactic that hoteliers use”. Should I repeat it …Read More

With today’s hastened technology, revenue channels emerge almost instantly.  If it’s not an entirely new channel that emerges, it’s an evolution from one channel into another, such as the mobile channel, which has grown exponentially in the last two years.  With each new channel comes an entirely new fee system and distribution network that adds new, sophisticated levels to revenue management. Automation through software is bringing an end to traditional …Read More