BTO Day 1: The Art of Revenue Management For Hotels

This was a great panel raising interesting points related to hotel revenue management:

• Revenue Management in Hotels is an art not a profession
• There is more to it than the money that’s involved
• It’s not clear who should be doing this, what seems to be clear is that today staff are under qualified to do this work
• Revenue Management goes beyond channels and bookings – it’s all about the people: Who are you selling to? How are you selling? Are you sure you’re not underselling to someone willing to pay top price?
• FLASH SALES are here to stay – pricing is constantly changing – the question is how are hotels making these changes, based on which information?
• There is no such thing as a parity rate: different platforms will offer different pricing, depending on how different systems interface and exchange information
• OTAs (Online Travel Agencies) often leave room only for comparison on pricing as all other (important) elements are not visible, hence the choice is made based on pricing
• The challenge for hotels is to identify new and improve ways to increase their online visibility and direct traffic, many rely on OTAs to do this but then complain when it comes to sharing the revenue, and are not willing to invest in strategic activities which can and would increase revenue.

This was an international panel – based on the experience of all speakers it was clear this is a general situation typical of small chains or individual properties across the globe.