Few industries have seen as much upheaval and transformation as hospitality. As technology rapidly advanced and continues to do so, the internet continues to play a larger and larger role — particularly with Gen Y, who have come of age — and global heavyweights throw their weight — and resources — around, the industry has seen a fascinating evolution.
A new role
Along with this transformation, the role of revenue management has been reinvented or, at the very least, broadened. New technology, processes, inventions, hardware and software advancements, big data, meta searches, keywords and e-marketing have all become a part of hotel revenue lingo. The role no longer focuses predominantly on numbers. Filling rooms at a profit and in the most valuable way possible has been changed. In fact, the very notion of what "valuable" is has been redefined.
A new world
Thanks to a well-connected world, the availability and immediacy of online reviews and powerful competition from other distribution channels, the stakes have gotten higher. Each booking and mobile guest journey can now have a profound influence on a hotel's bottom line. Every positive or negative review can be an opportunity or a missed chance. The right investment, the right marketing at the right time, to the right person can have a powerful impact or none at all. It's a new world.
So how can a revenue manager navigate this new terrain?
Good question. A part of it is taking educated guesses and risks, a part is shying away from certain decisions, making mistakes, trialing new processes and strategies and keeping as informed as possible. However what it all comes down to is experience. Learning from personal experience and from the experience of those who have tried and succeeded…or failed.
For this reason, hetras began a series of interviews with international revenue managers — to glean how the industry and role has changed from the past into the present and what it might look like in the future. The experience and professional insights of five of these revenue managers have now been collated into a white paper. In this document, they identify their greatest challenges, the most invaluable tools and processes, their position on technological innovation and their predictions for the future…and it is a doozy.
Five International Revenue Managers share their Insights
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