Global Statistics – the key to a hotelier’s success?
There’s the old saying ‘lies, damned lies and statistics’ implying any statement, figure, equation or percentage can ultimately be presented in any given way to prove almost any point.
This may well be so, but hoteliers need to make informed decisions about their strategies, their pricing points, how they wish to place themselves in the market and what revenue figures they are aiming to achieve, and these decisions are taken after having analysed the statistical data at hand.
We are all aware of the benefits, indeed, the necessity of forecasting. Some of it is instinctive, some of it is risk taking, some of it comes under the term ‘guesstimate’, but a large part of successful forecasting comes from painstakingly working through the hotel’s own historical data.
One step is planning seasonality and making a judgement on which future dates will be high demand periods and which will be low. The next step would be to determine a list of pricing points based on the best rate that could be achieved according to the planned occupancy of any given day.
The hotel’s own PMS can provide a lot of the necessary data, as can reporting functions available on the CRS. A rate shopping tool can also assist in making pricing decisions as it gives a strong indication as to what rate the market would bare.
What’s the challenge here? Well, nothing too serious, but it is important to note that the data mentioned above, ie, hotel-own or data that comes directly from the immediate market, gives the hotelier an inward view and doesn’t necessarily point to major shifts within the industry or trends happening on a global basis.
Industry changes, mergers and acquisitions, technological developments, consumer conscience, political shifts, are all things that will impact the hotelier in the same way that a butterfly flapping its wings in the east can set off a landslide on the other side of the world. An informed hotelier, kept abreast of industry movements, is in the best position to determine what changes in strategy, if indeed any, need to be undertaken to ensure he is moving with the times.
The upcoming seminar ‘Consumer Behaviour, Buying Patterns and Regional Trends, due to take place the day prior to the WORLDHOTELS conference on the 22nd January 2008 at the Hotel Husa Princesa in Madrid, will take a look at these issues and will address how hoteliers can make use of global facts to influence their decision-making strategies.
The seminar will be lecture-based with a dynamic presenter, Kathryn Webb, leading participants through the maze of global trends. There will be plenty of opportunity for open forum discussion allowing the participants to share their thoughts from their own region’s experience.
