How to: Generate more revenues in Hospitality
Setting up a Revenue Generating team
With so much uncertainty in the market now is the time to ensure that you're making the most of the revenue opportunities you have. Introducing a revenue management culture into your hotel is the first step on the road to optimising revenues. The culture comes from your revenue team - if you don't have one think about creating one.
Who's in the team?
The team - Reservations manager, corporate and group sales manager, hotel or general manager and front office manager - or if that means only one of you then its you.
Do I need a revenue manager?
Not necessarily, depending on the size of hotel, but do need someone who is responsible for keeping the team on track - Create a revenue champion.
Do I need a revenue management system?
Not necessarily - its best to get your house in order and create a confident team before committing to a systems investment. Manual forecasting and revenue management can get you within 5% of accuracy with a bit of practice. Never underestimate the power of an excel spreadsheet!
Is it all about Excel spreadsheets?
No - the majority of Revenue management practices stem from good strategies - its knowing when to adjust the strategy that makes revenue management succeed - the figures you track, your accuracy and how you interpret those figures will help you make these good decisions.
What kind of revenue uplifts can I expect by practising revenue management?
Again it depends on how much improvement could be made and what you're doing now. Some properties introducing revenue management for the first time can benefit from uplifts of 10% of revenues. Again this depends on the team commitment, where you are, the product you offer and the demand for your hotel.
What's the first thing to do when setting up the team?
Get them to have a good look at who is booking your property. What business is coming into the hotel? Do you know where it comes from? Break it down into market segments and start to track each segment in your property management system and when they book your hotel. Your corporate business may tend to book later than leisure. That will give you a better understanding of when people book you and when to expect them to book. Then you can start to proactively go after that piece of business and make sure that when they want to make a hotel booking - it's a booking into your hotel.
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