SALES & MARKETING
GUT
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HSMAI SURVEY TRACKS THE EVOLUTION OF REVENUE MANAGEMENT FROM INSTINCT TO ANALYSIS .
By BARBARA BOHN , MANAGING EDITOR
SURVEY RESULTS Some key findings of HSMAI ’ s 2016 survey , " Portrait of Revenue Management Leadership ," comprising 45 companies ( 29 from management companies , 16 from brands ):
Most respondents have VICE PRESIDENT OR SENIOR VICE
PRESIDENT as their current titles .
NEARLY 30 % have advanced degrees ( M . S ., MBA or PhD .).
NEARLY 60 % say they spend the majority of their time each week on revenue management planning and forecasting , and strategies to drive revenue and growth .
Here ’ s one not-so-surprising finding from the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International ’ s first survey of revenue management professionals : The most important strategic shift hoteliers must make in the next three years is to focus more on predictive analytics .
That implies an organizational and operational transformation that requires a willingness to invest in technology and a shift in the revenue managers themselves , from a historic reliance on “ gut instinct ” driving decisions to “ more highly educated professionals schooled in decision science and predictive analytics ,” the survey points out .
That ’ s not how most professionals , including Linda Gulrajani ,
THE MOST IMPORTANT JOB SKILL IN RESPONDENTS ’ CURRENT POSITION : analytical or critical thinking — most attribute their success to those skills .
Across the board , RESPONDENTS WANTED TO ADD LEADING MARKETING AND / OR SALES to their current responsibilities .
vice president of revenue strategy and distribution at Marcus Hotels & Resorts and chair of HSMAI ’ s revenue management advisory board , came up . “ You grow by moving to bigger and bigger hotels ,” says Gulrajani , who started in reservations and did a stint at Disney before joining Milwaukee , Wisconsin-based Marcus .
Her thoughts on the survey :
TECHNOLOGY “ Revenue management is going to be as much about pricing and forecasting as it is about offer generation and getting the right offer to the right customer in the right channel ,” she says . “ Brands and vendors that support independent hotels need to continue to grow their technology and integrate their technology across multiple systems faster than the OTAs are ,” she says . But “ companies like Expedia are spending billions on technology , and the brands and third-party vendors aren ’ t necessarily doing the same .”
INTEGRATION “ Absolutely , down the road , sales , marketing and revenue should all be part of the same group … Now that everything is happening online , marketing plays a different role . My goal is to drive optimal revenue , and I don ’ t care if it comes from a transient guest or a group guest or an OTA .” Getting a guest in the door pays dividends , according to Gulrajani : Guests at Marcus ’ resort hotel spend two to three times the amount they pay for their room on incrementals such as F & B , golf and spa . “ We need to tie the marketing piece and the guest behavior piece into the data piece and the rate piece . It ’ s definitely happening – you ’ ll hear people talking about attribution , where they see a hotel and where they book , but to me that ’ s the most complicated piece .”
TALENT IS CRITICAL “ In all of the meetings we have , when we talk about what are our biggest challenges , talent acquisition is always the number one thing that comes up ,” Gulrajani says . “ There ’ s just not a lot of revenue management people out there and not a lot of training . It ’ s tough to make that first step into revenue management . One of our big goals from an HSMAI perspective is how we get more revenue management classes into universities and more curriculum .” It ’ s also about building a pipeline . Who should fill it ? “ You want someone who ’ s analytical and a number cruncher , but they need to be strategic , build relationships , sell strategy and be a good communicator . Those skill sets don ’ t often go together .”
January / February 2017 hotelsmag . com 59