TECHNOLOGY
THE
NEW
REVENUE
MANAGERS
DATA ANALYTICS MAY BE THE FUTURE , BUT SPECIALIZED SKILLS – AND HEFTY INVESTMENT – ARE REQUIRED .
Contributed BY JULIANA SHALLCROSS
Today ’ s revenue managers have an astounding amount of information at their fingertips to help determine room pricing and to maximize revenue , but combing through all this data in an efficient manner can be a full-time job .
A single data source can have up to 30 attributes . Indeed , that seems to be the common gripe from revenue managers about data — the sheer amount of it is so time-consuming to review that it can ultimately backfire .
“ You can spend thousand of hours analyzing the data , but then you pass the time to make the right decision ,” says Erick Viera , revenue director of the Fairmont Mayakoba in Mexico . A typical day for Viera involves reviewing reports about pricing , forecasting and demand , then making decisions based on those reports , studying the results and finally , communicating those outcomes with his executive team .
MORE AUTOMATION ? The need for data analysts is a looming concern for the hospitality industry , especially as pricing becomes increasingly set using analytical models . According to a survey of revenue managers by Cornell University ’ s Center for Hospitality Research , analytical models are expected to be the top-rated approach to determining pricing , followed by segment-based pricing and then CRM .
Additionally , the survey found that 37 % of revenue managers believe that the field will become more automated with analytics . To that end , the report found that future revenue managers will need analytical skills more than they will a background in reservations or rooms .
In recent years , hotel giants such as AccorHotels and Marriott International have carved out specific positions for data scientists and analysts to evaluate all the information being collected from their hotels ( and from their competitors ), as well as to create and implement pricing models based on all that data . Last summer , Bethesda , Marylandbased Host Hotels & Resorts , which owns 96 properties with 54,000 rooms , created its own enterprise analytics division , of which revenue management is a part .
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