One of the hotel industry ’ s greatest strengths is its ability to shift pricing on a dime . Unlike residential or office leases , which are typically fixed and long-term , hotels can change the rates to which they sell anything on a daily basis . It ’ s why executives — especially during more challenging market times — refer to hotels as one of the great hedges against inflation . Hotels , and vacations , for that matter , may be an elastic product , but savvy hoteliers , who understand the basic tenets of market supply and demand , usually come out on top : leaving a dime on the table should not be in the vocabulary of any revenue manager . Here ’ s the thing , like a piece of produce , hotel rooms are perishable , with an expiration date of 24 hours . Filling them at the right time at the right rate is
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crucial toward top-line financial success .
As technology has matured and evolved , and now , with the dizzying momentum of artificial intelligence , revenue management is as much about the people running it as the tech itself — some may conclude even more . To that end , there are a host of revenue management products out there helping hotels make the decisions that allow them to optimize rates across the board — from rooms and food and beverage to golf and spa . It ’ s no longer just about “ setting it and forgetting it ,” but using these robust tools to forecast demand , control room availability and length of stay , turn on rate fences and decide the best distribution channels to use in a given period . Smart revenue management even helps with staffing and making purchasing decisions .
There are myriad revenue management
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tools in the market , which can complicate matters : How does one choose ? “ Ultimately , it ’ s important to look at the hotel specifics to make the right decision ,” noted berner + becker , a company based in Germany that hotels outsource their revenue management needs to . A smaller hotel , one with less than 100 or even 50 rooms and no food and beverage and caters to leisure transient , could opt for a simpler revenue management system with fewer layers than a larger hotel with hundreds of rooms that does lots of group business with heavy food and beverage and needs a more robust platform with multiple integrations . It ’ s not one size fits all .
Choosing five revenue management systems to highlight is no easy task . But we ’ ve come up with five we think check all the boxes to help rev up a hotel ’ s revenue .
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52 hotelsmag . com Oct / Nov 2024 |