How many times did your hotel ’ s performance fall short of the forecast ? Often times , this may be a result of market decline or unexpected cancellations during the last part of the month . What if you took a different approach for the next weekly Revenue Maximization meeting and didn ’ t solely rely on unsecured business ?
Your hotel is full of hidden profitability . How can your team work to increase your top line ( sales ) while decreasing your expenses ( variable and fixed costs ) to achieve an overall increase in profits in your hotel ’ s bottom line ? The following 10 suggestions can help you increase revenue and control costs :
1 . Revise your vendors
You might be using the same linen or room amenities vendor for years , but they might be using your long-term relationship to overcharge for their products and services . Do the research and get the quote from three competitors in each area . You can always go back to your current vendor and ask them to match the rate of their competitors .
2 . Take a deep dive in your PNL
Make sure to look at all expenses and cut unnecessary spending . Calculate how much does it cost you to clean each room and compare it to the industry standard of 20-30 minutes . You might realize that you don ’ t have enough staff or have too many employees , or that one department ’ s manager is not maintaining the amount of overtime pay . You should look at areas such as commission ’ s cost , to see if there are ways to reduce such expenses .
3 . Incentivize your employees
Besides your sales team , your reservations and front office teams are your main sellers . Put the incentive plan in place that motivates them to sell your property on the spot , while they are making their own buck . Revise your sales team incentive as well . At the end of the day , we all work for our own paycheck and a good one makes your employees high performers .
4 . Do the online audit
Start from having 100 % score in all OTA content , to make sure your placement is on the first page ( 80 % of bookings through OTAs happen on the first page ). Be consistent with your social media information and posts across all platforms . Use the same main image everywhere , to create brand awareness . At least once per quarter , review and update all online content .
5 . Respond to all online reviews in a timely matter and engage with your customers
Statistics show that you may see an 11.2 % rate increase and 14.2 % booking increase if you respond to all online reviews . Your guest relations or front office teams need to be on top of your hotel ’ s online feedback . You may have reservation requests posted on your Facebook page so don ’ t miss the opportunity to confirm that booking .
6 . Revoke your OTA reservations in time to avoid extra commissions
Make sure your OTA reservations are being reviewed and revoked on OTA extranets in a timely matter . As you might know , there is a deadline to marking all No-Shows and Cancellations each month ( some OTAs allow until 3rd or until 5th of the month to revoke previous month ’ s reservations ).
7 . Create incremental revenue sources
Whether it is selling that empty suite for $ 50 more on the day of arrival , through incentive program at the front desk or selling a cheese platter that goes well with that desert wine , make sure not to lose any opportunities to make extra revenue . Set standards of informing each guest at check in of your hotel ’ s offerings , such as a restaurant or sky lounge . Avoid comments at checkout from guests stating that they unfortunately , only saw your on-site restaurant on the last day of their stay by being proactive in informing them of your hotel ’ s offerings .
8 . Create awareness of revenue in your hotel
Take steps to ensure that everyone in your organization knows how your hotel is doing . Make sure that daily pickup , budget and forecast numbers are shared in the morning meeting and your management team shares those numbers during their department pass-on . Put the numbers on the daily report and have managers update white boards in each department that reflect the current and expected goals . It is not expected that your housekeeping attendant knows the exact number to meet the yearly budget , but everyone in your organization should know how you are performing .
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