Challenges abound for hoteliers in charge of revenue management in the hospitality industry. Hotel revenue management—while essential—can prove extremely difficult for several reasons.
NB: This is an article from IDeaS
How do you attract new guests and clients while promoting the loyalty of existing customers without negatively impacting your bottom line? How do you increase your profits even as prices remain high and the future remains unknown and uncertain?
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The answer includes a little research, creative thinking, having the right tools on hand, and some help from those who understand what you’re facing.
Continue reading to discover the top 11 challenges facing hospitality revenue managers and find out what can be done to avoid to help prospective customers choose your business despite the challenges.
Challenge #1: Difficulty understanding your audience & their intentions
To win repeat business, you must provide a quality experience that meets your client’s needs. And to understand your client’s needs, you need to understand why they’re traveling in the first place.
According to research conducted by Google and Bain, the top factors influencing people to travel include the following:
- 17% of travelers felt motivated to book a trip because they often thought about trips they’d like to go on.
- 16% of travelers wanted to travel to a destination for an extended period.
- 16% wanted to go on vacation.
- 8% wanted to visit family and friends.
- 7% wanted to celebrate a special event.
- 7% wanted to book a trip after receiving a discounted or special offer.
Luckily, there are many ways you can collect and store this information. Understanding your clients’ reasons for traveling could be as simple as asking them the reason for their stay while they check in, or you could ask them during a pre-check-in survey.
Regardless of how you ask, make sure that you do so that you can craft an experience that helps your audience meet their travel needs and book with you again.
Challenge #2: Relying on manual processes that take up too much time
Until recently, revenue management relied solely on manual exports and spreadsheets filled with dense data ready for analysis. Most hotel revenue managers even relied on fax machines to manage wholesale agent allotment adjustments.
Thankfully, times have changed—and for the better too. Digital advancements have altered the hotel revenue management landscape by offering ways to streamline these processes and improve operational efficiency.
One survey detailing the impact of manual tasks showed that 60% of respondents believed they could save 6+ hours per week automating manual tasks, allowing them to spend that time on other tasks with more strategic value.
Overcoming slow, manual processes can be addressed by onboarding automation software. For hotel revenue managers, hospitality revenue management automation software can lead to profit growth, price optimization, and more time available to focus on strategic concerns.
Challenge #3: Having data but not knowing what to do with it
Sometimes there isn’t enough data to help you make strategic decisions. Sometimes there’s too much data, making it difficult to determine what’s relevant and what isn’t.
When you want to focus on strategies for maximizing profit, you don’t want to dig through piles of data with no actionable narrative thread.
