In the rapidly changing mobile world of revenue management, teams need tips to survive. We went in search of answers and this is what we found:
1. RM has come a long way
While RM most certainly still involves all the traditional stuff – managing rates, visibility, forecasting, yielding and so on – today it bleeds into a number of different areas from marketing to design, distribution and technology and HR. Today it’s about total revenue management and thinking holistically about what is being said about the brand, about individual properties, about the type of offerings on any given day an in every channel. “Everything from typography to the images we choose tells the story and reinforces our brand. It goes far beyond maximizing revenue on any given day at the right time at the right price and in the right channel,” says Josh Henegar, Corporate Revenue Director, 1859 Historic Hotels.
2. Not everything is tangible
It may not be what most hoteliers, and certainly not what revenue managers want to hear but Henegar says “there is an artistic element to some things that cannot be measured using a quantifiable metric”. What he does know, however, is that simple changes, though difficult to measure, can yield results. If, for example, you take an offer that is aesthetically inadequate, with a dated font, misspelt text, poor quality images and dull colours. Then you polish that up with sharp looking font, ‘less-is-more’ text, great photos and colours that coincide with the brand offering. Tough to measure the success of this, yes! But Henegar feels pretty confident that there will be a quantifiable metric. In essence, what it looks and feels like impacts booking decisions.
3. Mobile should be central to your service offering
There are no if’s or but’s about whether hotels should invest in mobile. But today the big question, and the polarising debate, is whether to invest in a native app or not. Drew Patterson, CEO and founder of mobile technology firm, Checkmate, says it would be a wonderful world if apps worked for hotels but the reality is that “it’s hard to compete in the app economy”.
This is particularly true for smaller chains and independents. But even if you are Hilton, where a native app does work, this should be just one part of a wider mobile strategy. Patterson advocates a strategy that allows hotels to connect with customers across multiple mobile channels – everything from the mobile web to email, notification services like Google Now, Apple Passbook and of course, SMS.
This diagram explains why:
6 insights to help revenue managers balance mobile
4. Bundling service to a hotel loyalty programme is missing the boat
What the airlines and the new service driven players, like Uber and Airbnb, have understood is the need to tie mobile intricately into service delivery. In the airline space, frequent fliers will benefit from early upgrades, early boarding and so on but everybody can do mobile check-in or track their baggage. That communication and information offering is core to their brand.
Read full article at: Eye for Travel
