Hotels encounter change every single day, experiencing changes in guests, rates, menus, events and staff. At an even higher level, hotels experience changes in management, brands, job responsibilities, revenue strategy and guest expectations. Widespread changes in distribution, technology, analytics and industry mergers also affect the hospitality industry in nearly every region.
Change management in revenue management refers to how hotels transition their individuals and teams and align their resources, processes and technology to meaningfully restructure their organization toward a common goal. And with many hotels now actively pursuing total revenue performance strategies, how can hoteliers ensure they keep up the pace and smoothly implement these analytical revenue management approaches throughout their organization?
Let’s take a look at how hotels can effectively manage the impacts of applying analytically-driven approaches on their people, processes and technologies:
The People
One of the questions hoteliers need to ask is who is going to apply sophisticated analytics within their organization. The role of a data scientist is becoming an essential component of an effective revenue management strategy. In-house resources are also becoming more common in larger organizations. There’s also been a lot of recent discussions around the opportunity of a cross-departmental data scientist that can apply their skills where needed, while balancing the overhead costs to maintain this new role. External resources and third parties that can provide analytics as a service are also available. Dedicated support services for analytical technology and processes ensure hotels can perform at their maximum potential.
Restructuring a hotel organization around new processes requires an active, engaging transition plan for employees and teams that supports the new direction. This may involve adding new leaders, redesigning job roles and responsibilities, and developing a higher standard of skills and capabilities. And since many people are often intimidated and resistant to changes in the processes, practices and technology they’ve grown familiar with, it is important to recognize that taking a proactive approach to change will help negate the potential risks to employee morale and acceptance.
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