6 lessons your hotel should be following to maximize bookings

Albert Einstein famously once said: “Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think.”

The most successful hoteliers are savvy operators constantly on the lookout for smarter, more efficient ways of managing their hotel business and driving it to succeed.

Looking at the discipline of revenue management, it’s a perfect example of how hoteliers can not only learn the facts but train their minds to think in a different way.

One hotelier leading the way in his field is Stefan Wolf – senior vice president revenue & distribution strategy for the ONYX Hospitality Group.

With more than 20 years’ experience working with some of the biggest global hotels brands – namely IHG, Marriott, Jumeirah, and Shangri-La – Stefan has taken his passion for the evolving nature of revenue management and distribution disciplines, and turned it into a track record of profitability.

Now with the ONYX Hospitality Group, Stefan leads his team across 40 properties to execute leading revenue generation strategies. So it was only natural that we asked Stefan for his top tips and advice.

Here are Stefan’s most valuable revenue management rules your hotel should be following every day to maximize bookings:

1) Strive for a healthy business mix optimization

Within your database of guests, there are different segments and it’s important to understand how they differ. Crucially, they’ll have different lead times in order to diversify and optimize your business mix for your hotel. Generally speaking, these are:

Lower yield segments – These are guests who typically book earlier – although it can be six months out for city hotels – but tend to give you business all year round. Think guests from wholesalers.

Higher yield segments – These are guests who typically book with considerably less notice before arrival, maybe even five days prior to arrival. Think guests from OTAs and direct bookings via your hotel’s website.

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