As automation and innovations make the day-to-day rate maintenance part of revenue managers’ jobs less of a focus, those who work in the revenue discipline are expected to have more of a strategic focus, according to experts. The shift is also growing the number of possibilities for people who work in the revenue field.
The recurring theme for revenue management over the past few years is the rise of automation and the shift of revenue managers away from being day-to-day rate managers to more forward-looking rate strategists.
But a group of revenue-focused executives said that evolution has continued to the point that there is now room for different levels within the discipline.
Kathleen Cullen, SVP of revenue and distribution for Two Roads Hospitality, said things have changed to the point that the title “revenue manager” might not even apply anymore.
“Instead of revenue managers, there should be revenue strategists or strategic leaders of revenue optimization,” she said. “More and more companies understand that.”
She said the discipline has seen a significant amount of evolution over the past five years, which has helped the industry continue to grow performance metrics for a sustained period.
“There’s been more and more investment in the field in terms of people, education, support and resources,” she said. “(Five years ago) it was truly a discipline of one (person) or less. Now it’s becoming more of a discipline of one or more.”
Tim Wiersma, VP of revenue management at Westmont Hospitality and Red Roof, said it’s more important than ever that those in the revenue discipline have the ability to synthesize and express data in a useful way.
“It’s gone from them being more inventory managers to bringing information to the table and interpreting that data to come up with strong suggestions,” he said.
He noted the growing importance of revenue management has made it a large component in what value brands provide to individual properties.
“We have to be strategists for our owners,” he said. “And we have to make sure we’re coming up with sound strategies.”
