It’s challenging being a Revenue Manager! Whether you’re in a large city-centre hotel, or a small countryside hotel, Revenue Managers face similar challenges & stresses. Too much to do, too little time, being number one! Many of these challenges come from client demands, but in this piece, we’re discussing the internal challenges faced by Revenue Manager, or the member of staff with responsibility for Revenue Management. These are generally a little easier to fix than external factors and can have a big impact on a Revenue Managers efficacy and efficiency.
Organisational Culture
Firstly, we need to look from the top down, as this is where most of the work culture in business organisations come from – General Managers, we’re looking at you! It’s imperative that the Revenue Manager has the support of the GM in the hotel for them to do their job effectively and efficiently. The GM needs to instill the culture throughout the entire hotel that everybody has a role to play and responsibility for room sales in supporting the RM.
Communication between Departments
It’s important that all HODs as well as their teams understand the Revenue Strategy and what the GM & RM are looking to achieve this month and this year. Especially important is the communication between the sales team and RM as they should be working together for the same goals, but equally for the Front Desk & Reservations team to know why rates have increased or dropped, why an incentive is being offered to encourage guests to book on your own site or over the phone and to encourage OTA guests to book direct next time.
Ensure that the most current forecast is shared with all departments – this has a symbiotic function – to help all teams drive sales, but also help other departments with forecasting their sales and staffing.
Food & Beverage allocations can be a thorn in a RMs side, so open dialogue as to why these need to be decreased or increased needs to take place – especially if the hotel is looking to offer an incentive such as Free Breakfast if the guest books direct.
Another specific example of communication issues are over-bookings – Night Managers are often terrified of this word! Again, communication is the key, the RM should collate stats on No-show rates, prove what is achievable through overbooking and work with the Front Desk team to have a plan in place for the team if things go wrong and they need to book out a guest.
