It’s challenging being a Revenue Manager. Be it in a large city-centre hotel or a small countryside hotel, Revenue Managers face similar challenges & stresses. Too much to do, too little time. Many of these challenges come from client demands, but today we’re discussing the internal challenges faced by a Revenue Manager. 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. 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
All Head Of Departments and their teams should understand the Revenue Strategy and what the GM & RM are looking to achieve this month and year. The sales team and Revenue Manager should be working together for the same goals. Equally, the Front Desk & Reservations team should know the reasons behind rate increases, decreases and incentives so they can encourage guests to book direct.
Ensure that the most current forecast is shared with all departments. This has a symbiotic function. It will 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.
Another specific example of communication issues are over-bookings. The Revenue Manager 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.
