Hoteliers might like the idea of being able to measure asset and market performance using a variety of metrics, but in the current European business environment, analysis is often far too narrow, according to sources.
During the Opportunity 2018 Revenue Management 3:0 conference held last week, sources discussed how the need to look at new ways to analyze and push performance is hampered by disparity in contract setup and business models, wide-ranging targets which are often in conflict and hoteliers working in silos to achieve these goals.
“The right conversations do not happen,” said Shauna Campbell, director of revenue management at InterContinental Hotels Group.
During a breakout panel titled “Total revenue management: Why is it still so challenging?,” Campbell said RevPAR will remain the major metric RMs use as long as owner contracts are set up to be focused on rooms revenue.
“That is the structure that drives most of the industry, so there is far less room to move on F&B and other parts of the equation,” she said.
Marta Varela, director of revenue strategy at Barceló Hotels, agreed.
“(Total revenue per available room) is the big illusion of the industry. It has been on the table for years, and we are far from being where we need to be in regards to it,” she said. “Rooms is 70% of revenue. TRevPAR sounds like good talk, but the industry has to work from scratch on it. The data is there, although it is not as easy to get as it is for rooms.”
Panelists said that equation is not true for all markets.
“We are predominantly franchised now, so our partners do not provide F&B data,” Campbell said. “Only a small percentage of owned properties do that. In the Middle East, the story is different as F&B makes up 70% of revenue, so there is more focus on it, although still there is no standard measurement.
