The drop in group bookings due to segmentation shift and guests looking for unique experiences are two of the major changes affecting pricing and the role revenue managers play in increasing average daily rate, according to sources.
As revenue managers become more essential, they need more tools at their disposal especially as more of them are moving into the C-suite, said Kathy Hood, VP of sales and revenue management at Davidson Hotels & Resorts, during the “The art of a hotel’s most important science” panel discussion at the recent Hotel Data Conference.
“We need to continue to embrace revenue-management systems,” Hood said.
Raul Moronta, SVP of revenue management at Crescent Hotels & Resorts, said revenue managers need to continue to use creative methods.
“Transient business is down, and in the last three years, the majority of group business has gone to brand-new hotels,” he said. “That drop in group due to segmentation shift allows time to make revenue management work. … One of the things we have to change is changing the segmentation. If we cannot change the pricing, we need to change the customers.”
Look at yield
Nicole Young, corporate director of revenue management at Rosewood Hotel Group, said there is currently a lot of noise around the ability to shift channels and have guests book in a different way to how they originally intended.
“But we have to be real: You are saying yes to one customer and no to another, although they are the same,” she said. “This loses sight of some aspects of the consumer.”
Hood said it’s important to first build a customer base before moving existing customers up the price-point curve.
Angie Dobney, VP of gaming and casino sales at The Rainmaker Group, said thorough consumer analysis must precede changing rates.
“It is of course sound to know what you’ll get on the front end, but do not neglect looking at what is the in-hotel spend,” Dobney said.
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