If you ask a hotel salesperson what they find most frustrating about working with Revenue Management, the answer is almost always some version of the same thing: it takes too long, and the answer is usually no.
NB: This is an article from Demand Calendar
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If you ask a revenue manager the same question about Sales, the answer is equally consistent: they bring deals that are underpriced, on the wrong dates, with optimistic F&B projections that never materialize – and they want an answer by this afternoon.
Both of these frustrations are legitimate. And both are symptoms of the same underlying problem: Sales and Revenue Management are not working from the same information, evaluated using the same financial logic, at the same moment in time.
A process designed to create conflict
In most hotels, the group evaluation process works something like this. A salesperson receives an enquiry, builds a quote based on experience and intuition, and submits it to Revenue Management for approval. Revenue Management opens a spreadsheet – or a system that behaves like one – runs its own calculation, and comes back with a different number or a rejection, sometimes within a few hours to a few days. The salesperson then has to go back to the client with a revised position that they did not build and may not be able to fully explain. The client, who has been waiting, has already had a follow-up call from a competitor.
This process is slow by design because the analysis happens sequentially rather than simultaneously. It creates adversarial dynamics because each side is working from a calculation the other cannot see. And it consistently produces outcomes that neither side is fully satisfied with – because the decision gets made under time pressure, with incomplete information, by people who are optimizing for different things.
The deeper problem is that without a shared financial framework, every group discussion becomes a negotiation between two opinions rather than a conversation about a common number. Revenue Management cannot explain its rate requirement in terms that the salesperson can use with a client. Sales cannot push back on a rejection with anything more precise than “but this is a good account.” The commercial team is making significant inventory decisions based on intuition presented as analysis.
What each side actually needs
Sales does not need Revenue Management to say yes to everything. What they need is a fast answer, a clear rate floor, and enough transparency into the logic that they can negotiate intelligently and honestly with a client. A salesperson who knows exactly which nights have margin for concession and which do not is a fundamentally more effective negotiator than one who is guessing. Knowing the floor does not weaken a negotiating position – it sharpens it.
