The Modern Revenue Manager: 7 Keys to Success

NB: This is an article written By: Katie Moro – Vice President, Data Partnerships, Hospitality, Amadeus

The role of the revenue manager has become increasingly important in the competitive hospitality marketplace and more complex than ever. Revenue managers are tasked with maximizing revenue and profitability, balancing occupancy and pricing, developing effective competitive demand strategies, understanding evolving guest needs, and more. Meanwhile, ongoing staffing challenges add greater complexity to the role, with many revenue managers serving additional functions beyond the standard job description.

And despite the resurgence in global group and leisure travel and the rise of industry dynamics such as “blended” travel (combined business and leisure) and “revenge” travel (taking that once in a lifetime trip after a period of limited travel), the memory and impact of the COVID pandemic necessitates a much greater understanding of market trends and conditions to help anticipate and adjust revenue strategies at a moment’s notice. To meet business objectives and drive higher revenue and profitability, there are new considerations that today’s revenue managers must account for in their strategic planning.

1. Sustainable Practices

Revenue managers are increasingly leveraging sustainability initiatives in their strategies to appeal to eco-conscious travelers and improve the hotel’s brand image. Many of these sustainability efforts provide cost reduction benefits as well. For instance, incorporating sensor-controlled lighting and climate systems can reduce energy costs and yield long-term savings.

2. Shift Toward Total Revenue Management

Revenue managers must understand and maximize the total revenue their properties generate beyond rooms. TRevPAR (Total Revenue Per Available Room) has become a key performance indicator for many hoteliers as it factors in all property revenue (including rooms, food and beverage, spa, and other ancillary services) against the number of available rooms to provide a more comprehensive assessment of revenue and profitability.

3. Personalization and Guest Experience

Personalization is no longer a “nice to have” component of effective revenue strategies – it’s a “must-have.” Guests crave experiences that are crafted to meet their individual preferences and requirements. Revenue managers today must assess the personalization potential they can deliver at every phase of the guest journey – from looking and booking, to on-property dynamics, post-stay communications, and feedback.

For instance, demand generation strategies can attract different traveler segments to a property by offering personalized services and ancillaries they value. Leisure travelers may value unique experiences (“Romantic Riverside Dining” or “Swim with the Dolphins”), while business travelers may value items related to their travel needs (“Complimentary monitors and docking stations”; “Late Check-in”; or “Complimentary Convention Center Shuttles”).

4. Dynamic Pricing Strategies

There is no such thing as a “set it and forget” pricing strategy in the modern hospitality industry (given various and unpredictable influences). Revenue managers must constantly adjust pricing strategies based on demand, customer, competitor, and market data to respond to changes in real-time.

Dedicated hotel Revenue Management Solutions help automate and optimize dynamic pricing decisions by ingesting data points from integrated solutions such as sales and event management systems, channel management tools, booking systems, and business intelligence platforms to deliver automated pricing recommendations.

5. Direct Bookings Optimization

As the most profitable booking channel for hoteliers, direct bookings reduce guest acquisition costs and offer the ability to create lasting relationships with guests. With the ability to deliver greater value per booking through additional incentives, promotions, and special offers (e.g., free parking or complimentary water park access), direct bookings allow hoteliers to protect Average Daily Rate (ADR) while delivering more compelling bookings to potential guests.

Additionally, the ability to source new loyalty members via direct bookings and merchandise and promote additional properties in the portfolio can turn one-time guests into loyal fans of a hotel’s brand.

6. Understanding the Future

Data is the currency that drives hospitality and is the starting point for any effective revenue strategy. With the right data, revenue managers can gain valuable insights to make informed choices related to pricing, distribution, marketing, and more.

A key shift in a post-pandemic world, however, is the need to gain insights from forward-looking, “on-the-books” data — not just historical or forecasted data. This offers greater value in understanding actual booking trends, guest behavior and potential market dynamics up to 12 months into the future to allow the revenue manager to anticipate changes in the market and prepare new strategies to be able to pivot as quickly as needed.

7. Technology Integration

It’s important to keep in mind that without integration between intelligence solutions, revenue management systems, central reservations systems, channel management platforms and other hospitality systems, data by itself is just 0s and 1s.

Integrations and data partnerships between solution providers make data actionable and enable closed-loop strategies to maximize revenue and profitability. With data insights as the starting point, hoteliers can leverage this intelligence in their media plans, group sales and marketing strategies, channel management and distribution processes, and more to outpace the competition and gain the most profitable combination of occupancy and pricing – even as market situations fluctuate. And with the automation benefits of technology integration, revenue managers can do more in less time to ease ongoing staffing challenges.

Conclusion

In their vital roles in hospitality, revenue managers have a direct impact on the bottom line for their property and/or brand. While the position has become increasingly complex in today’s hospitality industry, there are key strategies and tactics that revenue managers can utilize to take their revenue strategies and overall profitability to new heights.