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Hotel Revenue Management: Today and Tomorrow

According to a survey of 186 revenue managers, hotel revenue management needs stronger support from human resources policies. Respondents also anticipate that revenue management will extend to other areas of the lodging business, including spas and function spaces.

Challenges in Human Resources

The main issue in human resources is the lack of clear career paths for employees involved in revenue management. Currently, it is not evident how revenue managers can progress in their careers within the same hotel or chain. Some may have the opportunity to move up from a single hotel to a group or division, but others may need to seek employment in another lodging chain to advance.

Difficulty in Finding Qualified Revenue Managers

Another challenge highlighted by many executives is the difficulty in finding qualified revenue managers. This shortage of skilled professionals adds to the complexity of effective revenue management implementation.

Extending Revenue Management to Other Areas

Respondents believe that an integrated approach will be crucial for extending revenue management to other hospitality areas. While revenue management is often seen as a technical or quantitative process, pricing strategy and competitive tactics are now significant components of revenue management.

Regional Perspectives on Improvement Areas

In the survey, respondents from Asia expressed a stronger belief that revenue management techniques and issues required more improvement compared to revenue managers in North America. This difference was particularly noticeable regarding human resources and technical matters such as forecasting, optimization, overbooking, pricing, and distribution.

Revenue management (RM) has been a part of the hotel industry for over twenty years and has been widely adopted by major hotel chains. While some hotels use advanced RM systems and have dedicated revenue managers at both property and regional levels, others rely on simpler methods like spreadsheet models. Additionally, nearly all chain hotels have a revenue management department or group at the corporate level