1. Implement Upselling and Cross-Selling
One of the easiest things to implement is an upselling and cross-selling process at hotels. This goes beyond just upselling from a standard king to a deluxe, for example. Instead, the focus should also be on offering profitable packages—such as securing spa, restaurant and golf reservations—while still on the phone with customers in order to spread revenue throughout the property.
“It’s going to bring in more profit from somebody who perhaps made a room reservation and then they went on Google and found a bunch of restaurants nearby when you could have secured them by doing a little cross-selling of your own restaurant,”
It’s important for revenue managers to “own” the upsell program.
A lot of times this is still owned by the front-office manager, and they definitely should be involved, but this should happen through front office and reservations and every departmen. Even in the restaurant, a server can have a conversation with a guest … and it gives them a chance to suggest the spa to capture every piece of that guest’s travel budget
2. Manage Time Effectively
Revenue managers’ time is valuable, and they need to be managing it effectively.You have to be really hungry, You have to be willing to come in an hour before everyone else to set up your day, manage reports and emails and [be] ready to work to capture every drop of revenue
If revenue managers struggle with managing their schedules, they will leave little time to analyze data, sources said.
Revenue managers need to know what makes them money and what doesn’t, They need to constantly say no to things that take away their time because then the entire practice struggles
Dedicate the first two hours of their time every morning to yielding and pricing, and not doing tasks such as checking emails. Then, team members engage in a meeting. Once all of that is finished, they can spend time answering emails and completing other tasks.
It’s about doing things that are the most impacting first
3. Understand the Booking Curve and Channels
You’re really going to drive the bottom line by driving a smart top line,Understand what channels drive business into your markets at the highest volume and at the best rates.”
For example, high compression periods in New York City are changing due to new supply. If guests didn’t have a room one week out from an event, it was likely they would be staying in New Jersey or Connecticut. Now, that’s not the case. Thus, revenue managers should understand that channels—such as online travel agencies, wholesalers or marketing campaigns—have the potential to drive a better piece of business where the market will end up, and capitalize on it.
4. Change the Way You Think About Data
“Old world says that our data is constantly rolled up. We’re looking at monthly pace or daily pace,” You have a little bit of segmentation to look at, but all of that roll-up reporting uses averages in order to deliver takeaways.
Most revenue managers are looking at their bookings as net versus cancellations of bookings. Thus, every booking is a net number, which is an average. Rather than looking at reservations on the books, Revenue managers should look at all bookings and cancellations of bookings to understand the consumer, channel and segment behavior in order to leverage appropriately.
Credit & source: Alicia Hoisington | Jun 20, 2017 4:37pm www.hotelmanagement.net/revenue-management/4-revenue-management-tips-will-drive-profitability
