Member Article

5 Revenue Management mistakes to avoid

Revenue Management is often a role thought of only applicable to front office staff, however there are many other roles that come into contact with revenue management responsibilities. Having knowledge of these responsibilities and how they can affect the greater impact of effective revenue management in a hotel, can mean the difference between a hotel coasting along and succeeding.

Here we’ve picked out 5 common phrases heard in the hotel industry that should make any skilled Revenue Manager cringe!

“I’ve worked in revenue management for years, I don’t need training“

Sometimes managers believe that training is for new recruits only and that experience working in hotels is enough training for them to still be effective at their job. Hotels that don’t believe that training is a positive long term investment are those in need of training more than others!

A successful hotel is one that empowers its staff to improve their skills, adopting new practices to meet changing demands of the customer. Revenue management training gives revenue managers the skills to improve not only their own working practises but those around them with revenue management responsibilities.

Only revenue managers will benefit from revenue management training

This statement is very blinkered and ignoring the positive outcome that training a workforce can achieve. Even if front of house staff members do not manage revenue responsibilities, they have an effect on the customer experience and therefore the hotel reputation.

This is sometimes overlooked by hotel management higher up who believe an employee’s effect on the company is limited to their direct responsibilities, rather than the change they could effect on the environment and people around them. Revenue Management training can be provided to individuals and filtered through the levels of employees, or as a whole department. Learning new skills and understanding how their role affects the hotel as a business should empower staff and increase their motivation and loyalty to the hotel brand.

What harm can one customer do?

A customers is far more likely to actively review a negative experience than a positive one. It is a fact all hotels should be aware of and in the day of technology and communication apps at customers’ fingers, hotels should be wary how quickly an issue that could have been resolved swiftly by discreet communication, become a viral PR disaster. Don’t let one mistake ruin the hard earned reputation of your hotel.

Gaining skills in reputation management can be done in two ways, either through the Revenue Manager who passes those skills on to customer facing staff through in house training sessions, or through whole staff training where everyone receives the same level of training and understanding. Find out more about reputation management here.

We charge this rate for weekdays and this rate for weekends

Customers have hotel rate comparisons available online within seconds, so a hotel cannot afford to be too restricted with their pricing and not listen to customer demands. On the other hand, don’t change your prices every hour of the day and every day of the week; a Revenue Manager should be responsive to the market but not wreck less in pricing decisions. Be honest, ensure the best price is available for a room at any given time and let customers make their own choices.

I’m sorry, the computer won’t allow me to do that

If you can’t be flexible, your customer may go elsewhere to a hotel that is. Whether it is overnight accommodation, business use or for a function or event, being flexible and showing you have the customer’s interests in mind will work wonders. This is where Revenue Managers should have a knowledge of what your hotel CAN provide and what limitations you have. Even if you can’t meet the demands you will win reputation points for providing good customer service and hopefully offering an alternative solution that could work for both parties involved.

If a hotel has no clear revenue management strategy, has no understanding of its customers’ current needs and wants, it can’t anticipate market trends and analyse its position against rival hotels; therefore giving it a disadvantage in the already competitive hotel market.

Revenue management training is available from qualified experienced Revenue Managers such as Octopus Revenue. Revenue management courses are available for all levels of revenue managers and cover a range of topics from forecasting, revenue analysis, reputation management and driving traffic through your website. Find out more information here.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sarah Thompson .