Revenue management to become profit management finds report

Revenue management is changing to become a more all-encompassing discipline according to EyeforTravel’s new Aggregating DataStreams for More Effective Revenue Management report, with 71% of managers believing that the discipline should be recognized as profit management.

The report, which is free to download now, notes that a focus on profit will be key in the years to come, with the industry moving emphasis away from the traditional measures of success of Revenue Per Available Room (RevPAR) and Total Revenue Per Available Room (TRevPAR). Instead, the industry will look at guests in the round and consider the total profitability each can bring and aim to maximize this. The key metric the industry will use in the future Gross Operating Profit Per Available Room (GOPPAR) according to the report, which also notes that Cornell University found GOPPAR is now considered the most important benchmark for the future.

Therefore, revenue managers will need to consider all revenue streams and also have a better understanding and inclusion of cost factors than they have in the past. Alongside traditional operating costs of the hotel, revenue managers will need to calculate and include their distribution costs, which the report also found to be a key area of concern for revenue managers.

In order to achieve this revenue managers will need to increase their skillsets and also obtain better technology according to the report. It found that 71% of revenue managers felt that they didn’t yet have the tools to do their jobs effectively, making technology investment a major area for scrutiny in the next five years.

Many of those featured in the report noted technology and automation is needed so that they could free up time to be spent on more important tasks, moving away from data collection and setting restrictions to working on overall strategy, coordination with other departments and guest experiences. This latter element is noted as being key in the report, particularly as guest reviews can have a direct effect on the property’s profitability.

Click hereto download the research now and get the full report, including: 

• The effect of competitors on pricing, how to account for them and what strategies to take to get a competitive edge.
• Understanding and constructing predictive analytics.
• Understanding the costs of a business’s channel mix and how to win direct bookings.
• The state of the industry’s approach to ancillary revenues.
• The key metrics every revenue manager should be working toward.
• The future of a revenue manager’s role and the skills they will require.

Hotels make strides measuring ancillary revenues

Measurement of ancillary revenue streams is up across the board according to the new Aggregating Data Streams for More Effective Revenue Management report from EyeforTravel, which is free to download now.

As part of the report revenue managers were asked in both 2014 and 2017 “which of the following ancillary revenues can your revenue management system account for?” The findings show that in every single ancillary stream category measurement has risen and the number who reported that their system could not account for any ancillary revenues fell from 22.8% to 16.7%.

In 2014, food and beverage was the most measured type of ancillary revenue but that has now been overtaken by room and service upgrades, at 43.8% of respondents, and Meetings, Incentives, Conferences & Exhibitions (MICE) at 45.8%. In both categories the percentage of systems measuring revenues increased by more than 10%. Even more dramatically, the measurement of tours, experiences and packages more than doubled, pointing to this revenue stream being recognized by hotel management as an important revenue stream and service for customers.

Overall, every revenue stream was now being measured by revenue management systems to a greater degree than in 2014. The percentage of managers who reported that their system could not account for any of the revenue streams we asked about also fell from 22.8% to 16.7% of respondents, demonstrating substantial progress in monitoring and quantifying ancillary revenues.

However, there was no type of ancillary reported as being measured by more than 50% of respondents, pointing to there still being some way to go.

“It is encouraging that progress is being made but we would probably have expected it to be slightly faster than what we have found,” said Alex Hadwick, Head of Research at EyeforTravel. “We also asked revenue managers whether they felt they had the tools to do the job effectively and 71% said they did not, so it seems there are still technical and investment roadblocks. Removing these will be vital to hotels achieving their full potential revenue potential."

Click here to download the research now and get the full report, including:

• The effect of competitors on pricing, how to account for them and what strategies to take to get a competitive edge.
• Understanding and constructing predictive analytics.
• Understanding the costs of a business’s channel mix and how to win direct bookings.
• The state of the industry’s approach to ancillary revenues.
• The key metrics every revenue manager should be working toward.
• The future of a revenue manager’s role and the skills they will require.

Competition the biggest challenge to revenue management strategy

The effect of competitors is the biggest headache revenue managers face when creating their pricing and distribution strategies according to the new Aggregating Data Streams for More Effective Revenue Management report from EyeforTravel, which is free to download now.

Exactly half of the revenue managers surveyed for the research find that their competitors create difficulties when trying to set their own pricing, noticeably ahead of any other category EyeforTravel asked about. Unforeseen events are the next most important challenge at 43.8% of respondents, followed by attribution of sales channel, which has come up as an issue across previous EyeforTravel research.

The difficulty in measuring and predicting competition has only become harder over the last half decade as hotel comparison sites have widened the competitive pool and made product comparison easier for the consumer. Not only this but the rise of alternative accommodation sites have introduced a new stream of supply into many markets.

So, what can revenue managers do to understand their competitors better and maximize their property’s performance in competitive markets?

The report finds that revenue managers should build a comprehensive competitor set (compset) that looks at more than just proximity of other accommodation options. Instead, revenue managers should understand their own property’s attributes and the type of guests it attracts and build out to encompass rivals wo are fighting for the same customer.

When it comes to setting the prices themselves the report urges caution in the part of revenue managers. The report notes that numerous studies have found that reducing prices in order to compete has long-term damaging effects for properties. Overall, properties that maintained higher average daily rates performed better, with the effects of cutting price not boosting occupancy enough to make up for the shortfall in income. Furthermore, consumers do not view prices rationally, with an accommodation purchase asking them to consider a complex matrix of factors. Indeed, a lower price may even indicate lower quality to some consumers that a property is if lower quality.

Therefore, hotels need to consider the individual advantages that their property enjoys and only look at the very nearest competitors who are most likely to be vying for the same customer segments. If hotels are to try and win against their peers on price, then the report advises that hotels should not attempt to undercut the direct competition by more than 5%.

“It is natural, almost reflexive, for revenue managers to try and bring prices down to below their competitors, especially if their booking window is not where they want it to be,” says Alex Hadwick, Head of Research at EyeforTravel. “However, our findings suggest that this could make life even harder for revenue managers in the future as they look to raise prices again and hit bottom lines. This especially so as RM is shifting away from just setting rates to working across the business to measure profitability and sell ancillaries more effectively. We found 71% of revenue managers believe that the discipline should be recognised as revenue management. This is not to say that competitive pricing is not important but it seems that revenue managers need to be thinking about all of their property’s features and not just trying to be $10 cheaper per night than their rivals.”

Click here to download the research now and get the full report, including:

• The effect of competitors on pricing, how to account for them and what strategies to take to get a competitive edge.
• Understanding and constructing predictive analytics. 
• Understanding the costs of a business’s channel mix and how to win direct bookings.
• The state of the industry’s approach to ancillary revenues. 
• The key metrics every revenue manager should be working toward. 
• The future of a revenue manager’s role and the skills they will require.

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