Things that drive me bonkers during a hotel stay

Hotel things that drive me BONKERS!

1. Get key at Front Desk....wait for elevator...take selfie in elevator...walk to room...key doesn't work!

2. Want to shower? Taps are always under the shower head....there is no way you can prevent a dousing of cold/sclading water....damn annoying!

3. Housekeeping knocks on door...but they always knock so softly so you always miss them.

4. Minibar - I have a minibar! Yay! But it is empty!

5. Those hangers in the wardrobe that don't hang! After a glass of wine you stand no chance in getting that hanger to "hang"!

Did I miss anything?

HOPELESSNESS - The Revenue Managers GOLDEN NUGGET

HOPE - such a frequent term, so overlooked.

HOPE, we HOPE next month will be better, we HOPE that we will reach forecast, even better, exceed budget. We HOPE too much - HOPE is reactive, and in our world we need proactive actions to suceed. We need to MAKE the HOPE happen. It is the MAKE that changes the game. Those who MAKE things happen in the Revenue Meetings, those who MAKE others see the secrets in the data, those who MAKE discussions turn into measurable actions. Those are the MAKERS who MAKE success...they don't sit back and HOPE for it.

We start a New Year, a new month with an expression of HOPE. Hope is unaccountable; if we don't reach it, we are dealt a bad hand. The MAKER is one who turns the HOPE into actions; actions that shape the future into reality. Real results. That is what we are after...and REAL RESULTS require REAL MAKERS. Real Revenue Managers know this.

Are you are MAKER or HOPER? Do you make results happen, or wait for them to happen....cos you could be waiting a while!

We're in your city - look us up for our Revenue Management seminars. We have dates every month! Look forward to seeing you soon!

Duncan

Duncan Bramwell
Revenue Performance 

Revenue Management: Shaken not Stirred!

James Bond has taught all of us a thing or too. We know how to wear tuxedo's correctly, jump from buildings and conquer the villains time and time again. He also taught us that the best martinis were those shaken and not stirred.

Stirred Martini? Such an exciting and glamorous cocktail created by the gentle stirring with a dull metal spoon? On the other hand, we can really awaken the flavours and catch the attention on everyone around with the loud action of "shaking"! Now that sounds more like it. Dull and gentle stirring or loud and exciting shaking? The answer is obvious!

Revenue Management, still within the first two decades of its infancy, is growing up. We have gradually created a following of believers with our stirred cocktail of techniques and insights. Stirring is good for early adoptees of Revenue Management, but not exciting once we acquire the taste. Revenue Management practioners now need to up their game, and develop a more sophisticated taste. We need to start "shaking". Sure we are responsible for converting and optimising the demand created by Marketing, Branding and Loyalty initiatives, but who is going to be content with simply "stirring" of these efforts and the spend and resources behind them?

Today's smarter Revenue Managers recognise that "shaking" is what is required to get ahead and stay ahead. Our insights, experience and knowledge are now required to SHAKE things up. We need to step into the spotlight and make our voices heard. We need to move from Revenue Management and Data Analysis, unlock ourselves from Excel and start shaking things up. Our analysis has revealed insights, and these insights need to challenge, ignite and change the boring old recipes of the past. We talk "strategic", but do we shake things up sufficiently for these insights to blow up old stratgies and formulate new ones.

Makes you think, doesn't it. Will you be a Bond or a Villain? Shaker or Stirrer? The choice is yours, so what will you be?

For guidance and insight into improving your own Revenue Performance, get in touch with us here. It is probably the best move you will make today!

Duncan Bramwell
Revenue Performance Ltd.

The Perfect Revenue Manager is more like Chuck Norris

THE PERFECT REVENUE MANAGER

The perfect Revenue Manager is more like Chuck Norris than you think! History has shown us that the traditional Revenue Manager has been a master of analytics; an Excel guru. The analysis may have been perfect, without flaw, but the analysis has largely focused on the past and what has happened rather than what is about to happen, and what we need to be prepared for. 

Statisticians may be experts with numbers, tables and graphs, but that are more often than not the convincing voice around the Hotel Boardroom table. Whilst their insight into the numbers may be magical, they struggle to motivate resources and persuade action. Have Hotel Revenue Managers forgotten that their title includes the word “manager”; they are required and expected to lead both people, and actions. The frustrations we so often see, and must be a large part of the rapid turnover of “Revenue Managers” is the fact that they struggle to change and lead new initiatives.

Revenue Management success comes from proactivity, not reactivity. The role should be 70% about the future and 30% about the past - learning from the past, applied to the future. The numbers give Business Intelligence which should guide our insight into the future. Insight into improving RevPAR, and RevPOR. We all claim short lead time as a barrier to insight, but the fact is that short lead times are the norm in hotels today, so we can take this into action as a firm given. The outcomes, in hindsight, aren’t any wildly different.

Today’s Revenue Manager is bold, decisive and not afraid to speak out. Today’s Revenue Manager is much more about the future, than the past. We are not analysts, we are Managers! We provide insight, we provide insight and intelligence; we do not just report accurately on the past. We achieve more by seeing the BIG picture, than the PAST picture. We need to be politicians and motivate support for change - change is this world’s constant.

So if you are, or about to be, a Hotel Revenue Manager then think and act first and foremost like a MANAGER. You have to motivate, inspire, impart courage for change and never give up. The others don't see the numbers like you do; this is about management and not analytics. Your world is not about the spreadsheet, but more about the flip chart to persuade new ideas. Go on, give it a try! Remember, you have the answers behind you, so your boldness will be insured!

Good luck, Chuck Norris will be proud of you! What do you have to lose, hotelier?

Duncan Bramwell

www.revenue-performance.com

Hotel Revenue Management Specialists

Revenue Performance

Guaranteed Success through Revenue Management

Revenue management involves applying exercised strategy for the purpose of estimating the behaviour of consumers at the micro market level and utilizing the availability and price of the majority of products to maximize the growth of revenue. 

Revenue management is instrumental for the generation of additional revenue to the tune of 3% to 8% which ensures profit increment ranging from 50% to 100%. The process of revenue management has made its impact felt in the industry in recent times.

Uses of Revenue Management

Revenue management monitors the shifting environment of the market to review prospective behaviours of consumers and establish the best approach to price and assign inventory to customers on a daily basis. This information is conveyed immediately to sales and distribution outlets which deal with the clients in real-time. 

Revenue management encompasses various aspects of business operation including product development, advertising, human resource utilization and capacity planning.

Adopting the Right Revenue Management Method

Revenue management needs to be implemented carefully since it permits companies to successfully direct the challenges of demand, supply as well as other issues. Successful revenue management gives companies an edge over their competitors by selling the “right product to the right customer, at the right place, at the right time”. In the end, companies reap competitive, strategic and economic rewards.

The concepts of revenue management are fairly simple but the execution of the systems can be tricky. The availability of modern revenue management systems is either vendor-related or in-house. Both can be highly time consuming and expensive to put into practice. 

Prior to implementing a specific revenue management system, any company or organization has to study whether the methods are useful in their business or not and the necessity in which it can aid further development.

Advantages of Revenue Management

Revenue management can trace its origins to management science as well as information technology and therefore, seeks to bring discipline within the framework of an organization. In modern times, market conditions and customer necessities are changing rapidly and in order to keep up, global leaders are promoting revenue management solutions. 

Revenue management enables them to enhance their understanding of the services that benefit customers and the way they offer the maximum amount of profit. 

Revenue management solutions help service providers react to new opportunities in the market and pressurize the competition by drawing the attention of customers, introducing new services and driving value to the bottom line.