Jean Francois Mourier arrived in South Florida in 2003 after a successful and distinguished career in Europe as a trader, financial analyst and director for a number of top firms including Merrill Lynch, ING Barings and others. He joined a small Miami Beach hotel management firm as a financial analyst. Applying his vast experience in finance, pricing and technology, he soon revamped the company’s revenue management methods, with dramatic results. Occupancy at The Palms Hotel and The National Hotel in Miami Beach increased from 63% in 2003 to 96% in 2007, while steadily increasing average room rates. This was remarkable, but not surprising in light of Jean Francois’ earlier achievements in the finance trade, where he modernized operations by introducing options and new products, increased customer sales by 100% through aggressive pricing strategies, sales training and product marketing, and doubled new issue business.
What will the Revenue Manager of the future look like? That seems to be a question on everyone's mind recently. And while the debate rages on, one thing is undeniable: tomorrow's Revenue Managers will be the decision makers who skillfully balance the power of technology (analytics and rate optimization) with a return to human intuition, and manage the data influx in the process.
Like a lover scorned and dumped for a new mate, the hotel industry has long enjoyed reproaching its business partner - the OTA. In just the last 48 hours, I've read commentaries stating that OTAs are making hoteliers lazy, that they are deeply flawed, that they are this or that – nothing very positive. And while many in the hotel industry criticize OTAs for interfering with and disrupting the hot...
In a year where positive economic news seems to come qualified with the phrase "it could have been worse," better-than-expected hotel industry trends suggest that the 2011-2012 holiday season stands to please hoteliers even if it disappoints web-savvy bargain-hunting travelers. It may still be an anemic economy for many, but for the hotel industry, it isn't.
Consider the difference between taking the stairs and riding the elevator to get to your high-rise office: Stairs: You climb, stair by stair; leg muscles straining every step of the way. Time is slipping by: you have so many things to get done; yet you must climb all of these stairs to get to your destination. Beads of sweat form, you shift the load in your arms: with every floor, the briefcase y...
The Revenue Manager (RM) and the Chief Financial Officer (CFO): both must decipher and act on the most influential data in order to determine the future of their respective businesses. Much like the CFO, the RM must gather forecasting data not only to achieve the highest revenue possible (measured here by RevPAR), but also to ensure the hotel's future profitability and cash flow. This data contri...
With today's hastened technology, revenue channels emerge almost instantly. If it's not an entirely new channel that emerges, it's an evolution from one channel into another, such as the mobile channel, which has grown exponentially in the last two years. With each new channel comes an entirely new fee system and distribution network that adds new, sophisticated levels to revenue management. Auto...
Online travel agencies (OTAs) provide hotels with often-overlooked revenue management benefits. An article by Cornell University’s Center for Hospitality Research, “Brave New World: Online Hotel Distribution”, correctly points out that OTAs can become successful business allies to hotel properties. OTAs allow hotels to extend their pricing strategy into channels otherwise unavailable to them; h...
Recently, there has been a lot of discussion regarding the incremental raising of rates to bring them up to pre-recession levels. While this may be warranted in some areas, it is not necessarily the best "general rule" everywhere. Of course, I don't think there should be a general rule: rates need to be adjusted constantly, both up, and down. If you are raising or lowering rates based on what the...
Over the years, customers have been presented with many options, or "channels," to book their hotel rooms. The most recent channel to emerge – the mobile channel - has given hoteliers a new reason to revamp their pricing strategies: a booking window of minutes, rather than hours, days or weeks. A recent Priceline.com sampling of its "Priceline Hotel & Rental Car Negotiator" app for iPad and iPhon...
In 2009, 60% of leisure travel and 40% of business was booked online, and recently, often via mobile devices. More than 5 billion people used mobile booking sites in 2010 and that number is only going up, so it makes sense that with the increased number of ways that consumers can book, a hotel's pricing strategy needs to become more sophisticated as well.
