Interview: When it comes to bookings mobile holds great promise but there are challenges for revenue management (RM) professionals. Chinmai Sharma, Vice President, RM at Wyndham Hotel Group lets EyeforTravel’s Ritesh Gupta in on what to beware of. Sharma believes revenue management (RM) specialists have so far not observed material differences in booking patterns between the online channels - bra...
Having been a Hotel Sales Associate for most of my professional life I have had to endure many misperceptions of what I actually contributed to the operation on a day to day basis. I found early on that there were ways to take these negative perceptions and turn them into actual teaching moments or at least opportunities to become a part of the hotel team. This helped to move my career light year...
Email marketing, when executed well, is one of the most powerful sales media a small luxury hotel has in its marketing toolbox. The problem is, not that many hotels do it well and as a result fail to realize its full revenue generating potential. We know of one small luxury hotel that generates well over $1 million a year as a direct result of their email marketing program. For every dollar they ...
Pinterest is a niche social network based on virtual pin boards. By January 2012, the site received 11.5 million unique visitors. With Pinterest rapidly becoming one of the most popular social media outlets, many hoteliers are wondering why and how they should take advantage of the visually driven network and start "pinning."
Last week, I wrote an article about how hotels hate online travel agencies (OTAs) because of the commissions charged by the sites for each and every booking. Today, I want to talk about the other major reason that hoteliers hate OTAs: the time and work that it takes to manage them. (Can you say never-ending?!). Because being a revenue manager is such a time-consuming but highly important job, it"...
The scope of this publication is to assess current trends and future opportunities for the hotel industry in Russia, the CIS and Georgia. This publication briefly discusses the tourism industry and economy overview of Russia, the CIS and Georgia, and looks at the yearend results of hotels' operating performances across the region. This publication is released to complement our existing Hotel Valu...
“I think the challenge for many managers is not to bring out the best in their employees; instead, they ought to stop bringing out the worst in them…” I left those words hanging in the air, waiting for a reaction. As I did so, I could see the red mist rising in the faces of one or two around the table. This is usually what happens when I make blanket statements like that. And the reddening faces ...
Like revenue management fifteen years ago, reputation management is still in its infancy, but changes in the ways travelers research trips, make decisions and share experiences are making it essential to long-term sustainability. That calls for a formalized, systemic approach: integrating reputation management principles and practices into daily operations and culture.
The impact of hotel reviews cannot be denied. A recent Maritz Poll showed that 55% of hotel travelers consult online hotel reviews to gain information about hotels before making their selection. Nearly two-thirds of these individuals (63%) report that an online review has, at some time, caused them to completely change their mind about whether to stay at a property, typically in a negative direct...
Understanding the process people go through when choosing one brand over another is at the heart of what we do as researchers and marketers. But some of the most widely used approaches may be too simplistic to be really accurate. Customers choose brands that meet their needs and satisfy their wants. Marketers who better know how their customers trade off their "needs and wants" to make choices wi...
