Outlet or Boutique? The Strategic Power of Dual Revenue Management

For years, hotel revenue strategy has defaulted to a one size fits all model: optimize for RevPAR, chase occupancy, and call it success. But the landscape has shifted. Guests are savvier, channels more fragmented, and margin tighter than ever. In this complexity, a new clarity is emerging. Some hotels don’t want to be everything to everyone. They want to be something distinct to someone. That is where Dual Revenue Management steps in, not as a tweak to existing models, but as a rethinking of how value and volume can coexist. This is not about choosing sides. It is about choosing structure. A smarter, more nuanced framework where distribution is no longer a battlefield but a strategy board, and every move has a purpose.

The hotel industry has spoken a single dialect for decades: RevPAR, occupancy rates, and linear demand optimization. Like a retail outlet, where everything must go, but often at the cost of value and brand erosion. Yet, not every hotel aspires (nor should they) to be a high-volume operation. Some prefer to operate like a boutique in a creative district: carefully curated, margin-focused, and strategically selective. Here lies the tension between quantity and quality.

And it's precisely in this tension that the concept I call Dual Revenue Management finds its purpose. DRM doesn't ask hotels to choose between volume and value; it creates a dual-track system where both coexist, each governed by its logic, metrics, and priorities. And, in an industry polarized by digital ecosystems and fragmented distribution, this is not just a tactic; it's a structural rethinking.

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The Hotel Yearbook 2025 - Technology Edition

The HOTEL Yearbook Technology 2025 delves into the transformative power of data in the hospitality industry, exploring how the "everything-data decade" is reshaping the landscape. This year's edition brings together perspectives from global hotel brands, technology providers, consultants, and academics to answer a critical question: How can hotels harness technology to drive real, sustainable success?
www.hotelyearbook.com/edition/technology-2025.html