2026 edition: Revenue Management is like teenage sex. Have we finally matured?

“Revenue Management is like teenage sex: Everyone talks about it, nobody really knows how to do it, everyone thinks everyone else is doing it, so everyone claims they’re doing it too.”

And as much as it made people laugh, there was a slightly uncomfortable reason why. It was pretty damn accurate. But it’s 2026. Surely we’ve grown up by now?

We have RMSs. BI tools. Automated pricing. Machine learning. AI. Forecasting models. Real-time data. Dashboards for our dashboards.

So the question is: Is Revenue Management still like teenage sex?

Or have we finally matured? Let’s break it down, shall we?

1️⃣ “Everyone’s talking about it”

Well... this part definitely hasn’t changed.

Revenue Management! Total Revenue! Commercial Strategy! Profit Optimization! AI! Automation! Predictive Analytics!

The terminology has certainly matured. A few years ago, everyone wanted an RMS. Now everyone wants AI. Preferably AI that forecasts demand, changes prices, analyzes competitors, writes the strategy, sends the campaign and makes coffee before the morning meeting.

We’ve become very good at talking about sophisticated Revenue Management. But ask a slightly different question:

“What commercial decision did you make last week that actually changed your result? Like proper change you know! Like Gamechanger!”

Suddenly...Crickets. Talking RM is still easy. Doing something with it? Different story.

2️⃣ “Nobody really knows how to do it”

This one I’d actually change. Because I think we DO know how to do Revenue Management now.

We have better people. Better systems. Better data. Better methodologies. And significantly more automation.

The problem isn’t that we don’t know how to do it.

The problem is that knowing and doing are still two very different things.

We know we should understand demand rather than blindly follow the competition. Then the competitor drops €20 and everyone panics.

We know occupancy isn't the goal. Then occupancy drops and everyone panics.

We know last year isn't necessarily a forecast for this year. Then budget season arrives and...“Can you just take last year +5%?”

Ahhhhhh. There you are. I was worried we'd matured for a second. :-)

3️⃣ “Everyone thinks everyone else is doing it”

This one might actually be worse in 2026. Because now we can SEE what everyone else claims they're doing.

Open LinkedIn and apparently every hotel company has transformed Revenue Management using AI, automation, machine learning and something called a “next-generation commercial ecosystem.”

Meanwhile, somewhere inside that ecosystem, someone is downloading a CSV and manually pasting it into Excel. And that’s okay. The danger isn't Excel. The danger is believing everyone else has figured this stuff out. They haven't.

Your competitor doesn't have some magical demand crystal ball. Their AI doesn't know the future. Their Revenue Manager isn't sitting in a dark room like Tom Cruise in Minority Report moving demand curves around with their hands.

They’re experimenting. They’re getting things wrong. They’re figuring it out. Just like you.

4️⃣ “So everyone claims they are doing it too”

And THIS is where things have changed.

Before, we proved we were doing Revenue Management by having a Revenue Manager. Then we proved it by buying an RMS. Now? We prove it by having technology.

“We use AI.” Cool. For what?

“We've automated pricing.” Great. What decisions became better?

“We have predictive analytics.” Excellent. What did you predict, and what did you do differently because of it?

Technology has made Revenue Management dramatically more powerful. But buying technology isn't Revenue Management any more than buying a gym membership makes you fit. Unfortunately. I have tested this theory personally.

Here’s the Truth:

Revenue Management HAS matured. Massively. But I think our biggest challenge in 2026 is different.

We have more capability than ever before. But capability isn't performance.

Having the data isn't the same as understanding it. Having an RMS isn't the same as having a strategy. Having AI isn't the same as making better decisions. Having 37 dashboards isn't the same as knowing what to do Monday morning.

Revenue Management in 2026 should be less about proving how sophisticated we are and more about proving what changed because of the decisions we made.

It’s not how much technology you have. Easy there boys.....Because perhaps the biggest evolution of Revenue Management isn't AI. It's how revenue managers interact with AI - free spirits, finally starting to think of all the weird and wonderful things we can achieve by thinking outside the box

So yes...Revenue Management might still be a little like teenage sex.

But maybe we've finally reached our twenties. We know a bit more. We have better tools. We're considerably more confident. We still occasionally have absolutely no idea what we're doing. And everyone still thinks everyone else is doing it more than they are.

So have we matured? Yes. Have we finished maturing? Not even close.

And maybe that's exactly where Revenue Management should be. Keep learning. Keep experimenting. Keep questioning.

The truth: forget black and white - think 50 Shades of Grey with Rainbow colors sprinkled it.

And please...please...PLEASE: Stop pretending the 47-tab Excel sheet is an AI model. And NO - you cannot vibecode an RMS in 30min.

Love, Fabi

PS: What do you think? Has Revenue Management genuinely matured over the last few years or have we just become much better at looking sophisticated?