This viewpoint was created by
Scott Dahl, Program Director, Master’s Degree in Hospitality Strategy and Digital Transformation at Les Roches Global Hospitality Education
A Post-Crisis Top-3 Revenue Management Action PlanThe global hospitality industry has been through every perceivable calamity over the past decades: earthquakes, tsunamis, tornados, major floods, terrorist attracts like 9/11, SARS, global recessions, epidemics and pandemics like SARS, MERSA, ZIKA, swine flu and now COVID-19.
After each crisis the industry came roaring back and I believe it will recover very quickly after the current COVID-19 crisis and prosper like never before.
Naturally, each region and destination has had and will have its own decline and rebound curves as far as hotel occupancy, ADRs and RevPARs are concerned. Recovery post COVID-19 will also be unique to each region, destination and property and will greatly depend on a) the underlying economic conditions in each region and destination, b) the preparedness of each property for the post-crisis period, and c) the lingering impact of short term tactics employed in each market during the crisis.
This down time of low hotel occupancies or property closures is the perfect time for POST-CRISIS planning, revenue optimization action plan development, product and marketing campaign ideations.
The question to the Revenue Management community is, which specific action-items SHOULD be included in a hotelier's Post-Crisis Top Three Revenue Management Action Plan? In addition, please suggest one creative, OUTSIDE-THE BOX idea... something we may not have seen yet in revenue management. Just an idea... big or small.
Christoph HütterNon-traditional Revenue Manager & Consultant
As we won't be able to rely on historic data and previous trends for a while, it will be increasingly important to develop a greater understanding of demand-, booking- and cancellation patterns moving forward.
A sophisticated business intelligence tool (and someone who knows how to use it well) which helps you gain new insights into the profitability and opportunity of all aspects of your business is essential in achieving this.
This crisis shows us that we can even look beyond total net revenue management. On top of room-, MICE- and F&B (net) revenue we need to be creative and explore non-traditional incremental revenue streams. Especially during the off-season and low demand periods.
And let's ramp up our upselling!
Instead of taking care of every aspect of their current (or pre-crisis) role, Revenue Managers will need to increase their focus on developing creative strategies.
I recommend forming a small team of front desk and reservations agents to support the Revenue Manager in their day to day operations.
Not only will that free up some of the Revenue Manager's time, but it will also train additional members of your team in Revenue Management. And eventually, they could take over when your Revenue Manager moves on.
