A typical work week in Hotel Revenue Management - Day by Day

A revenue manager is responsible for the revenue maximization of the hotel room he managed. In order to do that requires a disciplined and systematic approach to the tasks on a daily and weekly basis. As some people mention to me, that Revenue Management is a wild and vast area to understand, then I created this post to clear their minds.

I have documented a typical week below to highlight the task, analysis and evaluation required. In addition, there is a number of team players and communication is key to keeping all the components in synchronization and strategies aligned.

It is especially critical to be action oriented and to follow up on those actions with ongoing performance evaluation and adjustment.

Sunday

Sunday is the data preparation day. I look at historical data for the last 06 weeks, organized on daily basis with my room nights and revenues by market segmentation. This gives me my market mix, days of the week performance. I also look at my cancellations and no show factor. It's important to understand the pattern of high, medium and low demand. This information help me to setup my future inventory restrictions. I ensure that this process is full documented and communicated to my executive team.

I also look forward with reports on on the books and business intelligence data, room types booked, overbooking levels, so that I can make up my mind on how i will drive my yield. Our forward looking analysis is a validation to ensure we reach our monthly forecast.

One of the biggest challenges is to bring historical data and future demand together in order to identify patterns and trends going forward in key performance indicator like: RevPAR.

Monday

I am preparing my revenue meeting, looking at my group materialization reports as I aim to see group moving from Tentative to Definite status. With that information, I evaluate on how many rooms will be release and potentially I can sell them through other distribution channels.

I also ask my executive to get me the company production reports in order to ensure my 20/80 rule remain working. It's important to determine the key market segments that are in use for your hotel. A market segment is a group of guests who have similar characteristics like booking patterns, price sensitivity. It's important to track their performance and make meaningful distinctions between them

I pay attention to my calendar of events, if new ones are being added, or if existing ones remain with the same dates, to ensure that booking are coming as per seasonality.

Tuesday

I observe my competitors rates for next months, as I ensure that on daily basis I am checking my competitor rates variation for next 14 days. I print those reports and ensure that my team will modify my pricing rate change. I ensured this is documented so I can critic my strategy. With my reservation manager and e-commerce executive, we make sure adjustment to our BAR pricing structure and inventory management as required. This analysis and evaluation  can be increased to daily if there is a dynamic competitive environment and large portion at last minute booking. I also give some calls to my competitors to understand their price positioning.

Wednesday

On Wednesday, our entire team (General Manager, Director of Sales....) meet for Strategic Revenue Meeting. We review current and future booking levels, the best available rate calendar, and any changes in terms of demand (pickup /drop). We also talk about group materialization, competitive pricing and market share data. I am keen to know what are my current trends in terms of market mix as well as distribution channels (GDS, Direct, Allocation Tour Operation, OTAs...). Changes in pricing and inventory management are documented as required for the minutes of meeting.

Thursday

A close look at my overbooking levels for the next thirty days in comparison with my no-show levels and last minute cancellation is performed to ensure that I maximize. Alternatively, I can look at my travel agent materialization to ensure that I know how to re-sell my rooms.

In Summary
This review of a typical work week is definitely not exhaustive, but only an overview of some of the tasks that are required by a revenue manager. It is important that you base your decisions on data, as your hotel company invest at least AED 20-25,000 (USD 7,000) per year on reports or more. I would be very happy to hear your comments to ensure all opportunities are captured. You need to ensure that any money left on the table is captured.

Shall you need assistance for your hotel to organize your weekly revenue management, please contact us at info@rsvp-hospitality.com or visit us at www.rsvp-hospitality.com