Q&A with Bruno Perez, VP of RevPar Guru
30 March 2011
Q & A with Bruno Perez, VP of revenue management solution firm RevPar Guru
Are there any anticipated changes that will affect how revenue managers in hotels in Asia do their business (new laws etc)?
Every day, more and more bookings are done online and so one of the major changes that we are seeing is that more and more Revenue Managers are seeking technological advances to help them perform better. Some Revenue Managers opt for tools that will give them basic understanding of the market and their competition, while others go even further by seeking fully automated RMS that will help them exceed budget and production goals.
What are the five things every revenue manager needs to know to effectively manage their business in 2011?
· Be a friend to the OTAs. Create a great relationship with your OTA partners, and you will benefit in both better placement and better production. Also, optimize your online bookings and increase the number of OTAs you subscribe to, in order to maximize on the billboard effect and online sales exposure.
· Your hotel’s website must be equally effective or better than any other OTA.
· Introduce incentive packages for your reservations and front office team. These departments must be another extension of your sales team as they have the ability to generate substantial revenue for your hotel. It is important that you create attainable goals for them so the team is continuously motivated and challenged to reach them.
· Be proactive instead of reactive. You must have a complete and up-to-date understanding of your market in order to anticipate levels of supply and demand. This will ultimately help you maximize rates wherever possible.
· All Revenue Managers are genius multitaskers, but even the greatest Revenue Managers need technological assistance to perform at their best. It is very important that Revenue Managers seek the right technology that can help them do their job better.
Many hotels in Asia are new hotels. What are the stages a revenue manager has to get right in the first year of business of a new hotel?
· Strive for total information system integration: RMS, PMS, POS, GDS, ADS all in one. Don’t settle for systems that do not communicate with each other, regardless of their reputation.
· Sign up as early as possible with all the OTA covering your destination and research all online and off-line tour operators to maximize online sales coverage.
· Update pricing continuously, automatically, in real time. Revenue managers should use their time planning strategically and pricing proactively, rather than the minutiae of data analysis and manual price updates.
· Build a website aimed at driving sales, but let RevPAR guide the bulk of your revenue management strategy, not just occupancy or ADR.
· Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that you only compete with 5 or 6 hotels. Think outside the traditional comp set of just a few hotels: remember, you don’t chose your comp-set, your customers do, so expand it by 10 times or more.
