ORLANDO, Florida — Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, hoteliers have learned to do more with less, and that is as true for revenue management as any other discipline within the industry.
Speaking during the “Post-Pandemic Evolution to Revenue Strategy” panel at HSMAI’s 2022 Revenue Optimization Conference Americas, Michael Klein, vice president of global revenue management for Hyatt Hotels Corp., said that phenomenon is true across revenue management, sales and marketing, spurring further integration of those departments.
“I think this was a great brand opportunity to really break down silos even further,” he said. “I know that’s been the buzzword for the last five conferences, but I really think the regionalization of the recovery really opened our eyes to how we have to work through the pandemic and really made a great model for the future.”
Priya Chandnani, vice president of revenue management for Pyramid Global Hospitality, said in addition to collaboration with sales and marketing, it’s also vital to work more closely on distribution.
She said while her company has been fortunate to be focused on leisure assets at a point when leisure travel has been historically strong, Pyramid has reconfigured how it sells and packages some assets to make the most out of the current environment.
“One thing that we’ve noticed that really gives us hope is the growth in suites and premium room types,” Chandnani said.
She added that unique lodging types such as glamping tents, bungalows and villas sell much more quickly than traditional rooms.
“So to protect those rates, we’ve been utilizing a hotel-within-a-hotel strategy where we’re not only using common room types or room differentials, we’re selling them as houses,” Chandnani said. “And that has proved very effective for our portfolio.”
Dave Roberts, former Marriott International revenue management executive and current professor at Cornell University, said the more collaborative approach will continue to be important as the “do more with less” era is likely to continue.
“There’s still a big gap [between workforce needs and available talent],” Roberts said. “I think there’s still an enormous opportunity for collaboration. Silos coming down is great, but what [panelists] describe is probably not universal across the industry.”
Jeff Garber, vice president of global revenue system transformation for IHG Hotels & Resorts, expects cooperation to grow even more prevalent as people with revenue and its related disciplines grow into more prominent leadership roles.
“Keith Barr, our CEO, had been our chief commercial officer prior to that role, and really kind helped with instilling that collaborative approach across marketing and now technology services,” he said.
Given how little bearing historical data had during the unprecedented demand declines at the depth of the pandemic, Roberts said he understands why there is some discussion about the overall value of historical data. But he also said it’s the wrong train of thought.
“The reality is, all data is historical,” he said. “Every single bit of data is historical, all of it. There is no such thing as future data.”
Roberts said it’s important to push back if there are people within your company trying to disregard historical data because it was less reliable during certain periods.
“If you have co-workers or bosses saying ‘Throw out the past; it’s useless,’ the kernel of truth is that in times of inflection, the near-term future is unlikely to look like the near-term past,” he said. “That part is true, but instead of throwing out historical data, to do a decent forecast you use it and take permutations of it.”