NASHVILLE, Tennessee — The transition to a more comprehensive commercial operation during the pandemic helped align Marcus Hotels & Resorts teams to improve the overall revenue strategy.
In a video interview during the 14th Annual Hotel Data Conference, Linda Gulrajani, vice president of revenue strategy and distribution at Marcus Hotels, said the restructuring came after its previous vice president of marketing left earlier in the pandemic. The company found good candidates for a replacement, and during that process, it began moving toward a commercial structure.
Prior to the change, the revenue management and marketing departments reported to one person while sales reported to another, she said. Now they’re all brought together under a commercial umbrella.
“I think the transition has gone really well,” she said. “We're all aligned. We've all come out of COVID working together as one team, so I think it's helped us be really successful throughout COVID and now as well.”
Most hotel demand is definitely leisure-focused, but it all depends where the hotel is located, Gulrajani said. Some hotels in Marcus’ portfolio are 100% leisure-driven while others have a group base with some business transient as well. The company entered the pandemic with some airline crew business, giving the company some base business through COVID-19.
Group demand is picking up across the portfolio, she said. The company has a couple of big convention and group hotels that will take longer to reach historical occupancy levels, but she said it’s encouraging to see business travel coming back.
“Overall, I think we’re trending toward a more normal mix,” she said.
Working all the different demand segments together as they continue to recover requires some finesse. Marcus’ hotels have gotten better at moving groups and changing dates to fit its desired patterns or allow for higher rates, Gulrajani said.
“I do think we’re being more strategic with groups,” she said. “I think group rates are lagging the transient rate growth that we’ve seen, so that’s what’s going to be really interesting next year as you start to mix in group. What does that do to your overall rate?”
The company has been focused on profit on the group business side and looking at the total revenue that group generates, she said. That means getting profitable business in hotels even if they aren’t able to achieve large rate increases.
That doesn’t mean the company is picky about the group business that comes in, but it has to make sense for the hotel, she said. Profit is a focus, so a hotel working with smaller groups will have to find operational efficiencies such as coordinating menus to help out the food and beverage operations.