Revenue managers must be even more disciplined across all distribution channels amid a staffing shortage in the hotel industry that was perpetuated by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to panelists at the 2021 Hotel Data Conference in Nashville.

Like many in the industry, revenue managers are being asked to do more, and are facing increased pressure to track and react to changing hotel demand patterns.

“You cannot any longer have a revenue manager who only knows one function," Angie Dobney, vice president of enterprise sales, gaming and casinos at revenue-management software firm Cendyn, said during the "Demand reset: Building back a more profitable mix of demand" session.

"They now need to know that if one rate is changed how that impacts the whole organization, and they need to know how to do it. They now need to get distribution, get sales and marketing, due to reduced staffing levels. They’re the ones who are going to shine,” she said.

One big question revenue managers face is how much hotel demand there will be from corporate and groups after the end of the summer leisure season in the U.S.

To follow this and other trends, Tina Meredith, vice president of revenue management at PM Hotel Group, advised: “Stay close to your data. Let your numbers speak to you, as they definitely tell a story.”

Panel moderator Emile Gourieux, sales executive for Canada at CoStar hospitality analytics firm STR, said U.S. hotels are selling four out of every five rooms they sold in 2019.

He added 80% of adults expressed a desire to travel in the next six months but that also travel plans are subject to last-minute changes.

Much group business now is weekend, leisure, weddings and reunions, panelists said, and while there still is pent-up demand for this, some signs also point to the return of larger groups.

“Understanding demand, well, it sounds simple, [but] we don’t have a lot of people back in our sales teams. They’re pretty slim, but we will make sure we are the experts in the segments [guests] are booking,” Meredith said.

The pandemic has turned the world on its head, so revenue managers now need to look at things differently, too, panelists said.

“Another thing new to us is that weekday rates are higher than weekends ... and [revenue managers have to try] to get everything out of that,” PM’s Meredith said, noting one target demographic is seniors.

Molly Marshall, E-commerce manager at Marshall Hotels & Resorts, said it's important to utilize social media to connect with potential guests and generate leads on bookings.

“Expose the guest to social media and make them realize what they are missing,” she said, adding that hotels also need to keep pushing safety, cleanliness and comfort initiatives.

Marshall said cuts to marketing budgets already led her team to concentrate more on online marketing.

“Social media, a lot of people do not like it, but it is free. Different hashtags and different key words, and having good quality photos … and showing what it is you have to offer. User-generated content makes guests feel special,” she said.

“We’re concentrating on metasearch and making sure we’re the first to come up on a search,” she added.

Meredith said re-examining marketing and distribution channels also can help to reduce guest acquisition costs.

Meredith said with the end of summer comes the difficulty of filling midweek hotel rooms. One strategy to combat that is to extend the length of hotel stays for guests.

“We will concentrate on those shoulder stays, getting people to extend to Thursday and Monday,” she said.

Another strategy is to focus on industries positively affected by the pandemic, “whether that’s logistics, IT and even in some instances, government,” she said.

She added that group booking pace for the third and fourth quarters of 2021 is pretty robust, and the “Big 10” U.S. companies are permitting travel again, especially for client-facing departments.

She said PM Hotel Group also has had success in marketing full-service hotels against select- and focus-service assets, which likely do not have food and beverage outlets.