Member Article

Why would a hotel outsource revenue management?

Revenue management includes the design and implementation of a strategy that can bring a hotel out of the red, into the green and on the way to gold. A successful revenue management strategy is implemented by a trained Revenue Manager with skills in research, planning, negotiation, sales and management of a hospitality brand.

Selling the right room at the right price at the right time.

The preferred idea would probably be to train employees in revenue management skills and solutions so the knowledge and training stays in house and can be filtered down to those employees who require it. However not all hotels have either the time, staff or the budget to do this and therefore search for a reputable external company with specialist skills to handle this important function.

Hotels do not usually have either their own Accountant or Solicitor and accept that outsourcing is the most effective way to get specialist skills. Revenue management companies such as Octopus Revenue Ltd are trained revenue management specialists with extensive experience in hospitality and who provide remote revenue management solutions to hotels of all sizes.

‘Revenue Management Outsourcing’ could be a misleading term as hoteliers can receive advice and direction on a specific topic, or allow the revenue management company to take control of the strategy creation, implementation and ongoing target analysis. A more apt phrase could be ‘Revenue Management Solution Consultancy’. A revenue management solutions consultancy can provide expert advice and guidance on topics such as:

- Hotel Revenue Analysis

- Market Mix Analysis

- Performance Reporting

- Competitor Analysis

- Pricing and Inventory Management

A specialist in revenue management would know that Reputation Management including online platforms are a vital element of any strategy as 90% of consumers would switch brands after receiving bad customer service. Allowing an external specialist to take on revenue analysis and structure a revenue management strategy bespoke to your hotel will save time as well as putting you in a better position to make money and increase profitability.

Companies such as Octopus Revenue Ltd offer a flexible service towards revenue management, from as little as 4 hours per week, so you can tailor the package depending on the support your hotel needs.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sarah Thompson .