Member Article

Should I invest in Revenue Management Training?

Investing in revenue management training versus outsourcing revenue management services is a question many Hotel Managers will have to consider when it comes to looking at budgets for the next financial year.

Can we afford to not have the required revenue management skills? Should we just outsource our revenue management activities? Can we just manage as we are?

Any successful Hotel Manager should be thinking that the answer to the last question should be a NO, but perhaps the other two answers are less clear.

Why should I invest in revenue management training?

The main benefit of providing revenue management training is that once trained, those staff can pass on their new knowledge to others in the department, meaning the investment for one member causes a ripple effect for the productivity and best practise working for the whole team. Naturally this improvement process would be quicker if all staff members were training in revenue management techniques that have an effect on their role and responsibilities, but having a Revenue Manager or Hotel Manager with revenue management training, will mean there is someone with leadership responsibilities who can affect the change required to bring the hotel revenue management practises in line.

Revenue Managers, or Hotel Managers who have significant revenue management responsibilities, may have never been given formal training, as they may have learned the processes through years of experience and shadowing other senior staff. Often providing revenue management training to these members can be enlightening to how a process could be completed quicker, especially with the introduction of a revenue management tool, a lot of which are widely available nowadays, or an Excel template, or even introduce checks and KPI’s that make their role much easier to manage.

Investing in staff is always a rewarding situation for both the staff involved and the future of the business. Staff who feel appreciated and ‘worth training’ will have a better attitude towards their role and the business in general, boosting morale for both themselves and anyone they come into contact with, be that staff or customer. Happier staff make happier customers, and who doesn’t want a happy customer?

Shouldn’t we just outsource revenue management?

Outsourcing revenue management is a viable option to hotels and businesses that do not have the resources to complete the revenue management tasks required to bring the hotel in line, or simply do not have the finance to provide training to staff members and simply want an outsourced service available to them when they need it.

When looking for a company to outsource your revenue management to, make sure they are experts in your field. Choosing a hotel revenue management company such as Octopus Revenue means that you know they will have the most up to date information on policies and practises for your industry and will understand the process your business is going through and often they will have experience and knowledge to be able to suggest ways to improve profitability and grow your business.

Revenue management training can bring a positive change to many areas of the business. Other hotel personnel who would benefit from a revenue management training course include key reservations staff, front office, sales and marketing, general managers and others who have an interest in learning more about revenue management theories and practices.

A successful revenue management training company should provide training in the following areas:

• Revenue analysis
• Benchmarking
• Pricing strategies
• Reputation management
• Website optimisation & SEO
• Key Performance Indicators

Companies such as Octopus Revenue also provide training for different levels of revenue management experience, meaning you can pick one suited to the knowledge or responsibility level of the staff member and the tasks that they would normally be required to take on. You can see more about their range of revenue management training courses via their web-site.

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