Blog | DRM

December 11, 2010

What We Can Learn from Southwest

Southwest Airlines recently launched a television ad campaign focusing on one issue. Not service, not value, not even a word about their bags fly free policy. The sole message? If you want to fly Southwest, you’re going to have to go to southwest.com. It isn’t a cutting edge ad, but the underlying message is revolutionary. [...]

October 17, 2010

Planning for 2011? Take the Ego Out of It.

It’s the least wonderful time of the year, time to prepare next year’s hotel budget with a dash of industry predictions, a sprinkle of historical performance, and a healthy dose of guesswork. But it doesn’t have to be that way. The experts have all come out with industry projections, but for every article projecting double [...]

September 30, 2010

A Checklist for Function Space Management

Of the challenges unique to large convention hotels, few are as complex as function space management. With bookings up to a decade into the future and the fine balance of partnering with convention centers while simultaneously booking groups contained entirely in-house, there are rarely clear indications of which business to take versus which to let [...]

September 8, 2010

True Concessions

I’ve spent a good chunk of my career handling revenue management for big boxes, large convention properties in destination markets. These are some of the most challenging properties for revenue managers because they are entirely future-focused. This week’s results were largely determined by decisions made five to ten years ago, and many decisions made today [...]

August 4, 2010

Revenue Management or Urban Myth?

Hotel revenue management just isn’t as much fun these days. The RM sharks are too busy preparing index forecasts and managing multiple channels to partake in their Machiavellian tactics of old, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Just not as entertaining. In past years, I witnessed some cutthroat approaches to revenue management that are so [...]

July 22, 2010

Uncommon Common Sense

Recently overheard from a Director of Sales: “We need to drop our rate that week because we have no group base and we’re past the booking window.” Translation: We need to drop the transient rate, the one already identified as being the optimal price point for demand conditions that week, to compensate for a lack [...]

July 15, 2010

WWED?

I’ve addressed the OTA issue a few times in the past, but it’s time to get down to brass tacks. Not all OTAs are created equal, and in my opinion one of them is due for a comeuppance by the hotel industry. At least, by those hotels that are not part of the big five. [...]

June 27, 2010

A Hotel Checklist for the Leisure Market

Back in golden times, I frequently took spontaneous trips to recharge my batteries, even if only for the weekend. My favourite spots were Las Vegas, Aruba, or cruising the Caribbean. I did all three at least once every year between 2000 and 2008. I’ve done none of them since. This isn’t for lack of marketing [...]

March 27, 2010

The Importance of OTAs

I recently conducted a revenue management workshop for front office and reservations teams, and as always found it an enjoyable and enlightening experience. There’s that moment when light bulbs begin appearing all over the room and the energy level rises as everyone becomes engaged in the discussion. On this occasion, the topic that excited the [...]

November 16, 2009

The Secret Language of Revenue Managers

Over a decade ago when I took my first revenue management position, I was able to dazzle the masses at our Board of Ops meetings with terms like “RevPAR” and “yield index.” To make myself invaluable, I’d then develop Powerpoints explaining these terms and conduct seminars for various departments. You can imagine their delight. Once [...]

October 3, 2009

When It’s Right to Be Wrong

Dear Hotelier, In today’s demanding environment, there is rarely time or occasion to evaluate the quality of your revenue management. Fortunately there are two simple questions that go a long way toward determining your hotel’s revenue management effectiveness. I encourage you to get together with your revenue team and ask them soon. What decisions were [...]

September 30, 2009

The Reality of Today’s Hotel Management

In my travels over the past decade I have heard one universal message from hotel General Managers. With all the reporting requirements mandated by owners and corporate management, there is no longer time to interact with front line associates, let alone clients. Somehow delivery of the guest experience has been put on the back burner as a hotel management priority.

Back in the old days, a hotel leadership team was just that. Members could name every associate in the Housekeeping department, knew every special event taking place on property in the next seven days, and literally established the personality of the hotel. You could always find a member of the management team in the lobby, shaking hands and kissing babies in a Clintonesque display of goodwill. It was a comforting reminder to guests that everything was under control.