Hotel sales managers and meeting planners have been working together for decades. We have had our ups and downs with everything and anything that could go right and wrong. That said, at the day we are here for our clients and guests. With that common ground established; now how do we achieve our common goal? For me, I am 100% transparent with my meeting planners, groups, and guests. I teach my team to not be in it for the next best group that comes along. We want to create strong partnerships with our colleagues for the long haul. READ MORE

Out of the $250 billion of hospitality revenue from transient and leisure business, only 10% is spent on marketing. And although your hotel website provides the top source of marketing ROI for your organization, meetings and events are a close second. Build your marketing plans to support planner behaviors all year, and you'll quickly fill your group business need dates. With business intelligence and support from your destination, you'll be able to use seasonality to build brand awareness, develop stronger relationships with planners, and intercept the competition before they even see it coming. Here are some of Cvent's go-to tips for improving seasonality-supported strategies for hotel sales and marketing teams. READ MORE

As demand for hotel rooms drives increasing ADRs and climbing occupancy rates, hotel sales teams and revenue managers are honing sales strategies, evaluating deployment and group segment potential, and strategically choosing the right mix of room inventory allotted to their transient and group segments. Pursuing the best segments and selling smartly is the name of the game in an economic environment in which many hotels can afford to be particular about the business they book. Previously, it has been easier to analyze market performance for the transient segment than the group segment but now it's becoming just as clear for the group side due to recent advances in technology. READ MORE

Whereas OTAs are constantly experimenting with ways to make the guest experience more streamlined and inclusive, hotels seem to be focused on cutting costs by putting more work on the shoulders of the guest and outsourcing valuable touchpoint with the guest. I understand that hotels live in a world they are reliant on OTAs but everywhere possible hotels should try to maintain the guest relationship. READ MORE

Total Revenue Management is growing in popularity for discussion, but there remains some ambiguity as to what this really means. Some discuss the application of revenue management principles to ancillary departments like F&B, or a narrower application of simply enhancing room sales to include additional ancillary revenue. Others focus on things like cost containment or various fees. For the purposes of this article, we will define Total Revenue Management as the concept of monetizing every area of the operation in various ways to capture the highest profits given the time-perishable aspect of a hotel's various types of inventory. READ MORE