Your online reputation is what cybershoppers and potential guests use to decide if they would like to visit your property and managing your internet reputation is key in today's “I want it now” climate where hotels rely so heavily on review sites such as TripAdvisor. What should you know? What should you consider? And how best do you work to serve your existing guests so that you can continue to garner rave reviews and attract new customers to your property? READ MORE

Since the down turn hotels have largely struggled with growing revenue year over year. A decrease in revenue growth can be caused by not having the proper mix of business in house, but your revenue manager's job is to bring in the right mix of business for your hotel. Staying competitive is important, but a hotel should look to be competitive in not just occupancy, but ADR and RevPAR as well. Finding consumers in your market, qualifying them for your hotel, and optimizing their rate with your current mix can largely help hotels struggling to grow. READ MORE

Revenue management is an evolving discipline. For almost two decades, revenue management and its role in operations have been discussed in numerous articles. Each dissertation that explored the role seemed to reveal new opportunities to leverage revenue management in hotels as the revenue manager expanded his or her responsibilities beyond the reservations office. Before revenue management was considered a viable partner in hotel operations outside the reservations office, I began my career like many other revenue managers at the time when rarely were we seen outside those four walls-and, there certainly was not a place at the Executive Committee table for a revenue manger. READ MORE

As the revenue management discipline continues to evolve, industry professionals must continue to look at the transition from tactical operations to strategic deployment of their systems and processes. The industry as a whole needs to step up to the plate and maximize total hotel revenues from existing demand by setting both short and long term strategies. To increase revenues, it is not enough to only "play with" the non-contracting individual demand - in many cases, this is less than half of a hotel's revenue. Not moving to a strategic revenue management model will only leave money on the table. READ MORE

With the world shifting to digital and hotel competition increasing daily, hotel owners/operators must adapt on a variety of fronts to increase revenue while meeting or exceeding guest expectations and demands. Nowhere is that more prevalent than in a hotel's various technology options, from the property management system (PMS) to data security to taking guest payment options beyond the front desk to so much more. Quite simply, revenue management is so closely tied to technology that hotel owners/operators must determine which technology improvements will bring the greatest return on investment. READ MORE