Even before the pandemic pulled the rug out from under the hotel industry, hotel owners and GMs were overloaded. Just to keep the hotel operations running smoothly, you have to hit daily goals, manage chaotic schedules, and make strategic moves that chisel out higher hotel profit. At the end of the day, hoteliers rarely have time to focus on the ultimate goal: boosting revenue.
We’re here to help hoteliers carve out time and grow RevPAR. Read on for the three best revenue management time hacks to help busy hoteliers monitor and increase revenue.
Before diving into time-saving hacks, it’s worth emphasizing why revenue management is important in the first place. Here are a few quick ways a focus on how revenue can lift RevPAR and profits:
Despite the obvious benefits of revenue management, few hoteliers find time to put revenue plans in motion. Luckily, there are three simple ways to carve out more time for higher revenue.
By sifting through the right data now, you can save yourself and your team hours in the future. Here are a few ways to use data to save time:
By capturing data during the peak season, you can understand your hotel room demand. With that revenue info on hand, it’s easier to set daily rates that will carry your hotel operation during lull or market downturns. This keeps you from having to scramble to find new revenue sources or reset room rates when you could be tackling your other daily duties.
Another way to save time during peak season is through simple data captures. By collecting guest emails and building customer profiles, it’s much easier for your revenue team to market for the next peak season. Rather than spending extra time trying to reach consumers who aren’t interested in your services, you’ll be focusing efforts on connecting with those guests who are most likely to contribute to your hotel’s revenue pool.
An important goal for hoteliers is to delight repeat guests and offer deeper discounts or added value for return visits in the future. An innovative approach could be to create personalized rewards and customized perks for repeat stays. Focus on guest experience to please hotel customers in general and boost loyalty.
Guest experience directly affects a hotel’s repeat business. Now, positive experiences rely heavily on how your hotel reacts to the pandemic. As COVID-19 continues to impact your hotel operation, internal insights can help inform profitable decisions going forward. Tap into customer reviews, surveys, and demand for specific services. This data will reveal where you can afford to cut back and where you need to spend more time.
For instance, you may find out you need to rededicate staff to stricter cleaning regimens. At the same time, you can make time up by cutting out shared services that require heavy upkeep, such as breakfast buffets or coffee services. When you use COVID-focused insights to show you what moves will benefit your guest’s experiences the most, you’ll land more repeat business and can spend less time tracking down new visitors.
You can clear time for better revenue management by streamlining your current processes. The more efficient you make your own schedule, the more time you’ll be able to squeeze out of your day. Here are a few ways to sculpt your schedule for more productivity:
It may be tempting to tackle tasks when they pop up, but a more focused approach to hotel management will leave you with much more time at the end of the day. Be sure to lay out clear goals up front and let them guide your efforts. If you notice you’re spending time taking on tasks that aren’t in line with your goals, nudge them out of your schedule.
By setting up a clear hotel performance plan, you can ensure the time you’re spending is pushing your hotel towards more revenue and higher profits. These critical strategies will also reveal where you and your employees’ time should be spent to bring out the best results.
By using hotel data to understand the current hotel market, you’ll gain vision into those wings of your operation that need the most care. From there, you’ll have what you need to put staff in the most profitable positions possible. Just remember to trust your operations teams and let them absorb your extra time burdens.
In most cases, general managers and hotel owners simply don’t have time to manage revenue on their own. And it isn’t always cost-effective to handle the huge responsibility of revenue management in-house. That’s where outsourcing staffing to a trustworthy partner can pay off in the long run.
By tapping into remote revenue management, your hotel operation gains several extra advantages:
Effective revenue management takes expertise and a significant time commitment. When you access remote revenue management, you lift time burdens off of your internal team and free them up to do what they do best.
Most hoteliers and GMs understand that labor is one of, if not the biggest, costs for a hotel. In fact, it often accounts for 50 percent of all operating expenses. That money is wasted when it’s not treated as an investment. Remote revenue management can help you get the most out of your labor budget. By hiring a remote revenue manager, you’re putting experts in charge of the duties that bring in the most profit for your hotel. That translates into a higher return on your labor investments.
When you call on the right remote revenue management partner, you immediately gain the expertise to analyze and expand revenue opportunities. With proven market tactics, a remote revenue manager comes in knowing how to drive more cash into your operation.
Interested in learning more about how remote hotel revenue management can free up your day and lift your hotel’s revenue? We have the expertise to help.
RevOptimum is the pioneer of remote hotel management. We use deep data and expert analysis to craft a personalized revenue plan to help your hotel hit all of its performance goals. Want to learn more? See what hoteliers are saying about RevOptimum.