Hotel Revenue Management with Scott Dahl

The difference between a hotel that’s profitable, and one that isn’t, can often come down to the last 10% of its revenue. That means it’s extremely important to seize any opportunity to optimize your pricing strategy. For smaller hotels, it may be even more important, since there’s a larger potential upside
However, these hotels are often struggling with limited resources and other challenges that big establishments don’t face.
In this video, we talk to Scott Dahl from the Les Roches Hospitality Management School in Crans-Montana about how smaller hotels can keep a tight grip on their revenue management and ensure they stay profitable and healthy.
We talk about how smaller hotels can manage their prices and maximize profits, for example through effective forecasting. Hotels of all sizes have a range of different tools available to them when it comes to managing their revenue. We discuss how applying length of stay restrictions can help you prioritize longer stays over shorter stays when demand is high, and we also cover the possibilities around offering different products and combining multiple hotel services to offer packages.
A crucial part of managing revenue is having a channel-specific distribution strategy. Especially as limiting distribution costs can sometimes increase profitability more than raising prices could. After all, it’s great when a third party can sell rooms that you wouldn’t have sold otherwise but is it always worth the fee? It’s important to have a mindful distribution strategy and gain clear insight into your own bookings.
Scott also talks about some of the software small hotels can use to access valuable market information and better understand their own booking curve, and when it’s best to use a dedicated revenue management system. This is a no-brainer for big hotels who can easily afford it, but smaller hotels can also often benefit from upgrading their basic systems and using technology in a way that doesn’t create extra work.
-- Timestamp --
00:00 Revenue Management for small and independent Hotels
01:05 What is Revenue Management?
02:00 Can a small, independent Hotel do revenue management?
02:36 What revenue management tactics should a smaller Hotel use?
02:48 Hotel Revenue Management and Forecasting
04:15 Hotel Customer Segmentation
05:20 Simple tools for Hotel Revenue Management
07:10 the relevance of a channel specific distribution strategy for hotels
08:00 What are the software tools I need to do revenue management?
09:24 When does it make sense to use a dedicated Revenue Management system?
with Elisha Schoppig / elisha-schoppig
Hotel-Spider is a cloud-based online distribution platform with a deep-rooted presence in the hotel technology market. We empower hospitality distribution as we imagine, develop and deploy customer-driven software solutions. Our goal is, to simplify the complex distribution landscape through our systems. Our Hotel-Spider Hospitality Distribution Platform includes booking engine, metasearch (Google, Trivago, Tripadvisor), central reservation system, PMS connectivity, and channel manager. Trust your Swiss specialists to optimize your online sales with an integrated and fully automated approach.
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This Video includes:
Music by
Patrick Patrikios / @patrickpatrikios2050
Images:
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Stock footage from shutterstock.com and storyblocks.com

[@muhammeda.8769]

Very interesting video, i wish it was longer 🙏

[@HotelSpider]

thank you muhammeda.8769 for the feedback! will try to publish the full interviews in the future.

[@mrbb2768]

This was short but informative

[@HotelSpider]

Thank you Mr. BB for your feedback. Would you be interested in a longer format? For every video we make with a partner we have a 1-2 hour conversation. would a unedited version be something you are interested in? Cheers, Elisha

[@victorrodriguez5981]

Did u release the full version of this interview by any chance? Thanks for the work

[@abdulmueed97]

very nice and very helpful

[@HotelSpider]

Hey Abdul Mueed, thank you very much!

[@aarong4379]

Great video! I understand lowering rates to increase revenue during low occupancy periods, but how can the property avoid losing brand integrity if a 5 star hotel fills its occupancy with 2 or 3 star travel rates ? Could dynamic pricing discourage higher paying travelers from returning?

[@HotelSpider]

Dear Aaron G, Thank you! It is always a balance and clearly if your discounts are getting to high you might risk you brand. It is a combination of the market, your competition, the target segments you have, reviews and reputation. To goal is clearly not for a 5 star property to price at 2 or 3 starts. But maybe if you have forecasted low occupancy periods start off early being just above the 4 start properties around and then slowly increase if reservations pick up. Really good approaches are also increasing value with out changing prices. Including amenities, creating packages, adjusting cancelation policies. This way you can get more value for your guest with out reducing the price. We have a LiveSession planed in the upcoming month about revenue management. Feel free to check that out and ask more live questions there!

[@user-rr6ub1ti6f]

Very interesting point about automised RM systems, as they tell us that the algorithms take into consideration all the factors influencing price but how we can check if this is true?)

[@HotelSpider]

Hey Потный Ассенизатор, I don't think we can. The system from roompricegenie.com, he is referring to in the video, only gives you a high level indication it the decision is driven by the price changes in the markte or by your properties occupancy. In the end you will see if you get better results over time and again for this system you can always refuse the change. In general RMS that are more complex will not be able to let you verify every data point. But I think that is exactly the point. it the data volume would be manageable by humans we would not need the RMS. Are you working with a RMS? or what have your experiences been?

[@Potencyfunction]

There are Property Management System for that.