We may be climbing the hill of innovation, but today’s technology has vastly improved from 10 years ago
- Technology analyzes higher volumes of data & offers more opportunities
- Innovation coupled with mobility & analytics break down former barriers
- However, many hoteliers still rely on limited processes & technology
Technology moves fast—no, make that really fast. Technology today analyzes higher volumes of data, outputs purer insights and offers up more opportunities than ever before.
An omnipresent IoT ecosystem finds new ways to connect personal devices with pretty much anything possible, not-so-subtlety encouraging those of us with a pulse to stay on the grid. Permanently.
Hotels, in particular, have woefully pined away for similar advancements in property technologies for enhanced guest services, enriched productivity and overall profitability.
But while we might be slowly climbing the proverbial hill of innovation in many ways, the contrast in revenue technology capabilities from 10 years ago to today is stark and compelling.
Machine-learning innovations coupled with high mobility, prescriptive analytics and transparent business intelligence have put hoteliers in a prime position to break down old barriers to new profits.
However, even with all the advancements to date, many hoteliers still rely on limited processes and technology—to the detriment of their productivity and bottom-line revenues.
Is revenue technology forcing your strategy to fall behind the times? Here are 5 signs your technology is holding you back:
#1. You’re still uploading your rates
With their day-to-day responsibilities, hoteliers often have limited time for strategy—especially if they’re manually managing rates.
Technology requiring manual maintenance and implementation of rate recommendations forces users to be less nimble to market shifts, limits time and resources, and hinders productivity.
Automated pricing and inventory decisions, on the other hand, continually optimize and automatically deploy to integrated selling systems. This gives time back in the day to focus where it’s needed—on strategic opportunties.
#2. You’re manually managing guestroom inventory
Hotels have managed inventory through manual controls for decades. However, compared to 10 years ago, most revenue technology providers haven’t improved these fixed controls at all.
The most advanced technology, however, uses its analytics to deploy an automated inventory strategy that not only improves profits, but productivity as well. A hurdle is a value assigned to a particular day that optimizes the available demand in the market.
This analytically-derived value helps determine the optimal business to accept and maximizes shoulder night performance so longer length of stays aren’t turned away over high-demand nights. Hoteliers can thus optimize rate availability through channels like voice reservations, booking engines and OTAs.
#3. Your pricing structure has limitations
The ultimate goal of a revenue strategy is to drive profitability. The challenge lies in pricing different rooms, through different channels, across different days, to different guests.
With unique demand for room types, revenue technology needs to support different buying behaviors by analytically-determining ideal prices, inventory controls and overbooking strategies for different room types.
If rates are managed independently from inventory controls, profits end up sacrificed in the process.
#4. You cross your fingers while changing rates
Today’s predictive analytics allow users to understand the impacts of their decisions before they even make them. Scenario analysis in automated revenue technology allows hoteliers to explore the outcomes of potential changes in rate, or if guest behavior differs from their current expectations.
This capability also helps hoteliers learn how sensitive their technology is to changes in inputs. Utilizing this feature is quick and easy, allowing hoteliers to experiment more to understand how and why pricing and availability decisions are made in a very intuitive way.
#5. You’re forecasting with the wrong data
For the best outputs, hoteliers need the best inputs. This means that more than anything, data quality matters.
As the industry continues to leverage evolving data sources, hotels need to be thoughtful about the data used within in their technology and business strategies. While we live in a world where “more” equates itself with “better,” that’s not always the case when it comes to data.
Revenue technology should continue to analytically incorporate big data and forward-looking market intelligence when the right types of data are statistically significant—and drive better revenue performance.
For a rundown of common data used in revenue strategies and its impact on profit potential, check out our eBook, “The House That Analytics Built.”