Consulting Services answers recent client questions about hotel revenue management
Digna Martinez Kolar, IDeaS director, industry consulting, explores some operational gaps that can hinder revenue management productivity.
As innovation in revenue management technology continues to accelerate, something we don’t hear much about is innovation in revenue management productivity. So, how can we ensure we get the most out of that innovative technology and facilitate adoption within our organizations?
One common gap I’ve seen in big and small companies is the lack of attention to standardization, from ensuring clear and specific standard operating procedures (SOPs) are developed to the fact that we need to update and embrace them as often as needed. I still sometimes see big binders full of SOPs on the shelf, covered in dust, that were created at the beginning and never opened again. Staff that was trained at the time understood them but then developed their own way of execution, and that is the knowledge they share with new team members, changing as needed but not necessarily maintaining a good documented standard. So it becomes “just the way we do things” without a set standard, and, of course, the quality depends on the person doing it today.
Another gap I commonly find occurs when new tools or technology are introduced. Some organizations don’t take the time to evaluate what kind of process changes are required to ensure the new tech is well adopted. Before rolling out any new tech, organizations must review and plan the current processes and know how the tech will enhance (automated or semi-automated) their processes to determine what they need to stop doing and what they need to change.
This evaluation and planning requires time because processes are related to habits, and to change a habit, we need first to convince people the change if beneficial for them, clearly describe how it will impact them, develop some good training around it and then give them time to start changing—not an easy task if you think about how habitual we humans tend to be.
Productivity is associated with having the right tools, good SOPs and the right knowledge. We can have the most sophisticated tools or technology, but if the processes behind them are not strong, we may become unproductive. Think about your organization and how you can help improve productivity by just taking the time to plan and prepare for new and more effective ways of doing things.
Hey, don’t leave now—the fun is just beginning. Here are more industry insights making the rounds this week:
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