RevPlan Lobby Bar
Forecasting & Budgeting

Introducing IDeaS RevPlan – Science-Based Total Revenue Forecasting

By , Senior Product Marketing Manager

From the guest room to the lobby barRevPlan enables revenue managers, finance directors and hotel leaders to effectively budget, plan and strategize using automation and scientific forecasting. 

“Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.” – Pablo Picasso 

To paraphrase Picasso, success always starts with a plan. Yet for a hotel organization the simple thought of planning and budgeting their business is typically met with foot-dragging and gritted teeth. It is a painful, timeconsuming process, yet we all know how critical it is to an organization’s success.  

All hotels, regardless of size, type, star rating, or brand, face the challenge of budgeting and forecasting operations for their business as accurately and precisely as possibleToday these processes are spreadsheet-based and labor intensive, requiring a revenue manager and financial controller to regularly spend several hours collecting, preparing, and organizing data.  

Not only is that time that could be better spent, but the forecasts are often inaccurate, especially for the food & beverage (F&B) side of things where due to the size and complexity of the business you can have upward of 10 times more data points than on the guest room side. This leads to poor planning and inefficient labor guidance resulting in smaller profits. 

With all that in mind, our development teams have been hard at work, and last week we announced our latest product innovation, the hotel industry’s most powerful and robust total revenue forecasting solution: IDeaS RevPlan. 

For the past 30 years, IDeaS has expanded what’s possible for hotel technology and pushed the power of revenue science beyond the guest room. Over the years working with our revenue management system clients, we knew there was another processbudgeting and forecastingthey were handling in Excel that drove tactical decision-making including strategy for revenue management. Working side by side with hoteliers, we have grown to understand the challenges they face when it comes to budgeting and forecasting total revenue. 

IDeaS RevPlan saves costs, increases efficiency and drives better decision-making with automation, total revenue forecasting and consolidation. 

Boost Efficiency Productivity 

Built on AWS, the solution was designed by hoteliers for hoteliers to take on the burden of collecting and organizing data to then forecast and budget revenue. Hotels can build a total forecast or budget with data seamlessly pulled from across the hotel technology stack and then submit to finance with the click of a button. 

Gain a Complete Picture 

IDeaS RevPlan’s flexibility and wide reach across the organization translates data to create one source of truth, empowering leaders to build a total revenue strategy based in data-driven reality for one property or the entire enterprise. 

Scientifically Forecast Total Revenue 

Say goodbye to forecasting by your gut, especially when it comes to your hotel’s second most profitable revenue stream: F&BGoing deeper than an F&B summarylevel forecast is critical to maximizing profitability for this complex and diverse revenue stream.  

IDeaS RevPlan provides a unique forecast and tracks performance for each outlet permitting a hotel to make tactical and strategic decisions based on data they can trustThe day is finally here when a hotel’s F&B forecast can be as accurate and precise as a rooms forecast. 

For some time now, it’s been conventional wisdom in the hotel industry that revenue management needs to move toward profit optimization. Now, there is a mighty wide canyon that separates these two practices; however, with advances in revenue strategies, education and technology, hotels have never been better positioned to bridge the gap. 

IDeaS RevPlan breaks down silos, tracks performance, and scientifically forecasts all revenue streams in a scalable and sustainable way for hotels of all sizesWith total revenue intelligence at your fingertips, hotel and revenue leaders can build a smart, forward-looking revenue strategy for all revenue streams. 

And the timing couldn’t be better. In this era of economic and demand uncertainty, hoteliers need to find creative new ways to drive revenue and profitability. And a treasure trove of untapped opportunities awaits in food & beverage, meetings & events and other revenue streams. 

IDeaS RevPlan is available on a limited releaseIDeaS clients are invited to reach out to your account manager with any questions. To learn more, check out this recent article in Skift or contact us at info@ideas.com. 

James Echert
Senior Product Marketing Manager

James Echert has spent over a decade in the hospitality industry working with hotels in Europe, Asia-Pacific, and North America. Before joining IDeaS, he worked in channel strategy, distribution, and product management with Choice Hotels International. He holds a BA in history from Pacific University and a master’s in marketing from the University of Colorado-Denver. James is a fan of the three B’s: beer, BBQ, and being the best at parallel parking.

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