Hotel Revenue Management Secrets

Russ Stanziale has over 25 years of experience in the area of selling and delivering analytics and price optimization. He began his career as an analyst and industry consultant before moving into sales and sales leadership positions at companies like ACNielsen, Teradata, Hewlett Packard and most recently PROS Software, where he served as Vice President of Sales for their Strategic Accounts team. Russ brings his global experience including responsibility and direct reports in Latin America, Europe and Asia. He has a track record of building organizations, driving growth and collaborating with cross-functional teams on strategic initiatives. In this role, Russ is responsible for continuing to promote the sales teams’ ability to deliver on our value proposition with our clients.

Russ attended the University of Georgia where he received both a bachelor’s in business administration and a master’s in marketing analytics.

In his role as managing director of the Americas at IDeaS, Garth Peterson leads a team of professionals across North America who are invested in helping hoteliers drive profitability through better revenue performance. Garth is a recognized leader in revenue management in the hospitality industry. He currently serves on the Americas Leadership Board of Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI) and has previously served on HSMAI’s Revenue Management Advisory Board. He is an accredited Certified Revenue Management Executive (CRME).

In 2012, Garth was recognized as one of HSMAI’s Top 25 Most Extraordinary Minds in Sales, Marketing, and Revenue Management. He speaks regularly at industry events for organizations such as Preferred Hotels & Resorts, HSMAI, and Meeting Professionals International (MPI). He holds a bachelor’s degree in Hospitality and Tourism Management from the University of Wisconsin – Stout and has been a guest lecturer at several hotel schools, including NYU, UNLV, UW-Stout and Kendall College. Garth lives in St. Paul, Minnesota with his wife and two children.

As area vice president of IDeaS’ Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) territory, Fabian Specht is responsible for IDeaS’ regional offices located in London and Dusseldorf, as well as all sales and operations in the region.

Prior to joining IDeaS in 1999, Fabian was the director of sales for hotel systems, EMEA for Micros Fidelio Software GMBH. Before starting his experience in the hotel technology sector, he worked for InterContinental Hotels & Resorts across multiple properties in many different countries and regions.

As IDeaS’ area vice president for Asia Pacific, Rachel Grier is responsible for growing IDeaS’ Asia business and enhancing the company’s leading brand reputation in the dynamic Asian hospitality sector. Rachel possesses a unique combination of successful leadership experiences in enterprise software and hospitality sales and marketing. With more than two decades of experience, she has a record of growing businesses in the regional hospitality and travel sectors across a range of established and emerging markets in Asia, Pacific and the Middle East. She developed her travel industry sales and marketing skills across a range of travel technology and hospitality industry brands.

Most recently, she was the senior vice president of sales, Asia Pacific and the Middle East for hotel central reservations leader Pegasus Solutions. Rachel previously worked as the area director of sales and marketing for the InterContinental Hotel Group in Japan, where she oversaw a major restructure and was responsible for sales, marketing and revenue results. She also held senior leadership roles within organizations such as Per Aquum Resorts, Spas, and Residences, Rendezvous Hotels International and FCm Travel Solutions (Flight Centre).

As vice president of client operations, Heidi Albignac oversees the complete client experience within IDeaS—from project management to ongoing client relationship management. Heidi is also responsible for creating and maintaining a creative, fun and prosperous environment for all IDeaS’ global clients as well as the dedicated staff within the client services department. She is known for her high standards and always making client welfare her top priority.

Heidi graduated from the Hotelschool The Hague, obtaining a bachelor’s degree in business administration in hotel management. At IDeaS, Heidi started as a client training specialist and held various positions within the client services area, eventually becoming manager and later director of client services. After an already hugely successful 20-year career with IDeaS, Heidi was promoted to vice president of client operations in January 2019.

Bijal Shah, IDeaS’ vice president of product development, has been deeply involved in software innovation throughout his career. He joined IDeaS in 1998 to provide his unique leadership and vision. Quickly demonstrating a command of architecture and design, he gained the trust and loyalty of those he worked with and became a valued team leader within the organization.

From there, Bijal led the charge on a wide range of initiatives. A relentlessly strategic thinker and development authority, he helped spearhead all IDeaS’ leading products and played an instrumental role in transforming IDeaS into a revenue technology leader.

Bijal holds a degree in electronics from the University of Mumbai. Widely acknowledged as a thought leader within IDeaS, Bijal continues to drive the organization toward excellence in both its internal culture and external delivery.

Charles Wang joined IDeaS in 2010 with more than 20 years-experience in the hotel and manufacturing industry. Charles is responsible for IDeaS regional offices in Beijing and Shanghai. In this role, Charles is responsible for IDeaS China business growth, establishing a long-term growth strategy complemented by operational excellence. For many years Charles has been a revenue management missionary and built IDeaS Professional Services teams in the APAC and China regions. Charles continues to serve as a revenue management evangelist and a trusted advisor to IDeaS clients and prospects throughout China.

Prior to joining IDeaS, Charles held different revenue management, sales and marketing leadership positions in Starwood Hotels and Resorts. He also served as director of Six Sigma, Master Black Belt in Ingersoll Rand driving operational excellence in four manufacturing and thirteen sales business units across Asia Pacific. Charles received his Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Tourism from Nan Kai University.

As IDeaS managing director for India, K.S. Prashant is responsible for the IDeaS regional offices located in Pune and its operations within the region. Prashant brings more than 20 years of experience in strategic business development, service delivery and global leadership to the executive team.

Prior to joining IDeaS, Prashant held senior-level management positions with KPIT Technologies and Parametric Technology Corporation, and was co-founder at Auric System Integrators. Prashant received a Bachelor of Engineering degree from the College of Engineering in Pune, followed by a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Utah.

Hospitality leader and innovator, Audrey Murante, brought over 30 years of industry experience and achievement to IDeaS in 2018. As Director of Global Alliances & Initiatives, she now drives the continued success and growth of IDeaS’ partner relationships.

Audrey is passionate about being a catalyst for change. With an entrepreneurial approach, she seeks new and unique opportunities to solve complicated challenges. In her 23 years directing global distribution and third-party relationships for the Radisson Hotel Group, Audrey designed key partnerships to enhance the hotel’s brand, profitability and guest satisfaction.

Audrey holds a B.S. in marketing management from Bellevue University and completed the Carlson School of Management’s Executive Leadership Program. Originally from Omaha, Nebraska, she was drawn to IDeaS’ global headquarters in Minneapolis, Minnesota by the opportunity to follow a bold new path while still serving the industry she knows and loves.

Mohamed “Mo” Khanat joined IDeaS in 2012 with over 20 years of industry experience in both hotels and hospitality technology. He is currently the global director of account management where he leads a team of global industry experts primarily focused on elevating revenue management culture and ensuring the ongoing success of IDeaS’ diverse client base.

Prior to IDeaS, Mo held several positions in the hospitality sector, including director of revenue for Accor Canada and regional manager for Travelocity. He continues to be committed to the discipline of revenue management and focused on finding innovative opportunities to drive asset-value growth for his clients while seamlessly integrating into current business practices. Mo holds a diploma in hospitality management from Al-Zaytoonah University of Jordan. He is currently based out of Toronto, Canada where he enjoys spending time with family when he is not busy traveling the globe.

As IDeaS Chief Evangelist, Klaus Kohlmayr challenges strategic processes, stimulates thought-provoking conversations and reinvigorates the future of revenue management and pricing within the hospitality and travel industries.

A natural contrarian, Klaus has challenged the status quo in the hotel industry for over 20 years. With IDeaS, he previously started the company’s global consulting division and pioneered the industry’s first group price optimization and function space revenue management proof-of-concepts in a real-world environment.

An advocate of lifelong learning, he has studied business at Henley Management College in the UK, real estate investment and asset management at Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration; and finance and strategy at the Singapore Management University.

Klaus has been an active participant in various industry advisory boards. He not only loves to challenge the status quo, but wholly welcomes being challenged in new ways of thinking.

Mike Chuma joined IDeaS in 2016 as Vice President of Product Strategy and Marketing, bringing more than 15 years of progressive experience in driving growth and strategy in enterprise SaaS technology, eCommerce platforms, brand management and marketing for companies ranging from start-ups to Fortune 500 organizations. In this role, Mike is responsible for leading product strategy, corporate marketing, product marketing, and sales enablement teams on a global basis.

In his most recent role with Digital River, Inc. as Senior Director, Global Product Management & Strategy, Mike held responsibility for global SaaS based ecommerce and subscriptions product platforms serving the software, subscriptions and online gaming markets. Prior to Digital River, Mike held strategic roles in eCommerce, multi-channel marketing and brand management for organizations such as Albertsons, Inc., SuperValu and Trinity Springs. Mike received his Bachelor of Business Administration degrees in Marketing & Finance from Boise State University.

Joseph Martino is responsible for various areas of the organization globally which include business development, alliances, advisory services and M&A activity. A travel industry veteran, Joseph has held senior-level management positions at MICROS Systems, Inc., and Fidelio Software for the past decade. As vice president of operations and central systems business development for MICROS Systems in Naples, Florida, he was responsible for an enterprise software development organization in delivering state-of-the-art hospitality applications.

Previously, Joseph held the position of COO and senior vice president of Fidelio Software in Munich, Germany, where he maintained worldwide headquarters responsibility for all internal operations, product development, sales and service. Prior to working at MICROS Systems, Joseph spent 10 years with increasing marketing and sales responsibilities with Marriott Hotels & Resorts. He began his hospitality career at Cunard Ships, Hotels and Resorts.

Brian Douty joined IDeaS in 2013 as vice president of finance, bringing more than 20 years of experience directing, integrating and transforming financial operations in the technology and energy industries. In this capacity, Brian leads IDeaS global corporate strategy, finance, accounting and administration.

Brian has previously served in executive leadership roles at LexisNexis, Thomson Reuters and Hess Corporation, in addition to several senior finance roles throughout his career. He brings extensive experience with the SaaS business model, international operations and financial and systems integration. Brian holds a B.S. in Finance from Penn State and an MBA in Finance from Rutgers University. He is CPA, CMA and CFM certified.

With more than 20 years of experience in product development and operations, Sanjay Nagalia rejoined IDeaS in 2012 and serves as chief operating officer. Prior to joining IDeaS, Sanjay co-founded and held the position of chief operating officer for Apex Decisions, a retail revenue management company.

Previously, he co-founded IDeaS and served as vice president of products and services from 1989 to 2001. He has provided executive leadership as head of development and operations for fast growing global organizations and all aspects of product development, implementation and support. Sanjay received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology and his M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Maryland.

Dr. Ravi Mehrotra is the president, founder & chief scientist of IDeaS Revenue Solutions. Through the establishment of IDeaS in 1989, Dr. Mehrotra pioneered the “Opportunity Cost” approach that later became the industry standard for dealing with the complexities of the network or length of stay effects in revenue management.

Ravi’s research and founding involvement in IDeaS is a natural progression of his scientific background. As an assistant professor at North Carolina State University, he invented new models for parallel computing; designed and analyzed both asynchronous and randomized algorithms for distributed processing; and reviewed many proposals for key government scientific agencies. At Texas Instruments, Ravi played an integral role in the development of a real-time scheduler for a complex manufacturing company. As a scientist in the Decision and Technology Lab of Andersen Consulting, Ravi was instrumental in the development and implementation of a fleet planning, scheduling and load consolidation system for a major household goods transportation company. Additionally, Ravi co-authored and holds more than one dozen patents.

Today, Dr. Mehrotra remains an active and hands-on chief scientist at IDeaS. He continues to research increasingly sophisticated methods for dynamic pricing that optimize expected profits over longer time horizons, and is a widely-recognized leader in the field of predictive analytics, forecasting and dynamic price optimization.

IDeaS contributes to continuing education for their employees’ development with tools such as:

• Knowledge Quest acts as a internal learning platform for company and product information. Each mission contains a group of courses designed to enhance your knowledge of IDeaS.
• Tech Jam is a non-profit initiative to build a community of techies, who are interested in learning and exploring new technologies.
• Eve’s Circle is our in-house diversity initiative. The objective of this initiative is to invest and nurture the talent of women employees at IDeaS so as to build a stronger and more diverse leadership pool within the organization. It was conceptualized with a definition of a personalized vision for each of the members. As part of the initiative, monthly activities and trainings are conducted for professional skills enhancement.
• Unlimited access to Lynda.com – our own knowledge management repository.
• Coding Katta – An event that takes place once a month to generate and share new ideas to assist coding and developing challenges by employees.
• Social Katta is an initiative to create awareness of social media amongst IDeaS employees.

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IDeaS is a pioneer in the tech industry, but don’t be fooled, IDeaS is continuing to innovate every day!

The ShipIT program started with a primary objective to enhance the quality of work at an IDeaS and individual level. It takes place every quarter with input from employees across all the global locations. The focus of ShipIT is to:

• Create a platform to promote and showcase innovation at IDeaS
• Foster creativity
• Create a spotlight for new ideas and radical approaches

Revenue Managers’ Forum was created with the intention to enable interaction between IDeaS and clients from the hospitality industry. This provides our employees an opportunity to internally design and implement changes in our work cycle keeping the clients’ needs at the core. The discussions with our clients help us sustain our focus on help our clients maintain and improve on revenue streams.

All of this while having a lot of fun!

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Due to the high-growth nature and global reach of IDeaS, opportunities constantly arise for our employees to take their careers to new and exciting directions. Many of these opportunities transcend traditional geographical and functional boundaries.

• Higher education assistance
• Development classes
• Promotion/transfer opportunities
• International exposure/learning

Talent Development

• Comprehensive roster of both behavioral and technical interventions to create a talent pipeline as well as invest in the upskilling of our existing talent.

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IDeaS values their employees’ well-being by including the following:

• Athletic club membership reimbursement
• Great medical benefits for you and your immediate family
• Continuous volunteer opportunities
• Competitive pay
• Child Care reimbursement

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IDeaS appreciates and recognizes the added value of having a diverse and dynamic work environment.

• Complimentary snacks and beverages throughout the day
• Paid vacation time and holidays
• Paid leave for maternity, paternity and adoption
• Comprehensive coverage of all types of leaves
• Flexible work schedules
• Discounted tickets for local events

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Through multiple internal programs, IDeaS is committed to providing well deserved recognition
to our employees who go above and beyond. Enjoy work life activities such as:

• Quarterly birthday & anniversary celebrations
• Open office layout, designed to maximize team interactions
• Social media awareness for our team members allows a platform for us to explore
• Fitness and nutrition services

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IDeaS provides a plethora of volunteer opportunities to assist in the contribution to the welfare
of society. Some of these great initiatives include:

• Habitat for Humanity
• Tree Plantation Drive
• Blood Drives
• Visit Children’s Shelters

We aspire to increase our teams’ and communities’ quality of life with initiatives such as Adopt-a-family, Feed My Starving Children, Campus Connect and so much more.

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