As many hotels gear up for the impending festivities of Halloween, so begins the spooky sightings of ghouls, goblins, political leaders and celebrities roaming the hotel halls. This is in addition to, of course, the costumed guests that will also soon be checking in.
With the anticipated excitement swirling around the impending celebrations, I have to stop and ask: Am I the only one who has noticed some of the eerie similarities that exist between an exhausted revenue manager and a modern-day zombie?
No, this is not the beginning of a really bad joke – there are some seriously uncanny similarities at large here. With Halloween on this week’s haunted horizon, there is no better time to play a little game that I like to call, “Zombie, Exhausted Revenue Manager or Both?”
It’s a pretty simple game (provided that you’re not one of those exhausted revenue managers.) Below are symptoms of either a modern-day zombie, an exhausted revenue manager, or a symptom shared by both individuals. Read through each symptom and best determine which answer is correct:
Symptom 1: May exhibit increased endurance relative to normal humans
Symptom 2: May also exhibit profoundly reduced or absent cognitive function
Symptom 3: Exhibits lack of normal human biological functions, such as sleep
Symptom 4: Displays an impressive lack of conventional human biological requirements, such as conventional food, sleep or even oxygen
Symptom 5: Was once considered ‘human’ & still contains human features (eyes, nose, mouth)
Symptom 6: Reduced brain function forces them to move in a sometimes awkward shamble
Symptom 7: Posture worsens as they spend more time exposed to their offending elements
Symptom 8: Has an insatiable and endless desire to consume human flesh
If you answered “both” to all but Symptom 8, you’ve earned yourself a treat! If you’ve answered “both” or “exhausted revenue manager” to Symptom 8…well, you just might be an exhausted revenue manager (or worse, you might actually be a zombie…)
So for all of you exhausted revenue managers: How can you use your revenue management system to help you feel human again? Here are a few areas worth exploring:
- It’s impossible to know everything at all times. Use your systems to provide you with helpful reports and dashboards to give you a complete picture of your data. Your RMS should allow you to create and consume various types of reports whenever and however you want them.
- Pick your system’s brain. Utilize your system’s analytics through intuitive user interfaces, heat maps and calendars to identify and address trends in your business.
- Advanced revenue management systems offer predictive “what-if” analyses that allow you to take the guesswork out of the equation. Use these capabilities to help you prepare for any potential impacts in demand or pricing changes.
- Eliminate FOMO and FONK by determining the necessary revenue management tools and processes that you need for survival.
When you equip yourself with the right tools, processes and people for strategic revenue management success, you can successfully stave off the exhaustion in the workplace and come out of any current apocalypse relatively unscathed – and finally feel human again.
Acting like a zombie is a fun experience in the spirit of Halloween, but let’s face it, no one wants to walk around in shambles all year long.