There are remarkable things happening across our industry with some property groups and industry sectors citing record results and attributing much of their success to revenue management.

This is really pleasing to see, with the desire for travel increasing dramatically and the thirst for revenue management knowledge to optimise this demand is exploding!

Results are still patchy across the broader industry; however, the forward indicators are pleasingly positive. While we are optimistic about the future, we must remain attentive to global events and changes that may impact consumer demand and purchasing behaviour.

This places an even greater emphasis on the importance of insights derived from data, employee skill development, increasing the value ladder of your business and ensuring internal communication lines are actively engaged to pivot strategies quickly when and where needed.

Risks can emerge where there are inconsistencies, inefficiencies, inaccuracies, and instability. Summarised below are some areas of focus –

  1. The relative size of the short-term booking window remains a strong trend across the APAC region and is a fantastic window of opportunity if managed correctly. The confidence to avoid inappropriate decision-making can only come from data-driven insights and real-world market observations.
  2. The ability to leverage additional revenue and capture willingness to pay along the booking cycle are terms frequently used in industry discussions, and the concept of upselling has been a strategy used for an exceptionally long time. Ensuring consistency with upselling is critical, as is the need to incorporate a retailer’s mindset and focus on attribute-based selling techniques as much as possible.
  3. Recent years have forced new ways to use your assets to generate revenue for both guests and the local community. I challenge operators to think about how they can capture willingness to pay as much as possible before and during a guests stay, regardless of the channel used by the guest in booking. For example, this may be in the form of allowing future guests to register an account and start shopping to curate their stay before their arrival.
  4. The value of time is a critically important measure but is challenging to capture and exploit across food and beverage outlets where the focus has been on the meal as opposed to a period of time at a table. In recent times forced caps on customer numbers required a greater focus on and thirst for revenue generation and optimisation strategies across food and beverage outlets. It is imperative this focus continues, whilst continuing to navigate the challenges such as poor data quality, staffing levels and the supply chain.
  5. Demand for skilled revenue management professionals is increasing across industry sectors as they possess broad skills that encompass many commercial pillars. Those that are also excellent people leaders and communicators, should have an equal seat at the executive leadership table. Commercial leaders with a portfolio of asset optimisation responsibility (with a remuneration to match) is trending across the region.

ARMA supports the industry with professional certifications from beginner to master in this important discipline and will again host the APAC Revenue Management Summit in May 2023.

ARMA has also launched a new division, “The Institute of Revenue Management, Centre of Excellence,” which supports academia and will also be hosting The Global Revenue Management Student Symposium & Student Challenge in 2023. This initiative supports the further development of our future RM executives and ensures a pipeline of interest and highly skilled talent remains for this important commercial discipline within our industry.

Contact – Melissa Kalan info@revenuemanagement.com.au