Patrick Landman

Capturing hotel guest data and information including email addresses and other contact details has become a fundamental part of any successful hotel management strategy. Central to a winning strategy is an intelligent, modern email marketing approach. Even with the rise of social media and other digital communication channels, email remains the channel of reference for hotels to build a well-rounded distribution strategy, drive direct sales, issue special offers, and promote online reputation management.

For many people, starting their own boutique hotel or luxury bed and breakfast is like a dream. Most are drawn by the charm of hospitality and see it as a chance to start a new beginning. But opening a hotel business , just like any new company, is more difficult than it might seem at first sight.

Particularly if you have never worked in the international hotel industry, you will be faced with many things you might have not considered or imagined before. The hotel business is highly competitive and achieving good financial results is not as easy as it seems.

In my experience at XOTELS – Hotel Revenue Management Consulting in dealing with entrepreneurs and investors, I have found that there is no shortage of creative ideas for innovative hotel concepts. The challenge, however, lies more in the strategic and organizational areas of the business.

The unofficial definition of Revenue Management used by insiders is ‘the art of turning away business’. This certainly does not apply during the current Covid-19 (coronavirus) global healthcare crisis, and the economic downturn the hotel industry is facing in its aftermath. All the standard strategies and playbooks are out of the window right now. So what to do?

It is a question I often hear when explaining what we do at XOTELS-Hotel Revenue Management Consulting. People seem surprised hotels are willing to hand over a vital part of their strategies to a 3rd party. Such a sensitive and key part to the success of your business as revenue management should not be left to an ‘outside’ company many hoteliers respond.

In over ten years of helping hotels to open and remodel successfully as a Hotel Revenue Management Consulting and Hotel Management Company, we have seen time and again at XOTELS how indispensable a hotel feasibility study is.

We have also seen how many would-be hoteliers simply assume that their vision will succeed, without conducting any notable research on building a hotel business that will be consistently profitable and competitive.

In this article we look at the steps involved in carrying out an effective hotel feasibility study and provide practical examples on how to obtain one effectively.

What is the meaning / definition of Last Room Availability (LRA) in the hospitality industry? LRA is short for Last Room Availability. At the contracted rate, an agent can book the last room [...]