Hotel Revenue & Management Blog

In his book Outliers, author Malcolm Gladwell popularized what became known as the 10,000-hour rule, by documenting the lives of successful people such as Bill Gates, Mozart and the Beatles. "Ten thousand hours is the magic number of greatness", he wrote, inspired by the work of Daniel Levitin, the neurologist who scientifically proved that "10,000 hours of practice are required to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert in anything".

The theory is fascinating, though, not always reliable, especially in our field of hotel revenue management and distribution, where adjectives such as disruptive are frequently (over)used and success is measured more on innovation rather than consolidation. A defining factor here is the ability to adapt and evolve!

As CEO of a revenue management consulting and hotel management company that has generated over €190 million in the last year, I can tell you how important it is to control every detail of your business’s finances, both on the revenue and cost side.

Managing hotels isn’t merely about strategy. There are many layers, each of which requires your undivided attention. Hotel Asset Management , Human resources, operations, budgeting, and income and cost control are but a few areas which necessitate focus, as well as the requisite knowledge and skill. But how can you efficiently assess the business areas that generate maximized profits?

Travelling with children is an adventure in itself, and as a hotel manager you venture into it when you host families at your hotel.

Helping parents with the logistics of travelling with their kids is a huge part of the job while simultaneously providing a stay at your hotel that is fun, inspirational and relaxing.

Our role as Xotels has developed over time from revenue management into a full hotel management company, we are now looking way beyond pricing and distribution for hotels. We are actually also developing new hotel concepts, and for this it is important to keep up to date with the latest developments in the hospitality industry.

So by now we should all know that Millennials represent the largest consumer demographic group in the world today. And more importantly for the hotel sector, they love to travel. For these reasons, it is critical to the success of your hotel management strategy to appeal to the millennial market.

What can you do in your hotel or resort to generate additional income? It often sounds easier than it is in reality. We have been brainstorming and have come up with some great hotel management tips to sell extra services. And then there is the next challenge with upselling and cross-selling. There are several extra services to offer in our hotels but how do you know what is most profitable. Which ancillary revenues bring more income while require less effort in terms of investment, time spent and people dedicated?