Hotel Revenue & Management Blog

Reading the industry press over the last couple of months, I could not help but notice, all the upheaval about the large chains and the mergers and acquisitions happening. After Marriott acquired Starwood the industry is talking about the era of the mega hotel chains.

However, I see actually rather a big opportunity for the independent hotels in the current marketplace. Independent hotels thrive currently and from my experience are outperforming chain hotels in results.

Not long time ago Xotels celebrated 10 years. Ten years of successful business in Hotel Revenue Management, turning our partner Hotels into ‘bestsellers’. We advice, we manage, we calculate, we analyze, we represent, we sell. We evaluate your numbers and drive your revenue, we set up strategies, we push your sales and we improve your marketing strategies. We train your staff, we build your website, we optimize your search engines, we turn your properties into top accommodations.

Reading an online hotel industry news publication this month, I came across a statement that kind of threw me off. An industry veteran I greatly admire was suggesting hotels should consult with OTA for revenue management advice. Of course I probed as to what he really meant by this, as it seemed to me a tip that may lead hoteliers down the wrong path.

When discussing Flash Sales there appears to be a lot of dislike in the hotel industry. The consensus could be summarized as that commissions of such email subscription promotional websites are way too high and discounts required are way too steep. Moreover you will be undercutting your own direct price positioning.

If your hotel runs at 95%+ occupancy each year, I of course might have to agree with you. However if your hotel is distressed or under-performing, you should look for opportunities to generate growth. From a revenue management perspective that is. Because in the end the cost of extra revenue is not extra cost!

Recenctly we asked some of the longtime clients of Xotels this question, the answer was simple, 25% or even more  ...

Meaning that by implementing best practices in revenue management and proven techniques we are delivering at least 25% incremental revenue to hotels.

Over the past years we have writen many articles about pricing strategies and techniques. Just reading up on the topic myself, I thought it would be useful to compile all of them in 1 single page of reference.