It has been a while since we covered this topic, so I thought it would be good to have another look at forecasting in hotels. With reservation lead time changing in key markets we operate in, it is becoming more challenging to forecast accurately.

And still it is essential to give our operational departments a realistic financial outlook to run the day to day operations of the hotel as cost effective as possible. And also owners and investors need to have insight and the right expectations on the financial performance of their hospitality business.

It has been a few years since Xotels is operating in Italy now. And we wanted to share some of our successes in terms of hotel revenue management strategies with you.

Before entering into the market we were faced with the same hurdles as always. Owners and managers were concerned we did not know the market, and did not have first hand local experience.

Of course as a strategist these concerns are not valid to us, as we analyze demand patterns, performance KPI and and other statistics to optimize a business. And regardless of where it is located, the methodology and best practices of revenue management do not change.

So how did we do? Let me share some case studies of our hotel performance in Italy with you.

It is no news that the vacation rental business has exploded worldwide thanks to the sharing economy. With the industry generating billions and billions of revenue per year, providers for related services have popped up like mushrooms. To be able to separate the wheat from the chaff we have composed a number of basic principles that apply to revenue management for vacation rental business or apartments.

In recent years we have written so many articles with advice on how you can increase your hotel’s revenue. While originally revenue management was restricted only to certain areas, Xotels has been increasingly focusing on total revenue management. Total hotel revenue management includes key methods of improving a hotel’s bottom line by looking at all business areas, including marketing, sales and even concept development. This article provides a collection of over 20 of our most valuable insider tips, which can provide an outstanding platform for you to maximize your hotel’s revenue.

In last year’s article on hotel ancillary revenue we shared insider tips on how to generate extra revenue at your hotel or resort. We explained, among other things, how to upsell and cross-sell your services and how to leverage underutilized areas to increase revenue.

These main strategies will stay relevant during the coming years, but there are now novel ways of increasing revenue per guest too. In this article, we will go into detail about these new methods of using the strategies mentioned previously and discuss other tips and tricks to supercharge your revenue by getting your guests to spend more.

Continuously rethinking revenue management, I have come to the point where I wanted to build a revenue management and pricing solution myself. One of the crucial elements was the recommended pricing. Together with two revenue management teams and technology specialists, we have established a significant list of elements that we wanted to incorporate when it comes down to how we decided on any price for any given day.

The list of elements keeps on expanding and it seems never ending, as we add new elements on a regular basis.

So, if you are thinking of adding new elements in the way you decide on your price strategy, here’s a bunch of ideas to play with.

Over the last few years we have gotten more and more involved in the businesses of our hotel clients. We have seen a clear difference in revenue and profitability in hotels where we got involved at project definition stage vs coming in at pre-opening. There are many key points that increase the revenue potential of a hotel or resort, which architects, designers and investors are overlooking. And we are not talking about pocket change. I estimate the upside by utilizing revenue management insights to be easily 10% to 25% in top line income. Just think about how much this would impact your bottom line profit.