44 Edition 2020

14
44th | Vol 29 | 2020 | www.hotelier-indonesia.com
5
WAYS
As we move into the new year and
the new decade, any Indonesian
based hotelier without an automated
revenue management system is operating
at a severe disadvantage. In a competitive
operating environment, like Bali, where
every pricing decision and booking control
counts, all hotels need to ensure that they
are maximising their revenue opportunities
while minimising operational costs and
attracting the right guests at the right rates.
While revenue
management is not a
new industry practice
by any means,
it is not always
fully understood
or appreciated by
property owners.
YOUR HOTEL WILL BENEFIT
FROM AN RMS IN 2020 .
Written by - Rachel Grier, Area Vice President, Asia Pacific for IDeaS
So how can a Revenue
Management System
(RMS) add tangible
value and bring
defined business
benefits to Indonesian
hotels in 2020?
GROW YOUR PROPERTY
REVENUES
In the past, manual-based revenue management
approaches have looked at a
hotel’s booking history and current activity
levels to forecast demand.
During periods of high demand, revenue
managers would increase rates. When
demand is low, they would discount them,
thereby generating best-case revenue
under both scenarios. However, in 2020,
forecasting, inventory controls and pricing
decisions will rarely be this simple.
The reality is that today, amid heavy reliance
on online travel agents (OTAs) and
flash sales, it’s almost impossible to look
at a hotel’s booking history and identify
trends because the booking patterns
are changing constantly driven by rapid
changes in consumer behaviours.
It is therefore incredibly challenging for
revenue managers to recognise small
changes, which indicate shifts in demand,
and then to react in time to leverage the
opportunity and drive profit. In a highspeed
environment, manually collecting,
evaluating and calculating data via
spreadsheets is not only a tedious process,
it’s also slow and highly susceptible to mistakes
and missed opportunities.
This is where an RMS makes a huge difference
to both the top and bottom line.
Through a series of specialised algorithms
and calculations, an RMS automatically assesses
hotel performance and market demand
and deploys pricing decisions across
the distribution ecosystem accordingly.
Combined with highly visual user dashboards,
an RMS enables team members
across the organisation to quickly understand
future and current market demand
using data at both the market and hotel
level – all of which are vital to both deliver
and grow hotel profitability.
Attract the right business
Not all business is equal. Hotels in Indonesia
need to balance lower-rated, longer
lead time business with higher-rated, short
lead time bookings (which are often business
guests who are more likely to stay
again in the future and have a higher total
guest value).