\'The amount of time being spent on mundane implementation work is ...

Tag : decision implementation
'The amount of time being spent on mundane implementation work isvery high' - Revenue and Pricing Strategies in Travel Special Hoteliers have to take a call between their key resources spendinghours updating several channels manually or to opt for a scenariowhere the implementation of any pricing decision is largelyautomated. The latter frees up these resources to focus on strategicallyimportant issues to enhance a hotel's performance.

So which is the best way to address this?

"I think the situation has improved although there is still a lotof scope for improvement. Irrespective of who implements thepricing and inventory decisions, the amount of time currently beingspent on mundane implementation work is very high. As per a HSMAIsurvey, time spent on implementation by RM managers and Directorsis significantly more than time spent on strategy or customerengagement. I think most RM executives can be more strategic withmore automated reporting and price/inventory implementation," saysChinmai Sharma, Vice President, Revenue Management, Wyndham Hotels.

Sharma, who is scheduled to speak during Revenue and PricingStrategies in Travel conference, to be held as part of the TravelDistribution Summit North America in Las Vegas in October, alsospoke about other critical issues. Excerpts from an interview:

Ritesh Gupta: How do you think the task of a senior RM executiveevolved as of today?

Chinmai Sharma: I think the current generation of RM leadership inthe industry has evolved significantly over the past five to tenyears. The discipline has matured and we now see RM involvementright from the start of project feasibility and product definitionto establishing optimal market mix and the usual demand andcapacity management. The advent of multiple Distribution channelswith their own unique characteristics and costs have made the jobof today's RM executive both more challenging and interesting.Today's RM executives also have an equal say in the Distributionstrategy and Strategic Marketing as resource deployment and ROIhave become more important, especially in today's economicenvironment.

Ritesh Gupta: The increment in the number of distribution channelshas highlighted the significance of channel managers especiallywhen it comes to handling a multitude of manual extranets. How doyou assess the situation today from a hotelier's perspective?

Chinmai Sharma: Channel Management tools definitely help theaverage hotelier to play with multiple distribution platforms whilemaintaining rate and inventory integrity to end consumers. Thebigger chains however probably don't see it as a long term solutionas they have the capability of building direct connectivity withmost major OTAs. I think it's still a great solution for mosthoteliers especially in emerging markets like Europe and APAC wherethe domination of major OTA companies is limited. Some of the otherthings to consider while selecting distribution channels from anhotelier's perspective are customer acquisition costs, geographicspread of the channel, metrics like LOS / Booking window /Seasonality, on site spend of end customer, the 'Billboard' effectand finally if their partner channel can actually help build theirBrand awareness through Mktg Coop and PPC models.

Ritesh Gupta: How can a hotel be prepared for the increasedworkload that comes with having to manually update rates accordingto information being received from multiple channels? How can onebring in efficiency in this regard?

Chinmai Sharma: The channel management tools are crucial inupdating pricing and inventory changes across channels. Thehotelier obviously needs to do a cost benefit analysis of timespent in managing another channel (including accounting, payablesetc) vs. incremental revenue received. Another solution that'shelping hoteliers is content management solutions where they updatecontent and media across multiple channels from a single platform.

Ritesh Gupta: What role do you foresee of a RM partner form ahotelier's perspective, especially in the context of ensuring thatall the various hotel and third party booking systems anddistribution channels are integrated and interfaced so that theinformation seamlessly flows between all systems in a timely andefficient manner?

Chinmai Sharma: The partner providing such a channel managementplatform should be:

" Reliable: Minimum down time, solid infrastructure and up-to-datetechnology. Also responsive to OTA extranet upgrades etc.

" Cost effective: per transaction charge should not be significanton top of the regular costs like OTA margins, GDS fees etc.

" Capable of providing Business Analysis: capable of providingmeaningful reporting (past and forward looking) and also be able toraise flags when booking pace by channel is unsatisfactory.

" Support: responsive tech support and a dedicated account managerhelps.

Ritesh Gupta: How do you assess the development of tools in orderto give hoteliers back the control and provide them with clarity ofwhat is going on with their business?

Chinmai Sharma: I think we have come a long way from the 'whitneyrack' system but as an industry we are still far behind otherservice industries in terms of tools and technology. While thebrands have made significant progress in this area, tools haven'tdeveloped a lot at most small companies and independent hotels.

Ritesh Gupta: How do you measure your performance across variouschannels and streamline your processes to effectively implementrevenue management?

Chinmai Sharma: This is an ongoing process and a ROI calculationacross various channels always helps plan in planning revenue andshare goals for next year. Distribution channel comparison vs.industry norms through benchmarking reports also helps inidentifying opportunities. Measuring performance across channelsconsists of tracking metrics like costs or margins, LOS / Bookingwindow / Seasonality statistics, measuring revenue share from eachchannel and trends over time, impact on net ADR due to varyingchannel mix, measuring booking pace by channel to be able to focuson the right channel and finally making pricing/inventory decisionsto impact the dominant channel at the optimal booking lead time.

Chinmai Sharma and Dan Kowalewski, VP Revenue Strategy and Servicesfrom Wyndham Hotel Group with both be speaking at will be speakingRevenue and Pricing Strategies in Travel conference, 1-2 October,Las Vegas.

For more info on Revenue and Pricing Strategies in Travelconference, to be held as part of the Travel Distribution SummitNorth America, click here: http://events.eyefortravel.com/tdsusa/revenue/agenda.asp

or contact:

Helen Raff ,
VP North America
Email: helen@eyefortravel.com
Tel: +44 (0) 207 375 7582 - UK