Author: John Laclé

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Recovery Begins with Outsourced Hotel Revenue Management and Marketing Solutions

OUTSOURCED HOTEL REVENUE MANAGEMENT

The problem is universal – Hotels with limited capital reserves and fixed overhead expenses cannot afford to reengage their revenue generating activities given the low demand in the marketplace.

The terrible impact of Covid on the hotel industry can be best observed with the exceptionally high amount of furloughed teams and hotel closings over this past year. According to the AHLA,  68% of hotels have less than half of their normal full-time staffing levels. Fixed payroll expenses and reduced capital reserves are hindering hotels’ abilities to reopen their revenue-generating activities.

PAY FOR PERFORMANCE HOTEL COMMERCIAL SERVICES

The solution comes in the form of our Pay for Performance revenue and marketing services. With this business model, hotels benefit by receiving expert revenue and marketing support services, paying a percentage only for the revenues generated by Key Hotels. The hotel does not incur fixed Sales & Marketing payroll expenses or any other general marketing expenses including promotions, digital marketing, photography, revenue management systems, etc.

MITIGATE FINANCIAL RISK

With our Pay for Performance solutions, hotels mitigate their financial risk. Should the hotel close its doors once again due to Covid, the hotel’s financial exposure would be limited to the revenues it receives. Sales Department expenses are absorbed by Key.

ELEVATE TOP-LINE HOTEL PERFORMANCE

Our hotels benefit with elevated RevPAR performance from our powerful revenue management platforms.  We offer automated rate setting tools, market demand coefficients, airlift analysis, competitive rate shops, pick-up tracking, predictive demand analysis, and market segmentation & geo-targeted pricing. Complementing this technology, our expert Revenue Team offers weekly market mix performance reporting, monthly rolling forecasts, and annual budgeting & business planning.

EXPERT STRATEGIC HOTEL REVENUE MANAGEMENT

Our hotels benefit from the strategic revenue management leadership offered by our expert revenue management teams, experienced drawn from executive roles with the world’s finest hospitality companies including the Ritz-Carlton, Hilton Worldwide, and Marriott International. Our hotels benefit with elevated RevPAR performance from our powerful revenue management platforms.  

We offer automated rate setting tools, market demand coefficients, airlift analysis, competitive rate shops, pick-up tracking, predictive demand analysis, and market segmentation & geo-targeted pricing. Complementing this technology, our expert Revenue Team offers weekly market mix performance reporting, monthly rolling forecasts, and annual budgeting & business planning.

ECONOMIES OF SCALE

Global Distribution – Our hotels benefit the shared revenue generating solutions provided by Key, elevating the hotel’s top-line performance. Our Team specializes in the worldwide distribution of our hotels’ rates and availability matched with professionally curated digital marketing content, sent everywhere and updated in real-time to thousands of travel accounts around the globe.

Please contact John Laclé, Managing Director for Key Hotels and Resorts for a consultation review . jlacle@keyhotelsandresorts.com.

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Strategic Revenue Management for Hotels & Resorts Post-Covid

August 29, 2020

How should hotels and resorts position themselves in the wake of Covid? It is understandable, expected even, that travelers around the world with pent-up demand to travel will be bargain-shopping. On the other side of the equation. hotels are faced with the inertia of keeping rate integrity intact for the better of the hotel, destination and industry.

A recent trend we are seeing in key destinations in the Caribbean is a sharp increase in BAR pricing coupled with extensive discounts approaching 50% for advanced purchase non-refundable rates netting cost-neutral pricing. A recent market shop of hotels in Aruba will support this observation. Though the premise of doing so can be justified with the need to boost short-term cash flows, another thought is to be first-to-market to capture the attention of bargain-hunters. If this continues, we can be sure to see more hotels follow this model, dramatically increasing BAR rates in the marketplace with deep discounts added, counter-intuitive to previous demand interruptions.

A recent STR presentation indicates China now has a 67% occupancy, compared to 40% two months ago. This is encouraging news for the rest of the hospitality world as we gradually recover.

Another observation from the STR presentation indicates leisure travel will return first with group and corporate travel much later. For hotels in the Caribbean, we are witnessing this gradual increase in leisure travel, though much slower than other areas of the world. In addition, travelers are booking with much shorter booking windows. Hotels revenue management departments, whom most reliably have had their focus on 120-day booking windows in the past, will focus greater attention to this period leaving the opportunity to capture longer period demand. The booking window post 120-days is a blue ocean of opportunity.

Key Hotels & Resorts – Key Commercial Services Team