But revenue managers aren’t alone in reaping the rich rewards of innovative revenue management technology. Today’s technology has also encouraged another group of team members to start swimming in the same revenue direction as their revenue manager counterparts: the hotel sales team. Group pricing technology has quickly emerged as one of the most powerful sales tools in the proverbial toolbox.
The group pricing capabilities of advanced revenue management systems go well beyond the limited functionalities of other revenue systems, and they give sales managers the insights they need to capture the most profitable group business. Group displacement evaluations allow sales managers to weigh potential group business across multiple dates, understanding the financial impacts of accepting a group over periods of high or low transient demand. This allows the sales manager to identify if accepting a potential group will make the hotel money, or if it will end up costing the hotel money to take the business.
Strong RMS group pricing modules provide far more than forecast comparisons; these powerful evaluations consider and assess group costs and commissions, conference and banqueting, ancillary spend and profits, group rates and displaced transient revenue. Their reports and graphs give sales managers the confidence to recommend the best rate by arrival date and intelligently consult with flexible groups on optimal date ranges. They also provide granular insights on displacement revenue and additional revenue streams, profit margins and profit per room night in “real-time.”
These are some of the high-powered tools giving sales managers the confidence and insights they need to make profitable group rate recommendations quickly and accurately. And in today’s extremely competitive markets, increased guest response times and services are fundamental to a hotel’s success.
These tools deliver valuable interdepartmental benefits as well. Powerful evaluations have begun replacing daily revenue meetings that required time-consuming manual group assessments. Detailed profit reports and evaluations have empowered the sales team to quickly qualify business on the spot with both clients and their leadership team. Revenue managers can access all relevant group business information directly from the system, which frees up the time sales managers had to previously spend consolidating and reporting group information.
Group sales members are not only confidently basking in their strengthened job performance, but their revenue management technology nets them a victory in increasing overall productivity. Time previously spent in meetings can now be used to prospect new clients or hit the road on lucrative sales calls.
One hotel team member, leveraging powerful revenue management technology, is extremely influential. But a group of hotel team members leveraging it makes for an even bigger profit party.
