Professional Studies (PS)

Formation professionnelle

Revenue Management
or How to improve your net income

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The courses focus on several high-impact drivers for maximizing revenue: forecasting and availability controls, pricing and distribution channel management, overbooking and group management, and non-traditional revenue management applications. Each course explores a topic in depth, with particular emphasis on the role of strategy in effective revenue management and the practical application of tools and techniques in the hospitality setting.

Introduction to Hotel Revenue Management

Implementing a revenue management strategy can be one of the most important revenue-generating initiatives available to a hotel, significantly increasing room revenue and profits. This course provides an overview of revenue management applications to the hotel industry designed to inspire a strategic shift to managing revenue per available room (RevPAR).

Revenue management is a systematic process designed to increase revenue by selling the right room to the right person at the right time for the right price. In addition to evaluating different pricing models and applying duration-management strategies, this course provides a foundation for more advanced revenue management courses in forecasting, group management and overbooking, pricing strategy, and application of revenue management techniques to other hospitality-related industries including spas and athletic facilities.

Participants who complete this course will be able to:

• Describe hotel revenue management and its benefits to the organization
• Discuss the strategic levers of hotel revenue management and how they can be manipulated to increase revenue
• Describe hotel revenue management in terms of its component parts and critical considerations
• Recommend non-traditional ways in which revenue management techniques can be applied to increase revenue in the hospitality industry

Forecasting & Availability Controls in Hotel Revenue Management

All successful revenue management strategies are based on the ability to forecast demand accurately and control room availability and length of stay.

This course explores the role of the forecast in a comprehensive revenue management strategy, including the selection of the best type of forecast and the impact of forecasting on other functions such as labor scheduling and purchasing. It presents a step-by-step approach to the mechanics of creating an accurate forecast. Participants learn how to build booking curves; account for “pick-up”; segment demand by market, group, and channel; and calculate error and account for its impact. The course also explores the impact of availability controls, including length-of-stay management, on revenue management and how they can be leveraged.

Participants use Microsoft Excel to practice forecasting and availability control techniques.

Participants who complete this course will be able to:

• Explain the role of forecasting in hotel revenue management
• Create a forecast and measure its accuracy
• Apply length-of-stay controls to their hotel
• Manage availability and make rate recommendations based on demand patterns

Pricing Strategy and Distribution Channels in Hotel Revenue Management

Pricing is one of the most powerful tools a hotel can use to increase revenue. This course teaches you how to set the right prices, develop rate fences (differentiate prices by customer type), and use multiple distribution channels to manage price more effectively. You’ll learn about the impact of variable pricing and discounting on revenue management in the context of price elasticity, optimal price mix, perceived fairness, and congruence with positioning and sales strategies.

Channel management is an essential tool for controlling differentiated pricing, maintaining rate fences, and increasing revenue. You’ll explore various approaches to managing distribution channels including direct sales, agencies, the Internet, and opaque pricing channels.

Finally, discussions of best practices and industry case studies help you extend and contextualize your learning experience.

Participants use Microsoft Excel to practice pricing and distribution-channel-management techniques.

Participants who complete this course will be able to:

• Use variable pricing strategies to increase revenue
• Develop effective rate fences
• Manage prices using distribution channels

Overbooking Practices in Hotel Revenue Management

Businesses that accept reservations must cope with the problem of no-shows: customers who make a reservation but fail to honor it. Hotels can protect themselves against revenue lost from no-shows and generate increased revenue by overbooking. This course teaches you how to strategically overbook and how to manage issues associated with overbooking, as well as how to evaluate groups and determine which rates to charge.

This course explores the components of a successful overbooking strategy including no-show forecasting, no-show rates, arrival uncertainty, pricing policies, and cancellation forecasts. It explores the risks of overbooking and presents strategies to minimize costs and mitigate customer impact.

To fully realize your property’s revenue potential, you must be able to manage group reservations. This course teaches you how to create a group forecast and explores yieldable and non-yieldable business and incremental group costs and revenue opportunities. It introduces models to calculate displacement costs and contribution margins to determine which groups are most profitable.

Participants who complete this course will be able to:

• Develop an overbooking approach
• Manage issues associated with overbooking
• Evaluate groups
• Determine appropriate group rates

Non-Traditional Applications of Hotel Revenue Management

Revenue management can be applied to any industry with relatively fixed capacity, time-variable demand, and perishable inventory. This course teaches you how to apply revenue management concepts and practices to hospitality-related industries such as restaurants, meeting spaces, spas, and golf facilities. You’ll learn a step-by-step process to develop, implement, and monitor a revenue management strategy to maximize top-line revenue.

Participants who complete this course will be able to:

• Refine the practice of revenue management to include other aspects of the hotel industry
• Extend the practice of revenue management to other industries
• Lead a revenue management effort, from gathering baseline data to monitoring results post-implementation