Revenue Management
Strategies, trends and new developments in the revenue management of hotels and resorts, including best practices, new technology and other advances in the battle to grow rate and drive revenue per available room (RevPAR).
Understanding Market First Step to Turnaround
Tom Engel spent the 1980s helping launch brands like Embassy Suites, Crowne Plaza and Hawthorn Suites, then turned his attention to managing the hotel portfolio of AXA Equitable during the 1990s as an executive vice president of its $1.8 billion lodging and leisure group. Engel now often finds himself in between the brand and owner as an asset manager....
Can Room Key Be The Great Equalizer?
While sitting in the lobby of the JW Marriott at LA Live last month, John F. Davis III couldn’t keep his phone quiet. The CEO of Room Key was already a popular man, but now he was getting message after message about what Michael Shannon had just said on stage at the Nokia Theatre during the Americas Lodging Investment Summit. The managing director at KSL Capital ...
Is It Time to Change Hotel Management?
Change can be daunting. But for hotel owners and operators who suspect they’re not getting the most out of their property or properties, change can also be essential. Changing hotel management companies can have a potentially dramatic impact on your day-to-day operations, your long-term prospects and your bottom line. The big question, of course, is whether or not to make a change in the first place. ...
Lodging's Winding Road to Recovery
Vantage Hospitality President & CEO Roger Bloss was watching sports on TV last month when he discovered what might be the perfect metaphor for the hotel industry outlook in 2012. “Instead of football, I was watching a road rally and noticed that sport is a lot like what’s facing the economy and our business...
A Closer Look at the Launch of Room Key
The challenge of answering to six of the largest hotel brand companies who are also his biggest clients doesn’t faze John F. Davis III, the CEO of new hotel search engine Room Key. In fact, he says, it’s much easier than when he started THISCO (The Hotel Industry Switch Company now known as Pegasus Solutions) in 1989 with 16 hotel company board members....
Stash at 164 Independent Hotels and Counting
Stash Hotel Rewards was the perfect combination of Jeff Low’s two areas of expertise. “I know rewards programs,” says the CEO and founder of Stash, “and I’ve always loved independent hotels.” Stash was launched in May 2010 with 65 three- and four-star-rated independent hotels in the U.S. That number is now at 164 after recent and big-name additions like ...
Occupancy During Holidays May Stall, But Rate Won’t
AAA forecasts 42.5 million Americans will travel 50 or more miles during Thanksgiving weekend, a 4% increase from a year ago, and the first significant holiday travel increase of the year. But will those travelers be staying in hotels or with grandma? ...
Boutique Bash: 2011 LBHDC Recap
Richard Millard, who’d probably look like he was having fun at a funeral, wants you. The quirky and always engaging CEO and chairman of Trust Hospitality—Tecton and Desires until recently—ended the opening general session at last month’s Lifestyle/Boutique Hotel Development Conference with an impassioned plea about the allure of the lifestyle and boutique segments of the hotel industry:...
Vendor News Nov. 15, 2011
A roundup of hotel vendor news and notes....
Hotel Data Guru Lomanno Leaves STR to Pursue Passions
If you’ve been to any hotel industry conferences in the past two decades, you probably know Mark Lomanno. He was the guy from Smith Travel Research with the scores and scores of PowerPoint slides, roaming the stage, talking a mile a minute about his favorite subject: the history, current health and future outlook for the hotel industry. Lomanno, who joined the fledgling Smith Travel Research in 1990, left the company at the end of last month to pursue new business passions and, more importantly, to spend time with his family. ...
Best Western Reinforces Its Culture of Family Values
In tough times, families tend to huddle together. And while Best Western has weathered the economic downturn as well or better than many other hotel brands, the membership group chose to emphasize its founding principle of members helping members during its annual conference this week in Orlando....
Digital Distribution: Metasearch, Mobile and More
Doug Carr, executive director of distribution for Fairmont Raffles International, recently discussed the evolving world of digital distribution and the challenges faced by hoteliers. Here are his thoughts on Google, metasearch sites and the way consumers are shopping and booking hotel rooms....
What Hotel Revenue Managers Need to Know About Flash Sales
This past summer was very hot for flash sale sites in travel, with three new sites that launched the first week in June alone (Groupon Getaways, Getaway Lounge, Wego’s Fast Deals). Clearly the biggest headline was the partnership between Groupon and Expedia announced at AllThingsD. The daily deal/coupon distribution niche is entrenching itself deeper with consumers....
Using Online Ratings and Reviews in Revenue Management
The webcentric world of business has brought myriad changes to hotel owners and operators in every area, department and practice. Among these changes is the fact that smaller, independent properties are competing head-to-head with larger properties, as well as with major national and international brands. While this helps level the playing field, it also requires that smaller properties “up the ante” when it comes to pricing and revenue management. ...
New Law Means Lower Debit Card Fees
If your debit-card swipe fees don’t go down after Oct. 1, 2011, you’re paying too much. That’s what Bob Baldwin, president of Heartland Payment Systems, Princeton, NJ, has been telling his customers in recent months. Baldwin’s comments come in the wake of the implementation of the Durbin Amendment, which passed as part of the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill....
OTAs Driving Hotels’ Costs, Business and Conversation
Mark Lomanno joked, somewhat seriously, that online travel agencies contributed 10% of the hotel industry’s business, but led to 80% of the discussion. Lomanno, STR’s chief strategy officer, was moderating a general session at the Hotel Data Conference in Nashville earlier this month when “pre-final” results were unveiled from a distribution channel analysis by STR and the AH&LA....
Still Confident, Lodging Industry Braces for Bumpy Road
While the Dow Jones Industrial average was plummeting a year’s worst 513 points last Thursday, four of the leading industry trackers were center stage at STR’s Hotel Data Conference talking about lodging’s ongoing recovery. Demand, they all agreed, grew faster than expected over the past 18 months and despite some uncertainty about the economy, rate was slowly starting to follow....
The Demise of the Cork Sniffer
When asked to explain the essence of the lodging business, I have a simple answer: It’s part real estate and part retail. A hotel is developed as a real estate investment, but profits generated from the retail component of the business ultimately drive its value, justifying the developer’s initial decision to build and allowing him to develop more product....
