Author: Khristina Ridge, Group Revenue Manager JMK Group
This week saw the 3rd edition of Revenue Hacks organised by Rita Varga from Women in Hospitality and Travel Tech. Each week Ally Northfield, Benedicte Ollagnon,Berangere Brohan, Susanne Williams, Olga Sommer and myself discuss what can revenue managers do now to ready themselves to reopen in a few short weeks!
This was a topic close to all our hearts. It goes without saying while you are off, make sure you get a handover or update on day 1, so that you know where you start from and not just the thousand emails that sit waiting.
We have made a checklist of our priority items and what we believe will help going into Day
1.Budgeting- how do we approach it
We are going into zero-day budgeting which means for many of us we have no business on the books. This will create a dilemma for some when it comes to creating new budgets or KPI’s but here are our top tips:
Segmentation – allows you to see what areas of the business are doing better than others and set a strategy.
Cancellations- do you know how much you lost? If not set up an excel doc and track per day of week, week or by market segment. Trust us this will help in the future with planning.
Occupancies- remember occupancy will be low for the first few months, so do not be overzealous.
Cost of Sale- you will need consider the new higher fees on housekeeping, commissions, sanitation, allocations. It is all about profitability.
Look at PPC and SEO costs with sales, we can’t just stop doing marketing. Find cheaper alternatives or change the keywords.
Have your base rate set, know the lowest rate you can sell a room to break even.
2. Segmentation- What now?
Now is the time if you have not had segmentation in the past or issues to fix them.
More than likely in the last 90 days your market mix has changed so you may need to adjust your segments
Are your rates mapped to the correct segments? If not now is the time to fix all issues in your PMS
Create a strategy or evolve on a strategy per segment, we all know corporate will be slower than leisure.
3. OTA and Website content
Get your content and images up to date on all platforms.
Look at each channel and its acquisition cost and performance.
Focus on driving business through your direct channels by ensuring you have up to date info on cleanliness and safety missions you have in place, as direct channels will have a better handle than OTA on this.
Focus on an emotional connection with the guests
Ensure your rates are set in the correct positions
4. Distribution
We have all had a rough 90 days with our “partners” now is the time to look at other avenues with lower acquisition costs such as
Google – get cracking on google digital garage academy! Learn about SEO, CPC and how to drive more direct business. Remember Google’s pricing is always the cheapest price first, so now is time to consider doing a “strikethrough” or set a lower price on brand.com
Facebook- get more engaged with the guest. Drive bookings through a “Book Now” button. Optimization now on social channels is ideal and people are scrolling all day as they are not working. Remember post every day, and relevant, such as “missing x” in a busy city, or create the connection of “this could be you in 60/100 days”
Tripadvisor- update your listing. Relook at your marketing spend on this channel, as it is mainly just a click through to webpages. Check your booking abandonment on your rand.com site for more info. Did you know that 77% off all guests look on TA before they book anything!
5. RFP’s
RFP’s are still happening so be sure you complete them!
Be conscious of corporate send, try to entice the consumer with value adds
Focus will be on hygiene so any awards or certificates you can mention will be important
Look at your current RFPS’s now maybe the time to cut some loose for non-performance and pick up some new clients
6. PMS and RMS
Profiles- have the skeleton team merge profiles
Rates- banish all the old rates you no longer need
Look at room type pricing
Do you have too many room types
Update the RMS with data and knowledge of Covid-19, cancellations and closures so it takes this into account in 2021 for pricing, and for the future demand/ little demand
If you make segment changes, room type changes, room uplift changes remember to reflect them here
Look at your future rates, update the system
Load rates as far out in 2021 as you can. Events have moved, as has groups and other bookings. Be sure you are not losing out on business.
We could talk about this list for hours and it would get longer! If you have any questions, reach out to any of the team and we will be happy to help!
Missed the episode, then catch up below.
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