The Revenue & Marketing Playbook
Your Budgeting Forecast for This Season
So you want to optimize your budget this season? Then, you’ve come to the right place!
But first, what is Hotel Revenue Optimization?
Hotel Revenue optimization is the process of adjusting room rates, distribution, and inventory strategies based on demand patterns to maximize the hotel’s income. This is accomplished by examining booking behavior, market trends, and using dynamic pricing, forecasting, and segmentation. Through this process, we can increase revenue per available room (RevPar… Sound familiar?)
What is Revenue Management?
Revenue Management relies on booking patterns and stay lengths to drive revenue. While Revenue Optimization includes data from rooms, F&B, spa, and upsells, management controls the occupancy and drives RevPAR.
Weather Report (But Instead It’s Our Budgeting Forecast!)
The theme for this budget season is “cautious optimism.” We’ve seen dips in leisure travel but an increase in business bookings. Here’s our advice:
Data Driven Analysis - Think of building the budget from the ground up by analyzing trends in segment data, booking channel, and rate tier. This means layering historical data with forward-looking indicators like current booking pace, competitor pricing intelligence (from tools like STR), and identified demand generators in our market.
No More Static Budget - Model a budget for multiple scenarios. What if group demand lightens up during the holiday season? What if leisure travel increases? Prepare to pivot.
Total Integration - Modern budgets look beyond rooms. Integrate projections for F&B, spa, and ancillary revenue streams to obtain the comprehensive view of Total Revenue Per Available Room (TRevPAR).
The goal is to create a living, breathing budget that serves as a strategic roadmap, not just a financial document.
How We Let Revenue Management Impacts Our Marketing Strategy
Revenue Management and marketing are not separate functions. They function as the “left” and “right” brains of your plan. One sets the strategy and price; the other drives the demand. Here’s how we align them:
Dynamic Creation - We transform RM insights into immersive guest experiences that create memorable experiences. For example, last year, we had an “Elf on the Shelf” Christmas activation at one of our hotels. Guests were encouraged to find the hidden elf and share creative photos, driving social media engagement and direct bookings with a prize that incentivized a future stay. This tactic turned a typically slower period into a high-demand, high-ADR event.
Content that Converts - Every piece we produce serves a strategic purpose. When your guests visit your social platforms, they should be able to experience the rooms in real-time and find answers to their questions. They experience a clear path to their ideal stay, which translates into higher conversion rates.
When Revenue Management and marketing work together, the hotel wins. The powerful relationship between RM and marketing moves us from simply selling rooms to strategically increasing revenue and building a resilient brand.
Ready to Transform Your Marketing Strategy?
Schedule a call with us, and let’s explore how we can align your marketing goals with your revenue strategy.
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