Proper hotel revenue management involves using distribution strategies and sales channels to the maximum potential. To be able to do this, it is important to use technology solutions that are synchronized properly as well as check offerings from competitors and maintain the best possible customer relationship. The sales channels that are being used should be evaluated regularly and pricing strategies should be adjusted to the existing market conditions. If you wish to manage your hotel online distribution and booking process successfully, it is important to avoid these 5 common mistakes:
- Mismanagement of group bookings
With group reservations, occupancy rates and profits can be raised quickly. But there can possibly be major losses if there is a late cancellation. Naturally, it is important to have an accurate process in place to handle group reservations, ensure secure payments and negotiate cancellation deadlines.
Due to improper group bookings management, many hotels are failing to use other revenue sources and channels to the maximum potential. These days, software tools can also be used for revenue evaluation from group reservations and assist with the pricing of group bookings.
- Opening all booking dates without evaluation of revenue management
Hotel revenue management involves optimization as well as an understanding how the forces of demand and supply work. In this case, a common mistake that hotels make is to open all booking dates without proper analysis of peak / off-peak or festive dates. This mistake might lead to quick selling out of peak dates that are most attractive. Owners might lose the opportunity of optimizing revenues for the most profitable times of the year during peak seasons.
For hotels that mainly earn during peak seasons and experience low room occupancies during the off-seasons, it is important to be especially careful about this aspect.
- Lack of structured price list extension approach
A lot of travellers prefer to plan their holidays in advance and make advance bookings for hotels. Naturally, it is important for hotels to put a pricing strategy in place as well as have an organized price list extension approach. If travellers are given an option of booking their hotel rooms only for the following two to three months, the opportunity to earn revenue for future dates can be lost in the process. In every OTA that hotels work with, it is important to have room and rate availability at least for the next 365 days.
- Not having effective tech synchronization in place
These days, more than ever before, it is important to have the right kind of software solutions in place. Without the use of an omnichannel distribution strategy and new technologies, it is impossible to maximize your hotel’s revenue potential. All the technology systems that you use in your property needs to be synchronized and connected so that you get integrated data for monitoring and action planning.
- Manual data overwriting in OTAs
With a software solution that is synchronized accurately and through making investments in the right technology systems, various reception duties can be automated. It can result in a lot of time and resource-saving for hotels as well as ensure a more efficient hotel reservation management process. Once all the channels have been connected to a hotel channel manager, manually overwriting data in OTAs should be avoided.