Anyone with the job of revenue management in the hospitality industry understands how hectic the job can be. However, this can almost be done on autopilot with the right revenue management tools.
Revenue management software automates certain tasks that would take too long to perform manually. This ends up making the job of a revenue manager much simpler, allowing them to dedicate more time to other areas of the hotel.
If you’re in the hospitality business, it’s important to be aware of the best revenue management software. The following article contains information about the best revenue management tools in hotels.
What Makes Revenue Management Tools so Important?
A revenue manager in the hospitality industry has a busy job. One of the most critical tasks of this position is developing and implementing new strategies to maximize revenue for a hotel.
When a revenue manager manually breaks down reservations, competition, rates, and customers’ habits, it takes time away from formulating new plans that lead to increased profits. Having efficient hotel revenue management solutions means more time spent brainstorming and doing what they do best – planning for a better bottom line.
To put it simply, the more time the revenue manager has away from manually tracking data and crunching numbers, the higher the odds you have of maximizing your revenue. Using a combination of the right technical tools will streamline all of the necessary data you need to get ahead of the game.
Each of the following types of revenue management software makes the manager’s job easier in one way or another. We consider these to be the top four hotel yield management tools.
1. PMS
No, we’re not talking about a generic performance management system. This specific PMS is a property management system for the hospitality industry. This revenue management software is one of the most essential tools for hotel success.
This tool makes the workflow much easier for your front desk. Having the right PMS will lead to a fantastic guest experience, which pays dividends for loyalty. One of the most significant highlights of this revenue management system is the fact that it efficiently integrates with other tools and systems.
Integrating your PMS means all of the information regarding bookings, cancelations, and price changes on your website or direct phone contact is updated automatically. This information is readily available on other platforms when your PMS is integrated with other technical tools.
2. Booking Engine
This revenue management system handles information regarding the direct point of sale. Booking engines handle international reservations efficiently. Because of what this tool does, it could be the smartest revenue management system on the market.
Not only do they process payments without the need for human interaction, they automatically convert currency and translate booking information. More importantly, most booking engines can integrate with PMS and other tools.
When integration takes place with PMS and channel management, availability is updated automatically. This means that unavailable rooms aren’t sold, leading to less confusion and customers being turned away with no room because of errors.
This hotel revenue management system can also be connected to pricing tools, so rates on OTAs are monitored, along with rates on the hotel website for direct bookings.
3. Channel Manager
A channel manager provides revenue management solutions that manage inventory on all reservation channels from one single interface. This eliminates the need to sign on to multiple reservation portals to adjust and monitor online prices and availability. Additionally, everything on this one single interface updates in real-time, allowing you to keep up with sales and price adjustments efficiently.
The grouped inventory model allows all online inventory to be sold at once without taking the chance of overbooking. All OTAs are updated as soon as a room is reserved, so unavailable rooms are never sold.
Integrating your channel manager with your PMS also incorporates your direct channel. This means when a guest books by phone or directly on your website, the information is also updated automatically on online reservation channels. Talk about a hotel revenue management software that does it all.
Having the right channel manager means online distribution is streamlined overall combinations of channels. You’ll also be able to adjust the settings to create a more efficient distribution portfolio. This hotel revenue management system monitors bookings, cancellations, and other available information and updates in real-time so you don’t have to.
4. Rate Shopper
One of the most important functions of a revenue management system is paying attention to competitors’ prices. This is the benefit you get when you have a rate shopper tool.
Using a rate shopper means you can find out the rates of your rivals in real-time, as well as their most recent available prices from all channels at the same time. You can click on any selected date and generate instant results for that date specifically.
Not only does this allow you to adjust your rates accordingly in real-time, but you can also monitor your trends against the pricing trends of the competition. This type of data is priceless when it comes to the hospitality industry.
The Value of the Right Management System
Having the right tools in the hospitality industry for revenue management accomplishes multiple goals for your organization. First, it allows additional time for your revenue manager to be more creative. Extra attention toward new revenue strategies ends up paying huge dividends for your hotel at the end of the day.
Additionally, having the ability to integrate multiple tools makes updating availability and pricing across all channels incredibly easy. These tools accomplish this in minutes, which could take hours from a manual standpoint. Having the benefit of working smarter and not harder in the hospitality industry should never be ignored.
Multiple departments and an infinite number of elements and variables can make things overwhelming. However, you can eliminate a great deal of stress with technological tools on your side.
Take Advantage
Despite all of the previously mentioned advantages, perhaps one of the most important benefits of hotel revenue management software is the ability to monitor the competition. Keeping up with the rates of your rivals and analyzing their historical data in correlation to yours is critical.
Having access to this data is a game-changer. Not only does this provide real-time benefits, but it also boosts your forecasting strategy by taking advantage of your historical data and the competition.
Hotelogix Rate Shopper is one of the best tools on the market to analyze the rates and historical data of the competition. This is one tool of many that we provide to increase your revenue. Contact one of our representatives for more information on Rate Shopper and other fantastic tools we have available.