By Jean Francois Mourier 
July, 2012

It seems that revenue managers today are obsessed with data. Between historical data, performance data (RevPAR, GOPPAR, NRevPAR, ADR, occupancy, etc.) and the competition’s stats, a revenue manager has piles upon piles of data reports to sift through every day. Talk about data overload!

Even if a revenue manager were to work 24 hours a day, it would be highly unlikely that he/she could actually analyze all of that data effectively… and he/she definitely wouldn’t be able to analyze all the data and then use it to update pricing on an ongoing basis, in real-time. More likely, all that data would result in paralysis by analysis (a.k.a. brain meltdown). So for many revenue managers, the piles keep getting bigger and the data is mostly ignored… simply because of a lack of time.

Data is important… very important. Without the appropriate data, revenue managers would be pricing blindly - sometimes making money, but more often than not, losing money and decreasing a hotel’s overall financial performance. But having data isn’t enough. If you’re not using the data properly (or if you’re ignoring the analysis part altogether), then data is once again useless for revenue management purposes.

But how can revenue managers sift through piles and piles of data reports to find the info that is the most important for their pricing updates?

The answer is simple: technology. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: technology is the only way that revenue managers can effectively collect and analyze data so that they can be more effective in their pricing. Sophisticated revenue management systems are designed to do just that – continuously and in real-time.

Let’s look at a similar industry – the airline industry. They have been using dynamic, automatic pricing software for years to effectively manage rates through the online channel. So now is the time for hotels to get on the tech bandwagon.

Rather that spending hours huddled around piles of reports with the rest of the pricing team, revenue managers can use their RMS to process the data and implement a specific pricing action. Of course, revenue managers will always have the say over what actions are taken by the system but without technology to analyze the data, aren’t you just staying stagnant, basing your decisions on nothing more than speculation?

Put your property’s data to work in your favor. Let’s leave the monotonous, time-consuming data processing to revenue management systems so that revenue managers can focus on the high-level strategic decisions that no computer can process. Here’s to the end of paralysis by analysis!

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Jean Francois Mourier is CEO and Founder of REVPAR GURU, a company that provides hotels around the world with an alternative revenue management software system designed to deliver maximum bookings and profits. As REVPAR GURU's custom-designed Yield Dynamic Price Engine is the only real-time revenue management system available on the market, it meets the rapidly changing needs of hotels in a very demanding business environment. REVPAR GURU’s system offers dynamic rate optimization, real-time pricing, integrated internet and extranet yield channel management and GDS sales distribution, to increase a hotel's RevPAR intelligently and effectively, while maintaining rate integrity and automated rate parity. Since 2004, hotels worldwide have used REVPAR GURU’s software system to increase occupancy and RevPAR. You can reach Jean Francois through www.revparguru.com or by calling 1.786.478.3500.