You’ve probably noticed it, too – the increased trend toward clustering revenue management positions. If you do it right, as a Cluster Revenue Manager, it can help you manage costs, increase efficiency and boost revenue.
But it comes with its own set of challenges which are mainly related to time constraints and access to high-quality, accurate data.
If you cluster three separately managed hotels, a single revenue manager will find it hard to do the same level of work for each property that three people did before. The amount of internal, market and competitor data that needs to be processed would simply be too much for one person to handle.
But that’s not the only challenge a cluster revenue manager faces.
Below, we take a look at five common issues they deal with and which simple solution can help you avoid these problems, so all your hotels can maximize their revenue potential.
1. Managing high data volumes for several hotels
The most time-consuming part of many revenue managers’ jobs today is data collection and processing. Because of it, a lot of time goes by before you can get to your ‘real’ work – forming strategies and making pricing decisions. Even if you’re only looking after a single hotel, this can be challenging, especially if you’re operating in a dynamic market.
So, what happens when you suddenly have several properties to manage as a Cluster Revenue Manager? Data quality or the amount of data you can collect will suffer. As a result, decisions will not be as well-informed or strategic as they could have been.
Instead of cutting back on the quality or quantity of data you work with, let a system handle data processing for you. Today, modern RMSs can collect and present all your hotel’s information in real time, 24/7.
Atomize is the perfect example for that. It presents KPIs like RevPAR, ADR, revenue, and occupancy for all properties in your cluster right on the dashboard. Scroll down a bit to see the latest pick-up data for each hotel. No more manual reporting needed! Instead, you can get straight to work strategizing.
2. Keeping a detailed performance overview of all properties
Access to your various hotels’ KPIs is an important first step. But what about comparing their performance?
If you have separate reports, spreadsheets or systems for each property that quickly becomes extremely complicated and time-consuming.
If your cluster includes different brands which have varying revenue potential that adds an extra challenge. The same applies if your portfolio spans countries with different currencies. Manually converting everything into the same denomination isn’t easy.
Again, your RMS can give you a hand. A system like Atomize offers a comparison of all hotels right in your dashboard. In a few clicks, you can filter by brand or region to drill down on the specific sets of properties you want to look at. And of course, you can choose which currency you want to view all the results in. This helps you understand each property individually and as part of your portfolio.
On top of that, it highlights which property has the greatest need for improvement right now, so you can focus your attention on the right hotels.
“With the Atomize multi-property dashboard I get a clear picture of how each property, brand, and region is performing and it helps us to identify revenue opportunities and which properties need action first,” says Eric Bergsten, Senior Revenue Manager at CIC Hospitality. This company has been using Atomize to manage all of its 20+ hotels.
3. Developing a customized strategy and implementing live rate updates at each property
Each hotel is different and needs a unique revenue management approach. That can be difficult to do, if your cluster revenue manager is bogged down by busy work like data collection and collation for all their properties.
In this scenario, it may be tempting to apply a blanket strategy with minimal customizations to save time. While it’s often the only option, this also results in lost revenue opportunities.
Solve this challenge with an RMS that provides all needed information automatically and in an easy-to-read format. This leaves time for you to look at each property individually and make the best decisions based on the current situation in its market.
Atomize adds an invaluable bonus to this. On top of providing live data insights, the system can automatically adjust your hotels’ rates as needed in real time. That saves you even more time and ensures you realize every revenue opportunity that comes your way.
“Atomize is a powerful solution combining artificial intelligence, pricing mechanisms, and real-time price optimization that has greatly benefited our hotels and supported our growth,” Eric goes on to say. “It has generated fantastic results for us. All of our properties run on full-price automation which means we save vast amounts of time; a working day per week, in other words, 30+ hours per month.”
Additionally, CIC Hospitality has managed to increase its portfolio’s overall RevPAR by 13% since implementing Atomize. Given results like these, it’s no wonder that more and more groups are implementing RMS with multi-property capabilities to manage their entire portfolio in one place.
4. Breaking down communication silos
For clusters to work, revenue, sales and marketing teams need to collaborate even more closely. Everyone working on their own agenda will not bring good results here. Instead, it’s critical to share data, set cross-departmental objectives and develop action plans for how to achieve them together.
For this, leverage an RMS and business intelligence tool that’s easy to use and provides relevant information for all commercial departments. Atomize offers property data that’s useful for them all such as pick-up figures, forecasts, and thanks to the partnership with OTA Insight, future demand insights. The latter is especially helpful for sales and marketing to identify target audiences they want to target with special campaigns.
5. Logging in and out of systems repeatedly
This point may seem like a small thing to someone who doesn’t have to do it multiple times a day. But logging in and out of an RMS and similar systems each time you want to view a separate property is a hassle and the time it costs quickly adds up.
Your life will become much easier once you use a modern system that lets you toggle between the properties you manage in two clicks, without any extra sign-ins. This saves you time, frustration and makes your whole workflow smoother.
Going through these challenges that cluster revenue managers face, you probably recognized several of them from your own experience. And many other hoteliers have felt the same.
As more revenue service providers and hotel groups decide to create cluster roles for increased efficiency, they realize the need for a powerful multi-property RMS.
Ligula Hospitality is the best example. In order to maximize their portfolio’s potential, they implemented Atomize at 45 properties across six different brands in November 2021. Since then, they’ve seen great results both in terms of KPI growth and improved efficiency.
“Our team was impressed by the fully automated yielding performance that Atomize delivered during the benchmark period. Atomize is a next-gen RMS solution and we feel confident that the application will help us grow by increasing our revenues, and at the same time increase the overall operational efficiency for our staff”, says Fredrik Ternsjö, Head of Revenue, Distribution & Systems at Ligula Hospitality Group.
You can achieve similar results at your property with Atomize’s multi-property features. Book a demo now to see how it makes managing several hotels easier than you could ever imagine!
