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By Robert A. Gilbert, CHME, CHBA, President and CEO, Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI)
When HSMAI regions around the world present ROC@Home on June 17, it will represent the hospitality industry’s latest — and biggest — step along the path to revenue strategy and recovery. As explained in Evolving Dynamics: From Revenue Management to Revenue Strategy, HSMAI’s official study guide for the CRME certification, revenue strategy is “a longer-term, comprehensive, holistic approach to driving profitability of the enterprise that is dependent on the collective and interdependent efforts of the equally important disciplines of revenue optimization, sales, marketing, distribution, and analytics.”
As part of the ROC@Home Toolkit, we asked hotel company CEOs from around the globe to share their advice specially for HSMAI and for revenue leaders as they help guide the industry toward recovery — and “comprehensive” and “holistic” certainly describe a lot of what they had to say. Here are excerpts from several of our contributing CEOs:
Guy Hutchinson, president and CEO, Rotana Hotel Management Corporation: “Be human, be flexible, and really listen. This is not the time for gatekeepers. We must actively own and drive every opportunity we have to stimulate business and travel.”
David Kong, president and CEO, BWH Hotel Group: “Who are these people coming to our hotels last minute? Why are they coming to our hotels? These are the kinds of questions we need to ask ourselves. As well, we have to understand not only where they’re from or why they are there, but rather how they’re booking their reservations.”
Chris Nassetta, president and CEO, Hilton: “As we work toward recovery, I would encourage revenue leaders to focus on uncovering and capturing the demand that does exist. It’s also important to remember that markets will recover at different times and paces, so you want to have strategies that can be easily adapted to the needs of the individual market.”
Torgeir Silseth, president and CEO, Nordic Choice Hotels: “Stand by your values in a time like this. Your values define you. They define your company, and they will guide you as a compass in the right direction in a storm like this.”
Arne Sorenson, president and CEO, Marriott International: “There’s no question we need each other now more than ever — for encouragement, for inspiration, and for consensus on setting industry standards.”
Michelle Woodley, president, Preferred Hotels & Resorts: “I believe we all need to stay focused on medium- and long-term objectives while employing short-term strategies that do not conflict with the overall positioning and reputation of your hotel.”
Even before the coronavirus crisis, HSMAI was committed to revenue strategy as an integral part of our industry’s future. But having watched COVID-19 disrupt hospitality to an unprecedented degree, we’re more convinced than ever. That’s why, in addition to offering a daylong experience for revenue recovery, ROC@Home is designed to go well beyond that. Among other things, each of HSMAI’s regions — Americas, Europe, Middle East, and Asia Pacific — will feature an economic forecast presented live by a regional expert, with insights that cross not just geographic boundaries but departmental ones.
Recovery is on its way. ROC@Home will be a part of it—and so will revenue strategy.
Learn more about HSMAI’s global ROC@Home program.