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HSMAI recently honored the 2020 Top 25 Extraordinary Minds in Hospitality Sales, Marketing, and Revenue Optimization — recognizing leaders from hospitality, travel, and tourism organizations for their accomplishments in the preceding 18 months. We’re profiling all of them in an HSMAI Special Report and sharing excerpts, including Rhett Hirko, CRME, Global Vice President of Revenue Optimization Preferred Hotels & Resorts
Rhett Hirko is responsible for supporting revenue activities and working with Sabre to support reservation and distribution needs for all Preferred Hotels & Resorts member properties across the globe. Hirko has practiced revenue optimization for more than 25 years, including the past six at Preferred. Previously, he designed and implemented the single-image inventory reservations process for Hyatt Hotels in North America and oversaw revenue optimization for the company in a regional capacity for seven years. For the next 14 years, he designed the CRS-RM interface and the RM training program and directed the RM process at Hyatt International. He then was transferred to Zurich to head revenue for Hyatt in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Southwest Asia. Hirko majored in hotel and restaurant management at Michigan State University. He lives in Southern California wine country with his spouse and two dogs.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Hirko’s building-block and consensus-building approach has provided benefits to Preferred’s member hotels and to the company at large. He formed a global task force representing corporate sales, leisure sales, marketing, and revenue optimization that led to a 5.2-percent uplift in penetration compared to the competition and 16-percent growth in bookings for the hotels that were part of the task force’s focus.
NOMINATED BY: Michelle Woodley, Preferred Hotels & Resorts — “In his 20-plus years in the industry, Rhett has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to the advancement of revenue management practices and integration within property and corporate environments. Rhett’s passion for hospitality and the revenue management discipline is undeniable by all who encounter him. He is an advocate for education and training and spends time helping others develop and advance.”
RHETT HIRKO ON STAYING MOTIVATED IN 2020: “I’ve always tried to find creative solutions to problems, but so often organizational or cultural barriers have made such solutions difficult for others to receive, much less implement. The pandemic has been transcendent, forcing behavior changes that have allowed creativity to blossom. I’ve been amazed to see people break out of the box they’ve put themselves in and thrive when put to some of the challenges with which they’ve been presented. It’s been hugely motivational, and I can’t wait to see once business returns to a degree of normalcy how our adaptations will impact our organization.”