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By Kaitlin Dunn, Writer, Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI)
Throughout the pandemic, hoteliers have found themselves relying on revenue optimization more than ever — and in new and innovative ways. With that in mind, HSMAI is offering its first Hotel Revenue Optimization Essentials Series from Sept. 2 to Oct. 7 for any hospitality professional interested in diving deeper into the field. Timothy Wiersma, CRME, founder and principal at Revenue Generation LLC, will facilitate the six-week course, which includes instructor led-discussion as well as self-paced activities.
Wiersma, who also chairs HSMAI’s Revenue Optimization Advisory Board, has been in the hospitality industry for decades, serving through 9/11 and the 2008 financial crisis, and working with nearly every major brand in North America. “If hotels and hotel companies are going to survive and thrive in today’s environment, they need to take advantage of all that is out there, especially in regard to revenue optimization,” Wiersma said. “It’s a unique environment right now. Even when hotels are running below 50-percent occupancy, there are still opportunities they need to be aware of and take advantage of.”
The course both begins and ends with a simulation in which students have to decide on accepting or rejecting various scenarios given the data in front of them. Doing the simulator twice allows students to see how much they’ve learned in the six-weeks and put their newly-gained knowledge to work. “It’s important to gauge their critical thinking with all of the information they will be learning,” Wiersma said.
Seasoned revenue professionals can take the course as a refresher, but for newer professionals, it also can serve as a steppingstone to the Certified Revenue Management Executive (CRME) credential, as it’s designed around Evolving Dynamics, the CRME study guide. Topics covered include optimal competitive sets, understanding micro vs. macro environments, maintaining and disseminating an effective forecast, looking at key metrics, finding different streams of revenue, and the role of data analytics in revenue optimization.
“All of this is crucial to learn,” Wiersma said. “For example, you could easily make some poor decisions if you have a narrow focus on a small competitive set when there are a lot of important dynamics happening at a regional level.”
The course isn’t just for revenue professionals—and neither is revenue optimization, which intersects with most of hospitality’s other disciplines. “As the industry moves toward commercial strategy, this course will help tie all of the disciplines together,” Wiersma said. “So, it is just as important for anyone in sales or marketing as well as general managers and corporate-level operations folks to really understand the discipline of revenue optimization.”
Learn more about HSMAI’s Hotel Revenue Optimization Essentials Series.