After analysing the business, it became clear that both a long-term and short-term approach would be required to effectively remedy the property’s revenue downturn.
The Short-Term Approach
This involved a ‘firefighting’ strategy, whereby we had to quickly and effectively boost the property’s revenue with an initial hit to help mitigate the losses they had accumulated from trading behind month-on-month.
Consequently, we:
1. Reassessed the property’s price position in the market, as well as against its competitive set
2. Provided regular reviews of daily room rates
Specifically, this involved the adjustment of room rates on a daily basis, in line with the property’s competitors. This intervention proved to be of significant value, as room rates were previously adjusted off of a static tariff system that was irregularly aligned with current market rates.
The consistent monitoring and adjustment of room rates, enabled the property to extract the most revenue out of rooms as possible, whilst also remaining competitive.
3. Evaluated & Optimised the property’s online presence
The main aspect of this involved optimising the hotel’s online distribution channels, including various travel agencies and booking sites. Specifically, we aimed to boost the property up the rankings of these sites by ensuring that they displayed accurate and enticing images of the property, with up to date property information.
Essentially, we aimed to make the hotel more visible and more attractive online.
The Long Term Approach
The foundation of this approach involved the implementation of an optimised pricing strategy, over the course of 12 months. In doing so, the hotel would maximise their revenue throughout the year, remain competitive within the market and truly optimise their revenue during periods of high demand, like the summer and key events.
To instil a revenue focused culture into the property and business, weekly revenue calls with hotel management and staff were hosted. This ensured that all staff members were on the same page, and aligned with the overarching mission to improve the property’s revenue.
Additionally, daily and weekly revenue reports were published to management, whilst benchmarking tools were implemented to identify short-term opportunities to provide boosts in revenue.
A regular strategic review of day-of-week pricing and restrictions also took place to better capture longer lead-in business, and to maximise customers length-of-stay.
Troubleshooting
Via our systematic approach to troubleshooting, we were able to determine the true cause of their complications. This ensured that only elements of the business that needed adjusting, were adjusted, whilst elements that ran efficiently maintained as normal.