Here are five proven strategies to achieving a high market share index for RevPAR and ADR
By Justin Jabara
The responsibility of optimizing a hotel's revenue performance sits squarely on the shoulders of its revenue managers. It's a high-pressure job involving tracking, forecasting, pricing, analyzing availability, and optimizing channel distribution, and the results of this effort can keep managers and owners awake at night if not properly executed. Thankfully for Meyer Jabara Hotels, our revenue managers are sleeping soundly with most of the multi-branded and independent properties in the portfolio achieving 100% market share in revenue per available room.
Because Meyer Jabara Hotels is leading the industry in ADR and RevPAR, we’d like to share with you our secret to success. It stems from employing a highly skilled team of revenue managers who have become an integral part of our operation from the corporate level on down. Yes, our business practices involve optimizing the revenue performance of each asset through all market conditions, but our revenue managers are having a significant impact on bottom line results for our hotels.
Here are five MJH strategies to achieving a high market share index for RevPAR and ADR:
- Personalization: Each revenue manager is responsible for no more than five hotels at any given time vs. the industry norm of 10 to 15 hotels per revenue manager. This allows for a highly detailed review of all aspects of the Revenue Management process. Trying to juggle 10 to 15 properties per revenue manager is cumbersome. In this scenario, only basic revenue management services can be provided because there simply isn’t time to dive any deeper. By capping the number of properties to five per revenue manager, results are achieved much quicker and more strategically.
- Proximity: All revenue managers work from the MJH corporate headquarters in Danbury vs. enabling them to work remotely. This enables revenue managers to interact closely with corporate teams and the company’s on-site Call Center and Group Department. The close proximity also gives revenue managers the ability to work together and use each other as a resource. By requiring that our revenue managers work side by side with corporate executives, our on-site Call Center (which converts 55% of all inbound reservation requests) and the Group Department (which books all inbound social blocks resulting in over 850 contracts a year on behalf of the properties) we are able to lead effective strategy conversations and collectively develop creative ideas for generating incremental revenue.
- Purpose: MJH revenue managers interact daily – often multiple times – with the General Manager and Director of Sales at each property in their territory (by region and by brand) to ensure that rate and occupancy is achieving maximum yield. It’s not uncommon for a revenue manager to be on the phone with a GM at 5:00 a.m. to prepare for the day ahead, and the conversation doesn’t stop there. Our revenue managers look at their individual budgets, and if projections appear to be short in a given month, we join forces to find ways to make up the difference. Together we create marketing, sales, and social media strategies to develop packages and promotions that drive revenues. These synergies enable Meyer Jabara Hotels to lead the industry in revenue performance. In addition, revenue managers have complete ownership of their revenue projections for the hotels they serve. To meet their goals, revenue managers need to forecast accurately. This can only happen when there is continual communications between all departments.
- Preparedness: MJH revenue managers are intimately familiar with the standards and technology requirements of each brand they service, attend ongoing brand training, and follow a Meyer Jabara Hotels learning plan. In addition, they are trained to adapt minute by minute to market changes. Our revenue managers are fully trained on seven different brand yield management platforms and are highly proficient in maximizing outside revenue management tools such as RevPAR index trends via the star report and market intelligence provided by companies like Travel Click. The revenue managers also are actively involved in the proper pricing of all corporate Business Transient Sales accounts and RFP submissions and annual business plan development.
Professionalism: All MJH revenue managers have degrees, most in hospitality, and all are financially savvy and talented in systems navigation (including third-party channel distributors and reservation systems). Our revenue managers don’t just set rates; rather, they are highly involved in the overall operation to make the entire hotel a success. In other words . . . revenue managers are the support center to the field and the lifeline to owners.
If as an owner you are losing sleep over your hotel’s revenue performance, it’s time for a change. You can try to put these strategic practices in to place yourself, or bring in a team of experts who can quickly turn your declining revenues around. Meyer Jabara Hotels is here to help.
