What are your most important activities?
My job is extremely diverse, but let me summarise my activities in three main responsibilities: keeping the overview, looking forward, and developing business. The first one means I check our rooms, keep an eye on F&B, read guest reviews and talk to guests and staff on a regular base. It’s very important to be aware of what’s going on, so I can make sure everyone is doing great. The second responsibility has to do with focusing on the market. How are prices developing? Which costs are to be expected? And how is our occupancy rate? Lastly, I always strive to be ready for the future. That means developing competencies of staff, as well as improving our hotel facilities. Focusing on those three main responsibilities results in happy guests, happy staff and a financially healthy hotel.
Why is revenue management so important for your hotels?
Revenue management is essentially your pricing strategy. Our hotels are located in the middle of Amsterdam, and we’re surrounded by competitors who are continuously adapting their rates. Not taking this into account we’d risk missing out on important opportunities. Believe me, even if the hotel facilities are nearly perfect: without revenue management you will be left with empty rooms.
When are you doing revenue management right?
It’s all about the right balance. First of all, and most importantly, the rates need to match the experience you’re offering your guests. Secondly, you need to keep an eye on your competition and market fluctuations. That’ll help you realise the most optimal occupancy rate. Thirdly, you need to make sure your revenue reaches the point at which you’re financially healthy, making it possible to invest in new ambitions. The right balance enables you to keep on moving forward, while delivering high quality hospitality at a fair price.
What made you consider using revenue management software?
That’s easy: Setting the right room rate manually every time is a lot of work! And when things are evolving rapidly, you need to be able to react quickly to sudden changes. Imagine for instance, having spent hours to set the perfect room rates for a certain period. Everything seems fine. Until suddenly a big event is announced for exactly that period. That would mean your rates wouldn’t match your demand anymore and your competitors will at some point be able to do investments you won’t be able to match. In short, what we really needed was a system that would enable us to update our rates real time. Furthermore, we wanted to be able to set our own criteria, the same ones we used manually, to make sure all decisions would always be in line with our overall strategy.
How does RevControl help you in your daily business?
By setting business rules, you actually capture your entire revenue management strategy in RevControl. Instead of constantly checking if your strategy still matches reality, the software does that for you. It alerts you of changes in the market. On top of that, the system reminds you of how you want to act upon those changes according to your own strategy. This helps you to keep optimising your business.
What was the most important reason to choose RevControl as your revenue management system?
That has everything to do with the many good reviews and my own gut feeling. When you’re going to use a system to help you do your business, you have to reveal a lot of sensitive information. That’s a risk. So trust is absolutely crucial. And if something goes wrong, it’s very important to get efficient support, and as soon as possible, Trustworthiness and dependability are probably best judged first hand. Therefore, I think the positive experience that my colleague had with RevControl was a big factor. The various meetings with your consultant Edwin pulled me over the line, as it confirmed what my colleague had told me about you guys.
How did you experience setting up RevControl for the first time?
That went very well! The first setup was done together with Edwin. He helped us translate our strategy to effective business rules in RevControl. As we started things up together, the expertise of me as hotel manager was complemented by Edwin’s expertise in revenue management technology. As soon as we’d got the basics up and running, I could easily involve more colleagues in revenue management. That’s very beneficial for the results, for business engagement, and for the team spirit!
What’s the best functionality of RevControl?
Without a doubt that is the rate recommendation. Next in line is the pick-up today, and the pick-up alert. Those features show me the right information in an easy, fast, and comprehensive way. What a time savor!
How are you noticing the difference since you’ve been using RevControl?
By using RevControl we have realised a higher occupancy rate. Our ADR has increased as well. Even more than I expected when you look at the development of the market in Amsterdam. RevControl also saves us a lot of time. That’s truly amazing! I can spend my time where it should be spent: guests, staff, and hotel facilities. We get to focus on guest experience, RevControl ensures we can pay the bills.
Can you share your over-all opinion about working with team RevControl?
What I really like, and what is not so common as you might think, is that your helpdesk always responds quickly. If something goes wrong in the hotel business, it usually effects a lot of people at once. Leisure guests stay at our hotel to escape reality, so we need to be able to give them a few carefree days, without any nuisances. For that reason, it’s imperative that in case something happens, the issues are handled quickly and adequately. Any organization that sells its services to a hotel needs to understand that. RevControl does.
Something else I’d like to mention is your excellent service. For example, recently you took care of the integration with our new PMS. We didn’t have to do anything ourselves; loved it. I didn’t join hotel business to handle technique. I’m working here because I want to give our guests a fantastic experience. Your service level makes that possible!
