Analytics is a very important aspect of Revenue Management. A Bain report once stated that companies using analytical techniques are twice as likely to be in the top quartile of financial performance, and five times as likely to make decisions faster than their peers.
Using analytics, a Business Intelligence tool, or even raw data, however, can be intimidating and hard. Knowing where to start, what data to use and what to look for can be challenging. Cendyn has put together this best practice guide to help you overcome some of these hurdles and answer some key questions you might have when it comes to using Revintel.
Understand the problem you are trying to solve
The most important question you must ask is: “What am I trying to solve?” Some examples include:
- Why am I being outperformed by my competitor?
- Why is there a drop in Corporate business?
- Why am I not filling my hotel?
You might be tempted to try to answer all your questions with one report, when more often then not, you must break down your one question into multiple smaller questions. All the examples we give above could be questions that come up at the same time, so make sure to break each of these questions into manageable sub-questions.
Know what questions you are trying to answer
Using the example of “Why am I not filling my hotel?”, start looking at the different aspects that can affect your occupancy.
Potential sub-questions to consider
- Have ADRs fluctuated?
- Are the changes generic or only in certain segments and/or channels?
- Have economic conditions changed?
- Has the performance of the competitors changed?
- What external factors might have impacted occupancy (e.g., advertising, guest reviews, etc.)?
Define all the sub-questions you want to answer to give you the most complete picture possible.
Define the information you seek
Once you have defined your sub-questions, make a list of the information and sources you need to answer your questions. Then identify the data points needed for your analysis.
Using the same example above, “Why am I not filling my hotel?”, let's see how we can address the sub-questions:
Q: Have my ADRs fluctuated?
Action to take: Review ADR performance broken down by month, day or DOW.
Consult these useful reports:
- Revintel Reports > Market > Monthly Market Segment Report
This report can be run for multiple months at a time (i.e., January 2021 - June 2021).
- Revintel Reports > Market > Market Segment By Day Report
Q: Are the changes generic or only in certain segments and/or channels?
Action to take: Review the last year of occupancy and rate data broken down by segment and by channel for excellent insights.
Consult these useful reports:
- Revintel Reports > Channel > Channel Report
Q: Have economic conditions changed?
Action to take: Look for industry/news articles. Review your city/hotel special events calendar compared to previous years.
Q: Has the performance of the competitors changed?
Action to take: This information can be retrieved by looking at consolidated competitor performance data.
Q: Are there other external factors that might have had an impact (e.g., advertising, guest reviews, etc.)?
Action to take: Review your marketing plan, analyze guest reviews on different sites, etc.
Search for the "low hanging fruit" and general data first
There are certain questions you can ask and data you can analyze which can help you narrow down your search quite quickly. These are the questions you should try to identify first – the easy questions.
Consider your starting point with competitive performance and economic events that may have impacted your performance. You may be researching your performance, which may have been impacted by outside influences. Knowing this will help you look at your data differently and identify opportunities to shift strategies and tactics.
Running a report on your performance (ADR, Occupancy, ancillary revenues) by segment, channel and even room type (Revintel Reports > Room Type > Room Type Analysis) might help you identify if there are specific areas of the business that are impacted more than others. Looking at trends by comparing performance versus previous years is a good start, but also try to see how the change developed month over month.
Once you have located the general data, dig deeper
If your investigations show you a certain "opportunity" area, dig deeper to find as many answers as possible. Finding answers can help you develop strategies to optimize your demand opportunity.
For example, the questions above might have helped you discover that Corporate Negotiated Production and GDS performance are continually declining. Identifying specific opportunities in performance such as those can ignite strategy discussions to improve performance.
Revintel report filters make digging deeper easier by enabling you to slice reports in multiple ways, including by Market Segment, Rate Code, Room Type, DOW, etc. For example, Revintel's Agent Analysis Report (Revintel Reports > Business Source Agent > Analysis) allows you to analyze Agency performance at the Market Segment/Rate Code level, and by applying the Channel Filter you can see performance for particular distribution channels (i.e., GDS). Identifying agencies that are declining in the channel and, which rate codes in particular, could help you brainstorm tactics and strategies to course-correct a segment/channel's performance.
Use multiple angles of approach
Once you have defined an opportunity area, analyze it from different angles to uncover various tactics to improve performance. Revintel reports offer a variety of ways of dissecting your performance (Market Segment, Rate Code, Channel, Room Type). Among the reports listed above, consider reviewing the following in your analysis:
- Leverage the Day of Week Statistics Report, which can highlight your underperforming DOWs and help you analyze your gaps.
- Use the different report data parameters on the Length of Stay Report (Revintel Reports > Bookings Trends > Length of Stay Report) to identify successes and opportunities for LOS promotions/strategies. Also, Revintel allows you to compare current year to 2 years or 3 years ago.
- Identify changes in Lead Time (Revintel Reports > Booking Trends > Lead Time) for particular Channels/Market Segments/Rate Codes to pinpoint the right time to deploy a particular promotion/package.
After identifying multiple approaches to address your "opportunity," it's critical to present your findings to your Commercial Strategy Team and enlist their expertise to create a cohesive and collaborative strategic plan.
Action the data
While analysis itself is powerful, taking action to improve your performance is invaluable. Your goal should be to define strategy and tactics to turn your "performance opportunities" into actual revenue generation. Meet with your Commercial Strategy Team, review the analysis, and brainstorm executable strategies and tactics. Find solutions to course-correct issues, eliminate issues, reduce their impact or find other strategies to compensate any negative impacts. Then execute those solutions!
Follow up
Don't underestimate follow up; follow up is crucial. Revintel has a selection of reports that can be leveraged to gauge the impact of strategies and/or tactics deployed. Some top-used reports for this include:
Several of the Revintel Pace Reports allow for users to not only compare current year performance against prior year, but also compare versus 2 years ago and 3 years ago. The comparison year filter can be leveraged to exclude years where demand may have been impacted negatively or positively by a special circumstances (i.e., Covid-19 Pandemic) or an event.
Don't be overwhelmed with data or with solving performance issues. Start off your data exploration with questions. Leverage Revintel to tackle those questions and the sub-questions identified by you and your Commercial Strategy Team. Keep an eye on performance. Revintel allows you to schedule reports right to your inbox. Effective monitoring of strategies can help you share out successes alongside opportunities.
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