Excerpt from Duetto
A recent survey by Duetto shows that investment in revenue technology remains an important factor in moving revenue and profitability forward for most hoteliers. In terms of business mix, business and corporate are the two areas most revenue teams are focusing on for the year ahead.
Tech Investment
Of those surveyed, 82.3% were already using an RMS. Of those not using an RMS, 71.4% planned to invest in revenue management technology in 2023.
Looking back on tech investment in 2022, 72.2% said their hotel tech spend had either increased or stayed the same.
Looking ahead, 60.8% expected their hotel tech spend to increase in the next three years.
These results correlate with those from the 2022 survey. Last year’s results showed just 67.6% were using an RMS, while 50% expected to invest in one in 2022. With this year’s results showing an uptick in RMS users, we can assume that investment took place.
Revenue Management
Revenue management continues to play a vital role in the success of any hotel business.
Rating (0-5) the importance of revenue management to the hotel business, the average score was 4.4, with 54.4% giving a 5 for Extremely Important. The majority (64.6%) said that the importance of revenue management to their business had increased or stayed the same.
Automated processes are seen as very important for revenue teams in 2023. Rating this out of 5, the average score was 4.2, with 46.2% giving this a 5 for Extremely Important.
As staffing issues continue to play out across the global hospitality industry, it is unsurprising that ‘ease of use’ was the number one most important feature of an RMS from those surveyed.
The top five most important features were:
- Ease of use – 63.1%
- Intelligent data – 50.8%
- Automated pricing recommendations – 41.5%
- Custom reports – 41.5%
- Quick and efficient forecasting – 41.5%
Managing cost per booking remains important for hoteliers in 2023, with 50.3% saying this has increased over the past 12 months.
Business Mix
As groups and corporate business continue to return, it is little surprise that this will be the focus for many revenue teams in 2023. When asked how they planned to optimize business mix in 2023, the top five responses were:
- Groups business – 59.5%
- Corporate business – 51.9%
- Channel management – 48.1%
- OTAs – 38%
- Tour operator, wholesale, FITs – 30.4%
Other respondents also cited growing revenue per guest, segmentation, and length of stay as important factors for revenue management in 2023.
The 2022 survey results showed Channel Management as the number one focus for revenue managers, with Groups Business placing third. This year’s results show those two areas of revenue strategy swapping places.
Interestingly, business travel was also highlighted as the number one challenge for hotels in 2023, with 60.8% of responses.
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