Weekly Insights. October 4, 2025

What kind of Revenue Manager do we need right now?

Thirty years in, revenue management is still only fully embraced by about a third of organizations. Meanwhile, the playing field has shifted:

• "Right time, right place" is and always was more about marketing than revenue science
• Distribution and channel mix often matter more than price itself
• Traditional segmentation is becoming obsolete
• AI is already booking, pricing, and making backend decisions
• Total revenue (rooms + F&B + ancillaries) is still as elusive as it was 15 years ago
• Data geeks who couldn't tell stories turned into storytellers that don't understand data

The question is no longer whether revenue management can lead but what skills, mindset, and capabilities today's Revenue Manager must bring to stay relevant, add value beyond automation, and drive profitability across the whole business.

Are hotels ready to effectively implement dynamic pricing for ancillary services?

Our Industry Expert Panel exists out of professionals within the hospitality & travel Industry. They have comprehensive and detailed knowledge, experience in practice or management and are forward-thinking. They are answering questions about the state of the industry. They share their insights on topics like revenue management, marketing, operations, technology and discuss the latest trends.

Immigration policy and the hospitality workforce: Navigating labor challenges with strategic resilience

The HVS article explains how immigration policy shapes the hospitality labor pool and offers strategies to stay resilient amid shortages. It outlines how tighter rules and processing delays strain staffing, especially in housekeeping, food and beverage, and seasonal roles. Recommended actions include advocating for visa reforms, building partnerships with workforce agencies and schools, improving retention through fair pay, housing and transportation support, and investing in training, cross-skilling, and selective automation so hotels can stabilize operations and service quality despite policy uncertainty.

How to rebuild RM around profit, decisions, and the guest

The article argues that revenue management should be rebuilt around profit and the guest, not just room revenue, by unifying data into a single view, measuring contribution after acquisition costs, and prioritizing the most profitable segments and channels. It recommends aligning sales, marketing, and operations on shared profit goals, integrating pricing with upsell and total spend, automating low value tasks, and using simple, real time dashboards that track COPE metrics, contribution margin, and guest lifetime value to drive faster, customer centered decisions.

The modern minibar – A comprehensive look at hotel setups

The article surveys how hotel minibars are evolving from static, costly amenities into flexible, revenue-positive programs. It covers curated local products, wellness and alcohol-light options, and hybrid formats that combine in-room coolers with lobby marketplaces. It explains how smart sensors, QR menus, and integrated PMS-POS links enable real-time inventory, dynamic pricing, and targeted offers. It also notes the importance of cost control, shrinkage prevention, sustainability, and brand consistency, concluding that a guest-centric, data-driven minibar strategy can lift satisfaction and ancillary spend.

From emails to upsells: Hotels are finally getting messaging right

The article suggests hotels should build a structured guest communication plan across the entire journey using a central messaging hub, clear ownership, simple templates, and smart automation. This reduces friction, speeds responses, and creates timely moments for upsell and service recovery, which lifts satisfaction, repeat stays, and direct revenue when tracked with metrics like response time, conversion, and loyalty outcomes.

Optimizing your hotel database: Quantity vs quality

The article explains how to get more revenue from a hotel’s guest database by unifying records into a single customer view, cleaning and deduplicating data, and integrating CRM with PMS, booking engine, and marketing tools. It recommends clear consent management and privacy controls, smart segmentation based on behavior and value, and lifecycle campaigns that personalize pre-arrival, on-property, and post-stay messages. With consistent data hygiene and meaningful KPIs, hotels can improve targeting, reduce waste, and strengthen direct relationships.

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