Revenue: Dealing with change and seizing opportunities

As the hotel industry is constantly evolving, revenue management is becoming increasingly important. Patty de Gruiter, Vice President Revenue & Sales at Sircle Collection, says: "Before, revenue was under sales and marketing, and now you're actually overarching everything and sales is seen as an important part of it." Hotelvak spoke to her about her experiences, insights and the changes within the industry.

"I see Revenue Management mainly as playing a game within the company. I am always turning all the knobs. It is an interplay to translate the long-term and short-term strategy. In doing so, I encourage all the different departments to bring in revenue at the lowest possible cost. It is very dynamic and is about much more than the price of a hotel room." According to De Gruiter, many external factors influence Revenue Management. "The whole hospitality industry is subject to change. As a Revenue Specialist, you have to be constantly aware of what is going on, and be prepared to seize new opportunities, because every little bit helps. Sometimes we find opportunities in unexpected places, such as partnering with a company to rent out our remaining hotel parking spaces, this still creates additional revenue." 

Patty de Gruiter, Vice President Revenue & Sales at Sircle Collection.

As Vice President Revenue & Sales, De Gruiter is responsible for Sircle Collection's national and international revenue policy. This company creates unique hotels, restaurants, shops and spas across Europe. Examples include the Sir Hotels and the Max Brown Hotels. She is also active at hotel schools such as Breda and Maastricht, where she gives guest lectures and attends debates because this is where the new generation of Revenue Managers comes from. "My lecture today focused on concept development. The students were given a case study that really actively engages them. A lecture like this takes two hours, but I am also part of a Revenue Management & Real Estate minor in Breda. Over six weeks, students develop new ideas and visions for a case study, which they eventually pitch." 

According to De Gruiter, the new generation of hospitality staff resembles the current ones in many ways, however, there are also things they find more important. "I find it very interesting to spar with them about this, for example sustainability. This is also an important topic for me, but I do put to the students that there are limits to what is possible. More conscious choices can be made about how to travel, but in essence, travel is not very sustainable. Moreover, hotels in certain locations, such as listed buildings, simply cannot become self-sufficient due to permits and costs. Students take this issue into account when deciding where they want to work."

For those involved in revenue, RMS systems such as Duetto and BookingSuite have actually become indispensable. Yet De Gruiter stresses the importance of human input to make these systems function effectively. "It's all about feeding the system with the right data. There are always unforeseen situations, like when Beatrix announced her resignation. That had an impact on the date of Queen's Day and you have to respond to this immediately. In this kind of situation, a system therein tends to work reactively. In addition, it is important to know what is going on with competitors. However, it is not financially attractive for all hotels to hire a revenue specialist. The extra turnover they can generate with this does not then outweigh the costs." 

Dealing with change is perhaps the most important aspect of Revenue Management. "Sometimes this requires training and retraining, I think this is very important for the generation that is working now. They worked for corona in a boom time, but now goods and staff have become much more expensive, if any. People expect the same service while staff costs go up. This puts great pressure on profits. The way requests are handled now requires different commercial skills than before."

With summer approaching, Citytax in Amsterdam is a big challenge, according to De Gruiter. "The discouragement policy is very tough for Amsterdam hotels. We don't agree with the municipality, but we have to deal with this. Revenue is central, even amid staff shortages and other challenges. In this, the work of a Revenue Manager remains the same".