Revenue Management is often sold as a solo sport: you + PMS/RMS + dashboards + endless pickup checks.
But as part of the Hospitality industry, one of the top values must be interacting with colleagues and partners. That’s why networking can not be a “nice to have” for Revenue Managers. It must be a competitive advantage.
That’s why it’s great to see communities make networking feel natural again; like RevChill (the “revenue, beers and real connections” concept I’m partnering with as a Host very soon).
Why networking directly impacts RM performance (and revenue)
1) You reduce decision risk (faster). Most RM mistakes aren’t technical but contextual:
- “Is this comp set behavior a one-off or a market shift?”
- “Is that OTA move happening everywhere?”
- “Is that demand pattern real, or just your segmentation being noisy?”
A strong network gives you early signals and sanity checks before you bake wrong assumptions into pricing, restrictions, and budgets.
2) You get market intel you can’t buy. Tools are great, but the best insights often show up as:
- “Heads up: that corporate account is renegotiating across the city.”
- “This event is underperforming on shoulder nights.”
- “This channel is suddenly pushing X condition in contracts.”
Those are the tiny pieces that improve: forecasting accuracy, price positioning, displacement decisions, and ultimately RevPAR (and total revenue)
Not bad in exchange for attending that event, going for a coffee with that group of people, or showing up to the odd workshop.
3) Your career gets stronger; and that’s a revenue outcome too. Let’s be pragmatic: better roles, better teams, better mentors = better impact. Networking increases access to:
- Opportunities
- Talent (when you’re hiring)
- and partnerships (tech, distribution, BI, marketing alignment)
How to network like a Revenue Manager (without wasting time)
Here’s a practical approach that keeps it ROI-driven:
Step 1: Go in with 3 “good questions” (not a sales pitch). Examples:
- “What’s one change you made this quarter that moved the needle?”
- “What’s the KPI you trust most right now…and why?”
- “Where are you seeing the biggest forecasting misses lately?”
- “Which segment is surprising you (up or down)?”
Step 2: Collect playbooks, not business cards. The value isn’t “nice to meet you.” It’s:
- How they run their weekly RM meeting
- Which alerts they built
- What they automated
- How they structure pricing fences
- How they coordinate with marketing and e-commerce
Step 3: Follow up with something useful (within 48 hours). Send:
- A 3-bullet summary of the best insight you took from them
- A resource (template, article, tool) relevant to their pain point
- or an introduction to someone they should meet
This is how you become memorable without “selling.”
Step 4: Track it like a revenue initiative. Yes. Track networking.
A simple way:
- Connections made (count)
- Follow-ups done (count)
- Ideas captured (count)
- Ideas implemented (count)
- Impact notes (qualitative + any measurable lift)
Over time, your network becomes a knowledge asset.
A small challenge for this week
If you’re a Revenue Manager (or aspiring RM), do one of these in the next 7 days:
- Attend one community meetup (RevChill-style if you can). The next one will be happening in Benidorm, 11th March, 18.30pm, RoofTop bar at Hotel Brasil.
- DM one RM you respect and ask a single smart question.
Because here’s the truth: Your next big pricing idea might not come from your dashboard. It might come from a conversation.
