First webinar in this series on revenue management in hotels, resorts, and chains in Spain and Latin America, organized by the University of Alicante through Unniun and the Good Decisions Club.
In this first panel, Fátima Guinea, Senior Revenue Management Analyst at Hoteles Casa Andina (Peru); Daniel Benito, Regional Revenue Manager for Northern Spain at Meliá Hotels Int; Pablo Quinteros, e-Commerce & Revenue Manager at Hoteles Cumbres (Chile); and Adolfo Díaz Gramont, co-founder and VP of Conversion at Hotels Conversion Up (Uruguay). All were moderated by Pablo Torres, hotel consultant and Director of the Advanced Program in Total Revenue Management at the University of Alicante.
The first session focused on how the pandemic was affecting urban hotels. Despite the geographical and product differences among the panelists, Adolfo opened the discussion, and everyone agreed that large cities were the most affected due to their exposure to international visitors. Other areas, more dependent on the local market, have suffered less.
An interesting point highlighted by both Fátima and Pablo is that having large local companies in industries unaffected by the pandemic (mining, fishing, viticulture) has helped to lessen the impact.
The specifics of specific destinations were then discussed. Related to the previous point, large cities (Lima, Santiago), with oversupply and international hotels, are experiencing a brutal price war from which, as Fátima pointed out, they will take several years to recover.
Daniel pointed out that adapting to the needs of companies can be a factor to consider: organizations that don't need an office but can agree to use an area of the hotel. Meliá is working on this to fine-tune its offerings for workations and remote workers.
Juicy ideas emerged from the following points, focusing on the measures taken to address recovery, focusing on the direct channel:
On the one hand, there was talk of fully flexible bookings, although Fátima and Adolfo pointed to the options of creating prepaid vouchers to be used for up to 24 months to help with cash flow. It is also important to differentiate yourself on your own website: include up-to-date information, special discounts, added value, encourage LoS, etc. The importance of direct communication with the customer was also highlighted: from mailings to actions on Social Networks, geolocation for domestic customers, or the use of your own Call Centers to guide the customer and convert reservations.
Very good ideas shared by the speakers.
And we mustn't forget, as Daniel pointed out, that hotels create wealth for their destinations, as guests not only spend money at the hotel, but also visit nearby museums and restaurants.
There was great audience participation, with numerous questions for all the speakers. These included topics ranging from sustainability to corporate rate management and how workations are managed.
As mentioned at the beginning, it's time to innovate and unite our efforts. This period should serve to help us work more closely together and share knowledge.
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