Revenue Management & Channel Opt

For hoteliers, the old playbook of seasonal rate cards and static pricing no longer cuts it. Maximizing every available room, every night, now demands smarter, faster, and more precise revenue strategies.

According to Holistique Training’s Evolution of Hospitality Industry Trends, the hospitality industry is undergoing a profound transformation driven by shifting consumer expectations, technological advancements, and a growing focus on sustainability and well-being. In response, hotels worldwide are investing in renovations to meet the demands of the modern traveler.

Remember the days when a personalized hotel experience meant a chocolate on your pillow? We’ve come a long way. Today, hotels can personalize the guest experience with the help of AI to create unforgettable moments at every turn. Imagine walking into your room to find your favorite music playing softly, the temperature set just right, and the curtains opening to reveal a breathtaking view – all before you’ve said a word.

I’ve been in the revenue game for 20+ years, and let me tell you — nothing grinds my gears like watching hotels leave money on the table. Not because of the market. Not because of bad luck. But because of simple, and often avoidable mistakes.

Note: This post is excerpted from Doug Kennedy’s recent training webcast titled, Understanding What Personalized Hospitality Is (and What It Isn’t!) Watch the replay here.

In 1879, Edison didn’t just create illumination—he eclipsed an entire industry. Candlemakers didn’t merely fear change; they feared extinction. Sound familiar?

Ever eaten something so perfectly balanced in taste that you had to take another bite? That’s the bliss point: the exact mix of sweetness, saltiness, or acidity that makes food irresistible. Howard Moskowitz, a market researcher, discovered that products thrive when they hit this precise satisfaction level: not too much, not too little. And guess what? Revenue management works the same way.

It’s inevitable that modern advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and automation will impact the hotel industry. While much has been rightfully said about use cases like machine learning (ML) impacting personalized guest offers or microsegmentation and generative AI (genAI) helping with contextual marketing or summarization for staff, for this focused article let’s shift gears from the rooms division into the spa and wellness facilities.

As a candidate for the position of Secretary General of UN Tourism, I am honored to support the important work of the Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre in Jamaica and other parts of the world and contribute to this critical effort with learnings from my own experience. I had the hard job of guiding the tourism industry of Greece through the COVID-19 pandemic as Minister of Tourism and we did that by leveraging the power of data and that excites me to share my vision of a UN Tourism Resilience data centre.

In the competitive and digital-first region of APAC, hotel reviews hold more influence over booking decisions than ever before. No longer just considered to be social proof, your hotel reviews are now a key performance driver, placing more importance on your web capture (your ability to collect guest data from across the web) than ever before.