OCTOBER, 20228 IN MYV EWANCILLARY REVENUES: INVESTING IN THE FUTURE OF HOTEL DISTRIBUTION BY RHETT HIRKO, GLOBAL VICE PRESIDENT OF REVENUE OPTIMIZATION, PREFERRED HOTEL GROUPA recent meeting with fellow members of the HSMAI board included a survey on the "hot topics of 2022." Among the many submissions was ancillary revenues. As the meeting host opened this up for discussion, groans were heard across the room, coming from everyone in Revenue Management. One particularly established and well-respected leader both visibly and vocally shared her frustration with the topic, summed in a similar phrase well received by all: hotels are not airlines.Let's recognize that this is a hot topic across the discipline, which is continuing to gain traction in recent years as airlines have this well entrenched ­ and, for good reason. Hotels are replete with opportunities to turn their predominantly room and F&B-based products into something more akin to the retail space. Whether selling room-related policies or attributes such as "early arrival" or "high floor" to more stand alone products such as beer from the on-premise brewery or tickets to a high-demand concert, every property has an opportunity to drive more revenue beyond just maximizing accommodations.The challenge is not in the awareness of the opportunity, but rather the required technological investment. This can be summed multifold, as follows:- Hotel systems were built primarily to sell rooms. While dynamic packages broadly exist to attach ancillary Rhett Hirko
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