Shr Soundbites

Jenna Villalobos, CRME, Vice President Revenue Strategy, with Outrigger Hospitality Group, joins me from Honolulu, Hawaii. Jenna reminds us--Hawaii is open for business! She describes Outrigger's island destinations, the adjustments she's had to make in her role, how she is pricing and forecasting her hotels, and how revenue is now part of a revenue generating team with Sales and Marketing.

Dury Kim, CRME, CHIA Kim, Regional Director of Revenue Management, with Real Hospitality Group, joins me from New York City. Dury talks about the happenings and success Real Hospitality has managed despite the pandemic, how her role as a revenue executive has changed, the evaluation of their tech stack, pricing her hotels, and much more.

She talks about what hoteliers are doing well amid the pandemic and not so well, i.e., not communicating a clear safe travel policy, not adjusting terms and conditions on pricing. Maybe the biggest issue with some hotels is not having a plan for the re-opening of properties. Tough to do when governments can't give dates. She also gives a breakdown of what hotels should be doing in preparation for travel's rebound.

Sharad Kapur, former head of Revenue and Distribution Strategy at Hyatt Hotels, joins me from Zurich, Switzerland. Sharad talks about some trends amid the pandemic: predictive attribute-based and product-based pricing, the technology considerations needed, and he also touches on Total Revenue Management. More interviews like this at https://shr.global/soundbites

David Bowd, Owner of Salt Hotels, joins Jason Emanis while in Miami, Florida. David talks about his boutique hotels and 'over-the-bar' guest relations, that is, guests will communicate their challenges, likes, and dislikes to front-line staff like bartenders and front desk employees and how they take that information and make decisions to ensure an exceptional stay. More interviews like this at https://shr.global/soundbites

Ally Northfield, Managing Director, with Revenue by Design Ltd, joins me from London. We talk about her recently released report, 'What we learned in 2020,' a collaborative effort with hospitality industry experts from around the world. Get the report at https://lnkd.in/dGFHFeA We discuss the scrutiny Revenue Managers faced early on during the pandemic, whether or not to outsource the revenue management function, what hoteliers should do with technology, and how hotels are forecasting given historical data is next to useless.

Jennifer Bouchard, GM at Heritage Inn Hotel & Convention Center, is also consulting to help hotels get through the pandemic. She talks about how the pandemic has changed how she performs her role and what to look forward to.

Rodrigo Jimenez talks with me about SHR doing business amid the pandemic, how our clients are doing, and what to expect from us in 2021. He unexpectedly drops a product announcement in this interview, Bridge. Bridge is an automation management platform for hotels. It will initially be deeply integrated to API’s within SHR’s core products - Windsurfer® CRS, Wave RMS, Maverick CRM & Rate Shopper Application - as well as with relevant 3rd party API’s. Bridge will act as a connected hub to enable the hotelier to create and manage automated workflows.

Jeremy See, VP Revenue Management, talks about his full-service hotels across the US, the adjustments he's had to make amid the pandemic: less oversight, reduced staff, keeping the team engaged and making sure the basics are executed well. He goes on to explain how they're pricing hotels in light of different owner goals as well as forecasting the hotels, looking at last 10 days. Watch more interviews like this one at https://shr.global/soundbites.

Christoph talks about hotels moving out of survival mode and into market share grabbing mode.

Adel talks about how hotels can use their CRM to move out of survival mode and into gaining market share as we start to see the light at the end of the pandemic tunnel (we think). How? Focus on communications (website, booking engine, and pre-stay emails) that improve the guest experience, i.e., explain the pet policy, fitness club hours, entertainment in and around the hotel. Identify those pain points for guests: confusing front door address or early arrival policy. Sounds basic, but she explains the genius in it beautifully. Give it a listen!

Trevor Stuart-Hill, Founder/President, Revenue Matters, joins me and in typical first-of-the-year fashion, we had technical difficulties so only the audio is available. But, a great talk about what hotels with no revenue management function can expect moving forward through the pandemic and beyond--loss of market share! He gives advice to hotels on how to get started building a proper revenue management function. He also talks about how seasoned revenue teams should respond amid the crisis. Step 1? Go snow skiing. Stuart explains. And, how they are becoming ingrained in the effort to stimulate demand and become profitable. And, he gives us some Q1 trends to consider.

Ana Gutanu, former Revenue Manager with IHG, talks about her journey to the U.S. from Romania, her dream job, how she learned hospitality from podcasts and LinkedIn and it's industry groups, and more! More hotelier interviews like this one at https://shr.global/soundbites.

Stéphanie Versin, SVP of Marketing, with Sightline Hospitality, joins me from San Francisco. Stéphanie talks about her personal experience, her hotels closures and re-openings, tactics their using to stay relevant and drive bookings. Watch more hotelier interviews like this at https://shr.global/soundbites

Matt Keim, National Sales Manager for Omni Hotels & Resorts, in Oklahoma, talks with me about opening a convention property in an underserved market, amid a pandemic--the adjustments made in selling amid a pandemic, the Q1-Q2 outlook, and more! More hotelier interviews like this one at https://shr.global/soundbites

Jason Pirock, Director of Marketing for Aparium Hotel Group, joins me from Chicago, Illinois. Jason talks about his boutique hotels, recent awards (USA Today, Condé Nast), adjustments to marketing the hotels amid the pandemic, collaboration with other departments, tactics used to promote the hotels--dinner in an alley?, and his advice for hoteliers as we continue through travel's struggles. More hotelier interviews like this one at https://shr.global/soundbites.

Khristina Quigley Ridge, Group Revenue Manager, for JMK Group, joins me from Dublin, Ireland. Khristina talks about setting rates 18 months out, how to prepare for the return of group business, a 2021 commercial plan, the lack of online marketing, and a channel strategy.

Juan talks about what drove his summer bookings--whiskey tasting anyone?, word-of-mouth, what's in store for us over the next few months, and the power of an Inn Keeper's mentality.

Claudia explains the Margaritaville brand, how they benefited from revenge travel, how the brand has promoted travel amid the pandemic, how revenue management has changed, internal communications, the holidays, Q1 2021, and Thrive, Women in Travel.

Sandra Gannon, Revenue Puzzle - Revenue Management Consultant, joins me from Dublin, Ireland. Sandra is a 20-yr hospitality veteran that came highly recommended to me by Khristina Quigley (Ridge). Sandra talks about her journey, how the pandemic has changed the way we do revenue management, pricing challenges, and more!