WHAT DO WE DO
SPECIALIST PRICINGCONSULTANCY: CHOOSE TO BE CHOSEN BY THE NEW TOURISM MARKET
We are a specialist pricing consultancy: we identify the best nightly rate for your rooms by applying the Revenue Management techniques developed by Franco Grasso and in use since our first client, Hotel da Vinci, in 2005 (these techniques are detailed in the book Il Revenue Management Alberghiero, published by Hoepli in 2006).
Our work aims to identify the most effective and appropriate sales prices for the new tourism market. In order to do so, we analyse and cross-reference sales data every day (multiple times a day if necessary) using our Revolution Plus software to interpret the property's day-to-day performance. The Forecast Manager then uses this data to decide which changes to make to the nightly rate over the next 12 months.
Revenue Management Consultancy: a closer look at our work
It is important to monitor short-term events in order to sell all rooms at the best possible price, but it is equally important to evaluate future movements in order to create the correct foundations for sales and revenue optimisation.
COLLECT DATA
We collect the sales data from your property every day (multiple times a day if necessary).
ANALYSE
We visualise that data in our Revolution Plus software to analyse your performance.
OPTIMISE REVENUE
We make short- and long-term decisions (up to 12 months in advance) in order to consistently identify the nightly rates that will optimise your revenue.
In our working method, the fundamental pillar for revenue optimisation is advance sales, with rates set on the basis of previous trends and adjusted in line with sales. All too often, we work with entrepreneurs who need support with low-season sales where they struggle to find clients.
Experience has shown us that low-season sales can be improved on the new tourism market but, above all, that the high season offers huge and often untapped potential too.
Sometimes clients confuse having a full hotel with having a full hotel at the best possible price.
It should also be considered that additional revenue made during high season is pure profit, since there are no perceptible increases in costs if a property is already full, solely in earnings.
Our goal is to maximise revenue, and therefore profit, at accommodation facilities by proposing the best and most effective sales price.
Operating Manual, Custom Starting Rate and daily analyses by Forecast Managers
Our Forecast Managers analyse the client property, developing what is effectively an Operating Manual with all the improvements to be made in order to facilitate sales and align with market needs.
The Operating Manual is shared with the client to provide a starting point from which to identify the Custom Starting Rate.
The areas analysed and highlighted in the Operating Manual for implementing changes are:
number and type of rooms on offer
cancellation policies
correct use of minimum stays and other factors that condition online visibility in the new tourism market
sales channels and any contractual agreements with Tour Operators and Companies
Once the changes outlined in the Operating Manual have been shared with the client, we can calculate the best Custom Starting Rate for the accommodation facility.
The Custom Starting Rate reflects:
past performance (where possible)
future forecast
destination
From that moment onward, the Forecast Manager will perform at least one daily analysis of sales performance so as to be able to recommend the most appropriate rate at all times.
In addition to the daily analysis, the Forecast Manager is in constant contact with the client, seven days a week.
The Forecast Manager will guide the hotel through this new approach which is, in many respects, new and not always intuitive, so that the client understands sales trends in the new tourism market.
Choosing the Revenue Team by Franco Grasso gives you all the advantages of working with a company that manages diverse properties in different parts of the world with an overall vision of market performance, ongoing changes and the information needed to improve sales.
Hotel Revenue Management dissemination and training
The Revenue Academy: Hotel Revenue Management dissemination and training
We have always considered it a duty to share our Revenue Management techniques and knowledge.
That is why Franco Grasso has published three books with Hoepli and why we offer both private training for companies and courses at important Italian universities including Luiss, Sapienza and Bocconi.
In 2015, we launched our Revenue Academy, made up of the teachers trained on the Revenue Team by Franco Grasso. Our aim is to share practical experience and success stories as opposed to generic information on Revenue Management.
We know from experience that implementing a new dynamic pricing system at your property is not always easy. Lots of questions can arise and it can be hard to explain the new sales method to others.
That's why we have made sure that the Revenue Academy has a highly operative and technical focus because the priority is for our students to learn how to analyse and tackle everyday situations when it comes to choosing the best rate.
The small class numbers makes it possible to examine specific questions and requests from the students, using their particular case as an example and proposing practical solutions. With time, we have realised that this type of training is far more effective in person and most of our lessons are held face to face, although we do have an online area with specific thematic modules to meet all needs. Over the years, more than 1,000 “students” have taken our courses and the project continues to grow and evolve.
As well as our training courses, the Grand Tour and the Revenue Academy, over the years we have also organised the “WHR” event (Web Hotel Revenue) and “Rework” (a portmanteau of Revenue and Work): a series of five annual events in Italy with the aim of disseminating our Revenue Management techniques and application methods as much as possible.
The first event was held in Sorrento with the collaboration of Enzo Aita, while our Rome editions were held at different locations including Hotel Capannelle, which was a client of ours for some years, Eurostars and finally, Hotel Parco dei Principi.
Our events have always been in-person and spread across 2-3 days. There is a strong focus on training and they deal with all the aspects related to our work and at successful case histories.
TRUs - Territorial Revenue Units
From 2015 to 2018, we travelled around Italy in a camper van on our “Grand Tour”: close to 100 stops from North to South, where we met hoteliers and institutions to explain just what Revenue Management is and how we apply it. This project led to the creation of the Territorial Revenue Units.
The TRUs - Territorial Revenue Units are accommodation facilities in the same geographical area that implement the same revenue management techniques.
Collective Revenue Management: everybody wins with TRUs.
Through the application of variable rates that adapt to real-time market demand at each individual property and to periodic data sharing, we can improve results across all properties because of improved online visibility for the whole area and a consequent increase in the number of contacts and reservations.
Of course, properties that apply correct variable sales rates benefit the most, but other local properties will also indirectly benefit from the increase in the number of tourists, as will all other activities in the area.
Accommodation facilities can join a TRU - Territorial Revenue Unit or create one. The first step is to get in touch with us: no investment is required to launch a unit.