Presentation at HSMAI Greater China Asia Connect 2011. Results from a study done of hotel sales, marketing and revenue managers in Greater China

1. Current Impacts on Sales,
Marketing and Revenue
Management in Greater China
Hong Kong Polytechnic University
School of Hotel and Tourism Management
&
HSMAI Greater China Chapter
1

2. Whatever It Was
That Got You
Where You Are Today
Is NOT Sufficient
To Keep You There

3. Presentation
• Question asked
• Background for study
– Thought Leaders Study 2009
– Development of questions
• Survey method & participants
• Top 5 impacts by discipline
– Comparison to Thought Leaders Study
• What didn’t make it
• Putting you to work
– How should we address the impacts
• Summary

4. Question Asked
“Now that more than 2 years have
passed since the onset of the global
financial crisis, what do you feel are
the key impacts it has had on (sales,
marketing or revenue management)
in the hospitality industry within the
Greater China region?”

5. Thought Leaders Survey 2009
• Impacts of economic downturn
– Sales & Sales Management, Marketing and Revenue
Management
– Generate Top 5 Impacts in each discipline
• Delphi Method
– Multiple Rounds (3)
• Panelist - 37
• Roundtable discussion

6. Property/Corporate Impacts
• Development of questions
– Top 5 impacts by discipline from
Thought Leaders
– Industry publication trends
• Discipline Specific Impacts
– Sales and Sales Management (13 items)
– Marketing (25 items)
– Revenue Management (27 items)

7. Survey Method
• HSMAI Members distributed through senior level
sales, marketing and revenue management executives
to the property level
– Global chains
– Mainland China domestic hotel groups
– Independents
• Online survey

8. Total Participants – 140
• Location
– Mainland (85%)
• Type of hotel
– HK (13%) – Global chain (71%)
– Taiwan (2%) – Mainland domestic (25%)
– Independent (4%)
• Function area
– Sales (43%)
• Experience
– Marketing (38%) – Less than 2 years (11%)
– RM (13%) – 2-5 years (19%)
– Others (6%) – 6-10 years (17%)
– 11-15 years (17%)
• Organization Level – More than 15 years (34%)
– Corporate office (13%)
– Regional office (10%)
• Position
– Property level (77%) – GM (2%)
– DOS or DOM (28%)
– DRM (2%)
– Sales Manager ( 19%)
– RM ( 10%)
– Marketing Manager (11%)
– Other (27%)

9. Results of Top 5 Impacts

10. Sales and Sales Management
Thought Leaders Impact Property/Corporate Level Impact
1. Hire for attitude and train for 1. Keeping the sales team motivated
skills
2. Sales team has to be more focused
2. Understand that relationship/lead on closing the deal and should be
selling is often more successful fast in hunting for new
than cold calling business/prospects
3. Sales team has to be more 3. Training to help sales team
focused on closing the deal and members negotiate with confidence
should be fast in hunting for new
business/prospects
4. Update of market information,
4. Keeping the sales team motivated tactics, and strategies for all
markets as the focus and to follow
5. Helping the sales team to focus on up on meeting every customer’s
closing business needs
5. Understand that relationship/lead
selling is often more successful than
cold calling

11. Analysis of Results
• Motivation is #1
• Information and training emphasis
• Didn’t indicate need for support in
closing

12. Question to Contemplate
• Does motivation mean the same
thing to Thought Leaders as it does
to property level manager?
• What do you train? Closing?
Negotiation?

13. Thought Leaders Roundtable
Action Feedback
• Training leadership of sales is key
• Know individuals and motivate to their goals
• Relationship selling closes the deal
• Need sales training to close the gaps in
skills

14. Marketing
Thought Leaders Impact Property/Corporate Level Impact
1. Clearly knowing the target 1. Customer retention is most critical;
market[s] is essential and to do not compromise on standard and
tailor the product/campaign to services just because guests are
that paying 'promotional or TA rate'
2. Greater use of CRM to enhance 2. Clearly knowing the target market[s]
loyalty and customer retention is essential and to tailor the
product/campaign to that
3. Competitive pricing strategy 3. Creating a strong and unique
marketing message
4. Customer retention is most 4. Competition and cooperation will
critical; do not compromise on become fierce and imperative among
standard and services just destinations within Greater China
because guests are paying
'promotional or TA rate' 5. Hotel marketing will be more focused
on chasing Mainland Chinese
5. Creating a strong and unique customers, because Mainland China
marketing message has generated tremendous volumes
of domestic, inbound and outbound
tourism activities

15. Analysis of Results
• More emphasis on the Mainland
China and the resulting
competitiveness
• Knowing market and having strong,
unique message in common for both

16. Question to Contemplate
Does tailoring market to Mainland
and the resulting competitiveness
mean a need for a pricing strategy?

17. Thought Leaders Roundtable
Action Feedback
• Customer retention key to convince owners
of need to provide same levels of service
• Marketing initiatives depend on GM support
• Look at expectations versus perceptions of
guest not just satisfaction
• Need tools to know customers in each
channel

18. Revenue Management
Thought Leaders Impact Property/Corporate Level Impact
1. Though the focus has shifted to 1. Future revenue managers will
“closing the deal now” or “taking it principally need analytical skills. A
first then yield later”, revenue formal RM education and negotiation
management can contribute greatly skills would also be useful
to a hotel’s positioning through
pricing 2. RevPAR continues to be the most
2. Forecasting becomes critical to relevant way of measuring RM
effectively staff and manage costs in efficacy
a downturn
3. Revenue Management is very 3. OTA’s cannot be ignored, but need
important when it comes to selecting to be managed just like any other
the right piece of business that will source of business
contribute positively to the hotel
bottom line 4. Dynamic pricing would be the most
4. Focus on total revenue management effective way of increasing RevPAR
across all revenue streams as owners
and management concentrate on 5. Technology will play a strong role
bottom line in future developments within RM
5. Effective distribution in emerging
market (e.g., China , India)

19. Analysis of Results
• Everything is different
• Skills and technology needed
• Distribution and dynamic pricing are
keys
• RevPAR is the measurement
• Thought leaders more focused on
recognition of RM and forecasting

20. Question to Contemplate
• What skills & technology does revenue
management have to work with?
Forecasting?
• Is RevPAR the benchmark for making
distribution and dynamic pricing
decisions?
• Is property thinking too narrow

21. Overall Differences by Category
• By Function
– Marketing more important than Sales
• Sales team has to be more focused on closing the deal and should
be fast in hunting for new business/prospects*
– Revenue Management more important than either Sales or
Marketing
• Dynamic pricing would be the most effective way of increasing
RevPAR
• Forecasting becomes critical to effectively staff and manage costs
in a downturn*
• The revenue management function will become more central to
hotel operations, and will quite likely be a separate department
that is under the general manager’s supervision**
• Hiring and training a qualified RM will be the prime challenge
facing revenue management **
• By Level of Responsibility
– Regional office more important than property on sales
impacts
• Keeping the sales team motivated
• Training to help sales team members negotiate with confidence
• Helping the sales team to focus on closing business*
– No difference between corporate and either level
*Thought Leaders Top 5
**Neither Top 5

22. Thought Leaders Roundtable
Action Feedback
• Understand enterprise value/lifetime
value of customer with new
technologies
• VP of revenue generation?

23. What Didn’t Make the List
• Sales
– Stop giving away room upgrades
– Serious price war amongst competitors
• Marketing
– Business travel will recover from the recent
recession but business class/executive floors may
face changes
– Richer, older and going somewhere - demographic
changes will alter Western and Asian travel
• Revenue Management
– Hotels will be working with fewer third party
intermediaries
– The out-sourcing of hotel revenue management will
increase

24. Summary
• Rightness is the Theme
– Right approach to selling/training
– Right information
– Right customer - Mainland
– Right price
– Right message
– Right tools and technology
• Treat RM with respect
• Right person in regional office?

25. What Do You Think?
• How do we address these impacts?
• What actions to address issues in
each discipline?

26. Thank You
Xie Xie
谢谢！