Advances in hotel revenue management technology mean hotels are able to react more quickly and tap into local trends.
The idea is that if there’s a big event in town such as a convention or concert, hotels should easily be able to find out about it in advance and adjust their revenue strategies accordingly.
Artificial intelligence is increasingly playing a role in bringing more pieces of the puzzle together and ultimately helping hotels get to market faster.
“We talk about commercial engine all the time, every day. How do we drive top line results and how do we move fast? And speed to market is very, very important. So, we're very curious about the world of AI. I feel like, from an industry perspective, we're just touching the surface. There's so much more opportunity,” said Garine Ferejian-Mayo, chief commercial officer of Sonesta International, which has 1,100 hotels across 13 brands.
She was joined in the PhocusWire studio recently during The Phocuswright Conference by Sebastien Leitner, vice president of partnerships at Cloudbeds, who spoke about the company's thinking behind its intelligence product, which was unveiled in October.
“What we're trying to do together with our hotel customers is to bring practices that have traditionally been in silos - revenue management, digital marketing, guest experience — together in one, AI-powered product that allows our customers to make decisions in real time, using and leveraging the beauty of artificial intelligence,” he said.
The executives went on to discuss the importance of a test and learn philosophy as well as how data is enabling more informed decision-making through market signals from different sources such as social media as well as the wider travel ecosystem.
They also touched on what technology providers are getting wrong and the attitude of hoteliers to adopting new technologies. Watch the full discussion below with PhocusWire executive editor Linda Fox.