I just arrived back from the 44th Annual NYU International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference held this week in New York City. This was my first conference since joining Duetto as CMO, and I can't help thinking about how incredibly positive the event was. Yes, there was an acknowledgment of the dreaded R-word – “Recession.” The term was met with a resounding groan from the audience, on numerous occasions, as seemingly every corner of the news cycle has been beating the word to oblivion in recent days and weeks. However, there was something interesting... Whenever it was raised, it was nearly always flanked by several other R words and phrases: Rebound, Revenge travel, and Revenue.
The 3 Rs In Hospitality’s Future
Rebound
“Rebound” would be the first. Where the pandemic had shuttered up the world of travel, recent months have seen the floodgates open and a flurry of pent-up demand. And it shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon. Data from Duetto’s soon-to-be-published Pulse Report shows just that. [Visit https://www.duettocloud.com/pulse on June 14 for the latest figures.]
Revenge Travel
Of course, "Revenge Travel" would be the second. Fueling the very rebound just mentioned, for many segments, demand has never been greater. And neither sky-high airfares nor record gas (petrol for the Brits reading this) prices are stopping people from traveling. Indeed, the continued momentum for both personal and business travel is real.
Revenue Management
As my first outing as Duetto’s CMO, it was heartening to hear that Revenue Management Systems (RMS) had clearly registered as one of the greatest must-have hospitality tech requirements among attendees. There was an acknowledgment from chief executives that revenue managers should no longer risk using the stone tablet and chisel methods of the past, especially while we are entering this critical moment. The time to act, it would seem, is now. The overwhelming advice was to double down during this important rebound phase to fill the coffers as high as one can as a crucial insurance policy to weather whatever comes next – recession or otherwise. If hotels plan wisely, they can in effect "bank" this moment to ready themselves and protect against any potential downturn that may come. And these very same RMS investments can be viewed to be the very fuel that can help any hotel not just survive a potential recession, but slingshot out of it with the wind at their backs.
An RMS makes sure you can truly make every booking opportunity count for maximum financial impact, leaving no money on the table. With an advanced RMS, pricing is informed by not just gut feel or spreadsheets, but instead by real-time data, alerting revenue managers to critical booking trends, anticipating market movements, and closing blind spots. It's not just intelligence. It's your wingman.
Based on what I observed at the event, the health, desire, excitement, and motivation of the hospitality industry have never been more amplified – or focused. This next year through to 2023 is the year of another R – Resiliency.
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Photo: Debra Wolman moderating the How Technology Touches the Human Touch: Innovations at the Asset Level during NYU. L-R Debra Wolman, Group Vice President, Americas, Duetto; Doug Carillo, CMO, Virgin Hotels; Andrew Jordan, CMO, Aimbridge; Nina Kleiman, EVP, HotelAVE.