As our recent Pulse report mentioned, hoteliers seeking a return to something resembling normalcy are facing still-rising COVID caseloads and slow vaccination rollouts that forestall hope of sustained growth until at least the summer in some regions, and later in others.
For hotel revenue managers, this means being poised to quickly respond to sudden demand shifts with pricing that balances customer expectations with other factors, such as re-openings of competing hotels, availability of local dining and entertainment options, and shifting demographics based on consumer reactions to relaxed restrictions.
Duetto’s iterative approach means that we have been posting more improvements and have accelerated releases during this period of uncertainty, in order to arm revenue teams with the tools they need to move rapidly when demand curves shift.
In January, we released a number of new features and enhancements to our GameChanger pricing application. These included:
Automate Restrictions with AutoPilot
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| With AutoPilot for restrictions enabled, if a new restriction recommendation is generated that differs from what is currently published, Duetto will override and publish the new recommendation. In the example above, Duetto is recommending a three night min stay thru because of a restriction rule. In this case, Duetto will publish the recommended three night min stay thru at the next automatic optimization. |
The Duetto AutoPilot feature helps automate tactical rate changes while you focus more on higher level, strategic decisions - absolutely essential when you need to seize on sudden demand changes. When you enable AutoPilot, the Duetto GameChanger application will update rates automatically for up to 364 days before arrival. Hotels use AutoPilot to make sure that rates are updated in response to changes happening in their business even when users are away from a computer.
AutoPilot for restrictions affords your revenue teams a greater degree of control when automating pricing. Revenue teams can set restrictions for Closed (stay/arrival/departure) or Min/Max (stay through/stay arrival). When enabled, Duetto will update rates up to three times a day based on the restriction strategies that you develop.
Enhanced Min/Max Bounds:
Min/Max Bounds acts as the safeguard for your property or enterprise pricing strategy. The values you enter protect against rates that are too high or too low to help guard against user error and protect brand integrity. Min/Max Bounds apply to rate recommendations across the Duetto Platform and are required for each hotel, ensuring that rates published will have appropriate protections. These can also be customized for seasonality. This update enhances the rate limit setup for both new and existing Duetto customers.
New Notifications:
Based on user feedback, we’ve added two new notifications to our recently released notification center (with more to come!):
- Competitor Rate Change: Duetto can automatically notify you when your competitors increase or decrease their rates.
- Optimization Errors: If the Duetto Optimizer fails, you’ll receive notification and can immediately address any issues.
Duetto Supports Your Need for Speed:
For Duetto customers, all of these features are available now, without the need to wait for an upgrade, courtesy of our SaaS technology. As the hotel industry reshapes itself and consumer/business demand emerges in new ways, you can count on us to continue to deliver new innovations in pricing, forecasting and reporting to stay forward-looking and ahead of the game.
Want to find out more about how Duetto could help automate manual tasks while also optimizing revenue for your hospitality business? Contact us today to request a free, no obligation demo.