Narai Hospitality Group started onboarding its Lub d collection of lifestyle onto the Duetto platform in 2021. Lub d currently has six properties in Thailand, Cambodia, and the Philippines rate optimizing on Duetto, with two new properties coming online in 2024.
Narai Hospitality Group has also added its new luxury brand, Marasca, to the platform. It is preparing to take its hospitality offering to new markets with expansion into Japan in September.
- This blog is an excerpt from our latest special report, How Hotels Use Open Pricing to Optimize Revenue. Download your free copy here: https://www.duettocloud.com/special-reports/how-hotels-use-open-pricing-to-optimize-revenue
What makes the Narai Hospitality Group portfolio unique is that it spans the entire value spectrum of hospitality. Lub d delivers a lifestyle product that can be bought at a bed-only level while Marasca offers an ultra-luxury experience that demands a high price point.
Sukanda Sumondis (Bomb), Group Director of Revenue, Narai Hospitality Group, joined the company just as it was starting to tender for a revenue management system (RMS). The company was updating its entire tech stack to strengthen its position as it pulled out of the COVID lockdowns.
Part of the selection checklist for Khun Bomb was functionality, cost, ease of implementation, customer support, and how well the RMS worked with the PMS. Narai Hospitality Group works with MEWS as its PMS, which connects to Duetto via our Open API.
Khun Bomb has a revenue team of three, including a revenue manager, an assistant revenue manager, and herself. Before Duetto, they were managing revenue manually. She explained that they used to assess their pick up numbers daily to gauge the demand, but occasionally, they would overlook potential opportunities.
Now, the team is implementing Open Pricing.
“We understand that we can segment our channels individually without having to sell everything, every price, every segment the same,” she said.
Lub d
The Lub d brand delivers a lifestyle accommodation option full of experiences.
“This is where people come together and then have the unique experience of traveling. Our guests don’t just come for somewhere to sleep, they come for the whole experience,” said Khun Bomb.
For Lub d, Khun Bomb is using Duetto for price optimization, using pricing rules by room type and segment. The brand has seen phenomenal success in 2023, growing ADR by 28% during the peak months of January, February, and March. The first half of the year saw ADR growth of 18% compared to the same time last year.
What makes Lub d unique from a revenue management perspective is that it prices rooms and beds using Duetto’s Open Pricing methodology.
Most of the inventory is beds in dorms, which are sold on a per-bed, per-night basis. The beds prove very popular with travelers from the UK and Europe.
Lub d also offers private rooms, which sleep two. These are like regular hotel rooms.
As travel returns, demand at Lub d has spiked, and Duetto has reacted. Khun Bomb explained how rates for one property had tripled.
“For Lub d Samui the normal price for a bed is B700 (Thai Bhat) during the high season. This year we managed to triple the price up to B2,000, which is the cost of a normal room in the normal season.
“We could not believe it when we saw the pricing recommendation from Duetto. We thought people would complain about paying that price for a bed. But with the demand we have, the beds are easily sold,” she said.
All beds and rooms can be sold with or without a breakfast package. This helps Khun Bomb to segment prices and optimize via Duetto according to market demand.
“We always have a bed/room only and a bed/room with breakfast. With Open Pricing, we can estimate the demand for each package and rate plan. And we can sometimes increase room-only rates because we see demand coming through the room and breakfast rate plan. Or if we need to be very price sensitive in the market, we can push down the room-only rate.
“Duetto looks at our room types separately. We may not be busy in the private room, but we have a high demand in the dorm beds. That is where price optimization works. I feel like myself and my team now have the most enjoyable yielding experience. We are maximizing as per demand,” Khun Bomb said.
Khun Bomb and the team segment by booking channels – with different strategies for online and offline, and there’s even a corporate strategy. Every segment has a different rate structure. Using Open Pricing the team can keep all segments open and flex rates up and down to control demand.
Marasca
Narai Hospitality Group opened its first Marasca property in November 2022. Located in Khao Lai, a UNESCO World Heritage site, the property offers a luxury glamping experience across 18 units of unique accommodation.
According to Khun Bomb, the property is already seeing strong demand from domestic travelers. Located just two hours from Bangkok, and offering stunning mountain scenery, it is the perfect weekend getaway.
However, with only 18 units to sell, Marasca requires a very different revenue strategy to Lub d.
Prices for the glamping tents start at B5000 per night, but according to Khun Bomb, demand is high, and rates can jump quickly.
“It's very different and we are still adapting to selling a luxury product. I need to switch my head from having a large inventory and filling the base first, and then trying to build up my price, which is what we do with Lub d. With Marasca, I only have 18 units, and it can go in the blink of an eye. Pricing is very important for this property. We can't just have a flat rate. This is where Duetto comes in,” said Khun Bomb.
Narai Hospitality Group will open a second Marasca property, in Samui, in February 2024. This will also run on Duetto.
Duetto Support
Khun Bomb and her team have been working with Duetto for two years now. Both brands – Lub d and Marasca – present unique revenue management challenges. Helping the team constantly improve their use of the Duetto platform and their revenue strategy deployment has been Tasneem Mukadam, Duetto’s Director of Customer Success, APAC.
“We have been working together since 2021 and in those two years, we have never missed our monthly call. Tasneem reviews our performance and comes back to us if we have any challenges in our work, or if we are already doing well she will tell us what more we can do,” said Khun Bomb.
“We can rest assured that she will support us. It's one of our plus points for working with Duetto. “
Discover how Open Pricing is driving revenue at hotels running on Duetto. Check out the many case studies in our latest eBook, How Hotels Use Open Pricing to Optimize Revenue. Download now.