5 Reasons to use an Automated Revenue Management system in 2021
5 Reasons to use an Automated Revenue Management System in 2021
As we waved goodbye to the year that was 2020, many of us were probably guilty of thinking the arrival of 2021 was going to provide some sort of magical end to the ongoing stresses of running an accommodation business during a global pandemic. So if you woke on the first day of 2021 with a mixed feeling of dread and disdain at the prospect of having to fight through another year of tight financial margins and personal sacrifice, you are certainly not alone.
Although there is a far brighter outlook for 2021, there is still a huge amount of market uncertainty leaving many hotels, motels and holiday parks at a loss on the best pricing decisions to make moving forward. Room rates seem to be the one thing most small to medium sized properties consistently get wrong at present. Whether it be through not changing rates frequently enough, or dropping prices unnecessarily low, poor rate management is making the lives of small to medium business owners harder than it needs to be.
If any of the above resonates with you, or you can happily admit that you don’t know quite as much about pricing rooms as you would like, then you will be glad to know that there are a range of tools out there that take the guesswork out of rate management. The rise in popularity of Automated Revenue Management technology means that small and medium accommodation providers can now gain access to all the benefits of a full time Revenue Manager, at a fraction of the cost.
Keep reading to learn 5 reasons why you should implement an Automated Revenue Management system this year from our Customer Success legend Brook Chamberlain.
1. Avoid the Race to the Bottom
One of the main rate management trends seen since the Covid-19 pandemic began is the tendency for accommodation providers to drop prices in order to capture a larger share of their market in periods of low demand. Although this may seem like a good strategy to increase occupancy percentages in theory, it often leads to a price war where all accommodation providers in your market suffer. Because an automated revenue management system regularly looks at changes in market demand compared to your own occupancy, you can avoid unnecessarily selling rooms at rock bottom prices.
2. Accurately Measure Demand
Will my busy season still be busy? When will international borders open? Will there be another lockdown? These are all considerations that have probably crossed your mind when trying to set your pricing for the next year. Because most tourism and accommodation markets will continue to be unpredictable in 2021 it is important to make pricing decisions that are reactive to fluctuating changes in demand. An automated revenue management system will check the market against your own occupancy to detect any significant changes in market demand roughly every 2 hours. Prices will be adjusted instantly if required.
3. Minimise Variable Cost
The problem with dropping prices to boost occupancy is that it often leads to far higher variable costs, and significantly lower profits. Therefore it is important to strike the right balance between occupancy percentages and your average daily rate. In a lot of cases being fully booked means you haven’t charged enough for your rooms and will end up having to spend significantly more on cleaning and restocking rooms. Automated revenue management systems work to optimise profits, which means trying to get the highest possible rate for each room, even if that means having a slightly lower occupancy percentage.
4. Spend Less Time in the Office
An automated revenue management system is designed to be just that - automated. This means setting the system up, letting it run and barely needing to touch it again. Rates are based on a minimum, maximum and median prices which act as the hard limits of the rates generated. Competitors are selected in your area that have active revenue managers working for them so you can be confident that changes in market demand are based around real human decisions. This leaves you free to spend more time off site with the confidence that your rates are in safe hands.
5. Boost your Revenue
Ultimately the objective of any revenue management system is to make your property more money, and it is no secret that an effective dynamic pricing model is the best way to maximise occupancy and revenue percentages. Here at Seekom, we generally see a 10-15% boost in overall revenue for new properties who move from a seasonal ‘set and forget’ pricing strategy, to the RoomPriceGenie automated revenue management system we integrate with. This sort of revenue gain has been the make or break for some properties who have been on the cusp of going under due to the covid-19 pandemic.
6. Bonus Tip - Sign up for a Free Demo of our Revenue Management System
Seekom iBex are proud partners of RoomPriceGenie and offer a full 2 way integration to their automated revenue management system. If you are interested in learning more about RoomPriceGenie you can visit their website here at roompricegenie.com. If you are interested in trialing the system, we offer a free one month obligation free trial. Simply send us an email at support@seekom.com to begin the process.
One of our amazing business development managers will be in touch to showcase our product to you and talk you through how we can help grow your business.
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5 Tips for Holiday Parks using a Property Management System
5 Tips for Holiday Parks using a Property Management System
Using a Holiday Park Property Management System (PMS) at your park is essential in today's industry. Seekom has 5 Tips for using a PMS for all you Holiday Park owners, managers and staff out there to make sure you are getting the most out of your Property Management System.
Every day more and more operators of Holiday Parks are finding they need to be working as efficiently as possible to make sure your operation is smooth, scalable, and making you work smarter - not harder.
From development announcements and updates, to channel manager tips and local events and website knowledge.
Keep reading to get the inside scoop from our Support and Website Team Leader - Elizabeth.
1. Manage your cancellation policy
Manage your cancellation policy. Set a policy that is realistic. It should be restrictive enough that a late cancellation or no-show still incurs a penalty, to prevent losing revenue if you can’t resell a room. But it should be flexible enough that you’re not causing a lot of admin work trying to enforce a very restrictive penalty. 24 or 48 hour cancellation penalties are often a suitable middle ground. You can also consider adding a non-refundable rate using your channel manager, giving guests the option to choose a lower price in exchange for a stricter policy. Whatever you choose, make sure it is easy for your staff to learn and enforce. The more complex your policy is, the more likely it is for human error to happen when staff need to enforce it.
2. Keep up with your PMS developments
Whichever PMS you choose, try to keep up with its developments. Holiday Park Property Management Software is ever evolving to meet the changing needs of its users. Keeping an eye out for new development announcements means you’ll know whenever there’s a new feature that could add value to your business.
3. Website Booking Screens for your Holiday Park Property Management System
Make the most of your website booking screen. First, make sure you have your own website booking screen! Most channel managers include a website booking screen to install on your website. Your website is your best marketing tool, and should be your favourite booking source. It’s the only channel that you have complete control over, and the only one without a 10-15% commission on it! Make sure you are already collecting the right information from website bookings; not just the obvious like names and contact details, but extra bits that can help you smooth the check in process like tent/caravan/campervan choice, vehicle size & registration number, and ETA.
4. Local Events
Keep track of local events and adjust your rates accordingly. Be aware that some events will increase demand for roofed accommodation only, some will affect sites more, and some will cause an all out rush for both! It’s often best to keep sites at a constant (or perhaps seasonal) price, but self contained accommodation can easily fluctuate in price as the market demands.
5. Utilize those Sales Channels
Be listed on the right sales channels. In addition to listing with the more holiday park focussed channels (e.g. BookIt, Campermate), consider if any of your self-contained units are suitable for listing on the more hotel focused channels (e.g. Booking.com, Expedia, maybe even Airbnb)
6. Bonus Tip - Sign up for a Free Demo of our Holiday Park Property Management System
Seekom iBex is a great PMS choice for holiday parks. We connect to all the most popular channels for holiday parks, including integrations with TOP 10 and Kiwi Holiday Parks. Our PMS also comes with included front booking screens, which are easy to install on your website (or get in touch with our web team to discuss a new website!)
There are lots of ways to get in touch with Seekom support, so help is always available! We are available by phone, chat and email. We also hold monthly free training webinars, to keep your staff up to speed, along with the occasional specialty topic webinar whenever we have something new and interesting to share.
Seekom iBex PMS just turned 18 years old, and has long been the preferred choice for holiday parks.
Over its long life, it’s had lots of little enhancements just for holiday parks added. There are custom fields available for your website booking screen, so you can have guests enter their vehicle type and length on booking. There’s a property max pax cut off, to prevent accidentally going over council occupancy limits. After Hours Cut Off allows for flexibility in accepting late bookings - prevent roofed accommodation from being booked after reception closes, but allow tent sites to book late and check themselves in!
Get in touch with our sales team for a free demo, or to find out if iBex PMS is the right fit for your holiday park.
One of our amazing business development managers will be in touch to showcase our product to you and talk you through how we can help grow your business.
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Seekom Pace Reports
A subject our support team is asked about frequently is reporting. Which reports do I need to use? How do I find out my revenue, and how do I measure my business’ growth?
There is just so much data available in a PMS, it is difficult to know what to look at and what you should be measuring.
The best, and simplest, tool for looking at a property’s performance over time is the Pace Report. iBex Pace Reports are in two sections; Revenue and Occupancy.
Revenue Pace Report is showing you;
- Your revenue so far for each month in the upcoming year
- Compared to the total revenue for each month in the previous year
- And whether you’re on track to make the same revenue for the month as you did last year
If your green bar for the month is higher than the other solid bars, then you’re so far on track to make more revenue than you did for the same month last year!
What can you do with this information? If you are not quite on track to match earnings in previous years, you can reconsider pricing and marketing strategies - maybe try a last minute special or advertising through a new sales channel. If you’ve exceeded the previous year’s earnings, then you’ve now got a great visual aid to show stakeholders how well the property has been doing.
Click here for more information on Revenue Pace Reports.
The Occupancy Pace Report is giving you the same data, but for your occupancy alone, rather than revenue. This is a great tool for planning ahead for your rates management, staffing and marketing. If the graph shows that the property is consistently at a lower occupancy in May, for example, you know to make sure your rates are a little lower in May and you can consider having fewer temp staff working.
Click here for more information on Occupancy Pace Reports.
If you are already on one of our newer plans, you will find Pace Reports on your Dashboard
If you do not have access to the Dashboard and are interested in using Pace Reports, please get in touch with us for a free trial. You can upgrade to any of our new plans to get permanent access to the Dashboard and Pace Reports, along with other new features.
What are the benefits of a Property Management System (PMS)
What are the benefits of a Property Management System (PMS)
The benefits for a Property Management System (PMS) are vast and numbered for an accommodation provider because the need for automation is constantly increasing in our busy lives. As you know, accommodation providers are some of the busiest, with so much to organize in a single day. With the ability to change rates, check a guest in or out, connect to channels and have guests book directly through to your hotel via an integrated booking engine is a must.
Most property management systems (PMS) can be used by all types of accommodation providers, that utilize the ability to scale which for example, lets you add rooms and remove with a click of the mouse or a tap of the finger, giving you flexibility and adapatability.
Often a PMS will connect into a channel manager, or has an integrated channel manager. This will let you connect your rates, availability and property and room info to Online Travel Agents. Common examples of a Online Travel Agent is Booking.com, Expedia and Trivago.
There are also many other tools that are often provided by a Property Management System (PMS) - for example Seekom offers Automated Revenue Management - offering a calendar with 365 days of intelligent price recommendations – updated multiple times a day to optimize your occupancy and revenue. Another example of PMS Tools would be Google Hotel Ads - which we offer as a service add on here at Seekom. Google Hotel Ads allow you to market your property within Google above the OTA's to secure more direct bookings than ever before.
As you can see, the tools coupled with a Property Management System itself make for more revenue, exposure like you could never achieve without one, scalability and more. The benefits of a Property Management System (PMS) are endless for accommodation providers.
Read on to learn more about what makes a PMS tick, and how Seekom can help you achieve more revenue.
What is a Property Management System (PMS)?
Our property management system (PMS) is a web based, software application which is either for the operations of hospitality accommodations and commercial residential rental properties. Seekom caters to all accommodation providers, such as Hotels, Motels, Holiday Parks, Property Management Companies and everything in between.
Seekoms's Property Management System - iBex - provides a centralized web application to organize, schedule and perform the day-to-day functions and transactions involved in accommodation businesses.
What does a Property Management System (PMS) do?
Seekom's property management system (PMS) provides many functions to accommodation providers & owners to manage their business effectively and efficiently.
Some of those functions are:
- Channel Manager
- Website Booking Engine
- Housekeeping Management and Inventory
- Automated Revenue Management
- Upselling System
- Accounting System Integrations such as Xero
- Dynamic Pricing
- SMS messaging
- Express Check In Service
- Google Hotel Ads
- Unit Owner Reconciliation
What automation can a Property Management System help me with?
Seekoms property management system include automation of many common, often labour intensive tasks, including:
- Bookings
- Check-in and check-out
- Housekeeping
- Revenue Management
- Upselling before check in
- Email Confirmations
- Channel Connections
- Rate Management
- Marketing (Google Hotel Ads)
How does Seekoms Property Management System work?
Our Property Management System (PMS) is a powerful marketing system that will help you get more bookings, and more value for your bookings. Our software is cloud-based, so you can access it from anywhere, at anytime and can operate our PMS from any internet connected computer anywhere in the world.
A Property Management System is made up of many moving parts, but our support team provide clear and concise training so you can manage each process and function with ease.
Once you've signed up for a free demo, we can provide you with a test account to explore the product, if you have an existing system with someone else we can transfer the data and future and past bookings across to our system with ease, and we set you up with all the channels you need such as Booking.com or Expedia. We have a vast toolkit ready to help you maximize yield and get the greatest return year round.
Our pricing plans suit all types of accommodation providers, from Motels to Hotels, to Holiday Parks and Property Management Companies.
As well as a Property Management System, we also provide custom and templated website design for all businesses and Venue Management System.
One of our amazing business development managers will be in touch to showcase our product to you and talk you through how we can help grow your business.
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Lowering the Impact of COVID-19
The global spread of Covid-19 has proven to be highly detrimental to our properties and the global economy. Here at Seekom, we have been closely monitoring these unprecedented developments, and their subsequent effects on the accommodation industry.
We would firstly like to thank you - our valued clients, for your continued loyalty and trust in Seekom during these uncertain times. We know many of you are facing significant financial challenges right now and it is important you know Seekom stands with you. Our current primary focus is the continuity of our service, in order to help you navigate through this challenging market downturn.
Therefore we will continue to offer you suggestions on ways to mitigate the financial loss that extremely low occupancy, property closures and an influx of cancellations bring.
Here are a few ideas and initiatives that you may look to implement in the coming weeks.
COVID-19 Tips to use with your PMS
Keep your focus on the long term
Don’t make panic decisions that may hinder your future revenue when the economy bounces back. Wrong short term decisions can harm your ability to return to normal business in the long term. For example if you need to close your doors for a month or two, continue to take summer bookings in the hopes of a full economic recovery instead of setting an indefinite stop-sell.
Look after your existing customer base
Take care of your existing business and don’t short change your loyal customers. Whatever you do, don’t compromise your service standards. It will come back to bite you in future! Try marketing to your existing customer list via an email campaign, giving them value in the form of a personalised touch.
Don’t be tempted to cut your marketing budget
Instead focus on capturing existing demand and divert your budget away from segments of the market where there is little to no demand. Focus your digital marketing budget on revenue drivers such as metasearch and retargeting.
Market to Domestic Travellers
Locals will still be travelling outside the windows of self-isolation, so it pays to target your efforts toward the domestic market. People who cancelled their overseas trips are looking for alternatives, so highlight the local option to them. In many cases, offering a 2 week special rate may encourage tourists and locals to book during periods of national lockdown.
Look at more hidden discounts
Although you don’t always want to make lower rates public, you can still work on offering better value to potential guests in a variety of “hidden places”. Consider opting into the Genius programme with Booking.com, or adding other free upgrades via your Sales Channels
Managing rates
By closely monitoring competitors in your area and setting rates within a comparative price range, you are doing your bit to maintain a profitable accommodation market in your city or town. If needed, make reductions for arrivals in the next few days, but make sure to keep longer term prices higher. If you are dead set on lowering your prices significantly, make sure to do so via a non-refundable rate to guarantee yourself certain revenue.
Using Seekom’s Automated Revenue Management will help you to make smarter pricing decisions and contribute to a better financial outcome for your property. Having an automated revenue management system in place means your rates are based on real market data, rather than the sense of panic that may be driving drastic price drops. This technology will also start raising your prices when the market stabilizes again and demand returns.
You can reach out to us any time for an Automated Revenue Management consultation.
Conclusion
Throughout this period of economic uncertainty, it is important to hold onto the fact that people will travel again. Try to focus on the positive media statistics and hope for a best-case scenario. Avoid making impulsive panic driven decisions and do your best to mitigate financial loss by coming up with innovative ways to increase occupancy and revenue.
Please remember that we are here to offer advice and assistance at any point in time going forward. We wish you all the best for the coming months ahead and are all hoping for a prosperous summer in 2021.
Stay safe
The Seekom team
