How revenue managers should spend their time with STR data

If you’re familiar with the hotel revenue management discipline, you probably know that its strategic cycle comprises four main stages—analyze, identify, develop and monitor. You’re probably also familiar with the STAR Report and the dSTAR platform, which empower you with the data intelligence needed to navigate each of those stages and measure your property’s performance on an ongoing basis.

But how much time should you allocate to each stage of the revenue management life cycle? And which members of your team should be involved? We broke it down to guide you through the process.

Analyze

In this first stage, it is essential for revenue managers to use the STAR Report to examine the big picture and compare their property’s long-term historical performance to the competition in the local market. This may include looking at up to three years’ worth of trends.

Identify

After getting a grasp on past performance, this is the phase where revenue managers should identify strengths and weaknesses in relation to occupancy and rate. At this stage, the focus typically shifts from big picture to more of a granular view, often narrowing in on a particular month’s performance compared to the same month last year.

Though revenue managers often tackle these first two phases alone, it is essential for them to present their findings and explain the analysis process to the rest of the team to keep everyone on the same page.

Develop

At this stage, the process becomes more of a team effort, with revenue managers looping in sales, marketing and operations. Together they can set tactics to either grow or protect market share. These tactics may include pricing, group strategies, promotions, marketing or other demand generating activities.

Monitor

Once the team has gone through the above stages, it should be a joint effort to keep track of results and maintain a proactive approach to attracting customers at the best possible rates. After a period of time, the cycle will likely lead back to the analyze stage to once again examine past performance and fine-tune future strategy.

Next steps

As you and your team work through this process throughout the year, we have a variety of training resources available to help you increase your knowledge of STR solutions and get the most out of your data. Click here to view our handy guide and identify your ideal training session.

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