Money managers
UD hosts conference on revenue management that is the first of its kind
11:58 a.m., May 18, 2015--The field of revenue management, though only a few decades old, has already made companies billions of dollars in profits and saved others from bankruptcy. The need for revenue managers, specialists who use data analytics to predict consumer behavior and optimize company practices, is growing fast.
As this growth continues, the University of Delaware’s Department of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management is staying at the forefront of hotel revenue management education, partnering with Hyatt Hotels, Smith Travel Research and the Marriott Courtyard in Newark to present the inaugural Revenue Management Education (RevME) Workshop earlier this month.
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“This is a groundbreaking seminar because we are bringing faculty from all over the world together to discuss revenue management with industry leaders from hotels and revenue management data providers,” said UD HRIM chairperson Sheryl Kline.
“This has never been done before in our field,” she said. “We are raising the level of revenue management education across hospitality and tourism academia.”
UD HRIM professor Zvi Schwartz, whose ideas led to the workshop’s creation, said that the event recognizes the major role that revenue management has played in the hospitality industry and the resulting need for colleges to include it in their curriculums.
“The challenge is that the topic is complicated,” Schwartz said, explaining that the field of revenue management is dynamic, practical and hands-on while also calling for an interdisciplinary approach.
This means, he said, that efficient revenue management practices must incorporate not only high-level analytical, mathematical and statistical skills, but also an understanding of a variety of diverse fields. These include consumer science, marketing, psychology, strategy, human resources, leadership and more.
The RevME Workshop provided resources for teaching this complex and rapidly evolving subject through a series of sessions that also allowed attendees from varying backgrounds to share information and concerns with each other.
Ronisha Goodwin, regional talent acquisition manager for Hyatt Hotels, said that the workshop gave participants the opportunity to “collaborate on teaching techniques and hear directly from industry leaders on how they can better prepare their students for careers within revenue management.”
Schwartz said that the industry participants enthusiastically provided faculty with much important feedback on current issues and trends in revenue management, including “how we can bring more industry into the classroom.”
This will happen, he explained, through access to the most advanced software applications, research, guest speakers, faculty and student internships.
Schwartz called the response to the event “extremely positive.”
“This is exactly what we envisioned and what we wanted,” he said. “There is great support for continuing this event.”
One such supportive response came from Larissa Koupriouchina, senior lecturer in finance and accounting at the International University of Hospitality Management, who flew from The Hague, Netherlands, for the workshop.
Koupriouchina called the event “a wonderful and fruitful professional experience,” which provided her with “useful practical suggestions.”
Miguel Baltazar, lecturer and faculty adviser in the School of Hospitality, Sport and Recreation Management at James Madison University, agreed, saying that it was an honor to attend.
“I've learned a lot, the international network was amazing and the overall experience was phenomenal,” Baltazar said. “The workshop motivated me not only to improve but also to continue pushing forward my revenue management research.”
Breffni M. Noone, associate professor for the School of Hospitality Management at Pennsylvania State University, called the workshop “one of the most well-organized, professional events I have attended in a long time.”
Student skillsets
The opening session explored skills the hotel revenue management industry expects students to acquire, a critical topic for both students and educators.
Panelist and certified revenue management executive Calvin Anderson, director of revenue for Hilton Worldwide, said that there are high-paying jobs in the field that are open because of a lack of qualified candidates to fill them, noting the growing demand for revenue managers’ skills needs to be addressed by programs like the HRIM department in the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics, and those of other higher education attendees.
He explained that in order to compete, more and more companies need revenue managers who can improve marketplace visibility and drive direct revenue using tools like predictive analytics, location-based marketing and social media advertising.
Developing these skill sets is crucial, said panelist and vice president of revenue management for Marriott International Jeff Borman. In particular, Borman said that students should focus on “the ability to merge different sources of data.”
While not a “terribly difficult” skill, he explained, some students aren’t ready to handle the dozen or more sources of data that revenue managers access at any moment.
“Coming to a sound piece of advice requires them to be able to take all of that and put it in one place,” he continued.
Just as important, he said, is explaining those findings to others in a clear way.
“The ability to take data and translate it into something meaningful is probably the most important skillset they need,” Borman said. “If you can get students to figure that out sooner their career trajectory will skyrocket.”
Panelist John Anderson, director of revenue management systems training and implementation for Starwood Hotels and Resorts, agreed, emphasizing the importance of interpersonal skills.
“They have to be able to communicate effectively what they learned from the data,” Anderson said.
These communication skills, he continued, are why it’s important for universities to provide future revenue managers with work experiences that improve their understanding of the perspectives of their coworkers.
“I love the experience-driven learning here at UD,” Anderson said as one example, adding that students in UD’s program have “actually worked for all of the different departments of the hotel and understand the context behind that big data.”
“That’s what we’re looking for: that they can think creatively,” he said.
Article by Sunny Rosen
Photos by Kathy F. Atkinson