An Introduction to Bamboo Revenue

Company Overview

Although revenue management has been practiced by the airline industry for years, many hotels are still overlooking its potential, par t icular ly smal ler hotel groups and independent hotels with necessarily tighter budgets.   Immediate operational pressures and inefficient technology are both to blame. Often the biggest obstacle is a basic lack of knowledge, where staff have neither the tools nor the training to perform the role. With so many booking channels now available, it has certainly become a minefield for hotels to maintain rate parity, whilst maintaining brand equity and avoiding the urge to discount.   Bamboo Revenue is a successful hotel re se rva t ion and revenue management consultancy, which understands these pressures entirely.

With some 35 years’ experience in the luxury, independent hotel sector and using some of the most up-to-date systems and innovative business methods, Bamboo can seamlessly provide revenue management support, whatever the client’s requirements.

Intr

oduc

tion

Bamboo Revenue is a successful hotel reservation & revenue management consultancy

Our

Foc

us •  Revenue Management

•  Reputation Management

•  Distribution

•  Systems

Reservations & Revenue Management We can review your hotel’s performance and introduce uncomplicated, effective tactical and strategic revenue management methods, tailored to suit each client and designed to maximise the selling position in the current business environment.

It is important to raise awareness about the cost of sale across the various channels of distribution and implement practical ways to funnel more business through the direct or less expensive channels.

We use up to date methods of pricing, inventory & rate management to make sure the hotel is available and competitive. Bamboo can recommend a rate structure and sales qualifiers that will work best for the business and help to understand and forecast future trends and demand.

Business Analysis

We recognise that clean and reliable data is the foundation for informed business decisions. We will work with our clients to identify weaknesses and provide practical ways of addressing these.

We will strive to automate data extraction and reporting so time can be efficiently used for analysis of the data. This will allow trends and opportunities to be quickly identified and proactively dealt with.

Rev

enue

Man

agem

ent

Budgeting & Forecasting We work with a number of types of business models to help simplify and generate greater accuracy when creating budgets and forecasts. We can introduce spreadsheet templates that will facilitate the annual rooms budgeting process and will help speed up the whole process.

Training We can help in all aspects of reservations, revenue management and systems training and will ensure that the courses can be tailor made to present to groups or individuals of varying skill levels.

Social media has dramatically changed how travel shoppers make decisions. Increasingly, travellers are bypassing traditional sources like travel agents, travel media and hotel marketers and turning to other travellers and peers in social networks for information and advice.

To stay on top of this seismic shift, hotels must leverage the powers of social media to engage travellers, drive advocacy and manage reputation. This means monitoring, measuring and reacting to online reviews and feedback and engaging in activities to generate favourable reviews and social media content.

Rep

utat

ion

Man

agem

ent •  Audit your online reputation and identify areas of

strength, weakness and opportunity

•  Develop a plan to improve reviews and rankings on TripAdvisor, Expedia and other review sites

•  Provide guidance for responding to reviews and feedback to improve reputation, build loyalty and drive advocacy

•  Use social media content to boost search engine

rankings, drive traffic to your direct channels and increase conversions

•  Recommend activities to encourage guests to write favourable reviews

•  Integrate reputation management into daily operations and culture

•  Recommend time-saving tools to monitor, measure and analyse reviews and feedback

•  Integrate best practices in revenue management with reputation management to leverage reputation to increase revenues.

Distribution A vital and key question for any hotel to ask itself is “Why would a potential guest NOT book directly?”

There may be some valid reasons, for example corporate booking mandates, however, in most instances guests can be encouraged to use direct channels. When establishing relations with third parties, boosting hotel revenue is a key driver, but cost-of-sale must be considered. Some channels (tour operators and many OTAs) charge in the order of 25% commission. Whilst the sales revenues look appealing, the net revenues perhaps are not as attractive.

Bamboo Revenue will make specific, actionable recommendations to increase loyalty, improve RevPAR and maintain the brand integrity. Our goal is to increase the hotel’s net revenue as well as sales revenue.

Dis

trib

utio

n Global Distribution Systems (GDS)

We have worked with most of the major CRS / GDS suppliers including SynXis, TRUST & Pegasus as well as some of the brand systems such as MARSHA and Holidex. We have substantial experience in project managing CRS changeovers for a number of clients and having our own Sabre terminal allows us to easily update and review GDS and online content as it is seen by travel agents and corporate bookers.

Property Management Systems (PMS) We work with most of the major Property Management Systems including the Micros Fidelio products (Opera, Fidelio & RedSky); Protel PMS; Visual One; Softbrands products; PAR Springer-Miller and many other brands.

We understand entirely how the systems work from the day to day operations, to the financials and system configuration. We are completely vendor neutral and can recommend and advise on the best systems that will work for our clients.

Revenue Management Systems (RMS) We work with the market leaders of RMS’s including IDeaS & EasyRMS. Whilst remaining completely brand-neutral, we can help with the decision of system and can work with the properties during the configuration, installation and integration with the various connected systems.

Web Booking Engines The guest online booking experience should be simple, visually engaging and fast. Bamboo works with a number of different suppliers to provide the best experience whilst seamlessly integrating the other connected systems.

Syst

ems

Channel Management With hotels working with a vast number of online travel agents (Booking.com, Expedia, Orbitz, Lastminute etc.) it becomes more and more important for hotels to provide rate parity across the various channels.

A channel manager can help simplify this whole process and a single entry of availability and rates can be sent to multiple sites in one action. Bamboo have worked with a number of leading channel management systems and can recommend one that will suit the property’s needs.

Corin Burr

Director and Founder of Bamboo Revenue, Corin started his career in the 5-star deluxe hotel industry in 1990 working for Forte Hotels.

Over the next 8 years he progressed his career through the front office and reservations departments some top UK hotels including The Balmoral, Edinburgh; The Athenaeum, London and The Westbury, London.

In 1998 the opportunity arose to be part of the pre-opening team at One Aldwych, London as Reservations Manager.  Remaining with Campbell Gray Hotels, Corin was part of the pre-opening team at Carlisle Bay, Antigua. Bamboo Revenue was founded in October 2006.

The

Team

Kathrin Schroer

Kathrin has joined the company in November 2007 and previously worked in the areas of front office and reservations for deluxe hotels.  Some of her previous properties include Steigenberger Inselhotel, Constance; Relais & Chateaux Ermitage am See, Zurich and One Aldwych, London.

She provides essential day-to-day support in all areas of revenue management for our clients.  Her expertise includes forecasting, budgeting, and training of revenue management principles.  She is a key source for PMS & RMS configuration and optimisation advice and guidance.

Kathrin holds a Bachelor of Arts in Strategic Hospitality Management.

Juan Antonio Frances Ruano Juan has worked for Bamboo since April 2011. He started his career in hospitality in London where he worked in front office and supervisory reservations roles at the Metropolitan Hotel and at One Aldwych. He was later instrumental in managing the Front of House & Reservations teams during the opening phases of the Mandarin Oriental in Barcelona and The Savoy in London. Due to his very recent working experience in luxury hotels, he is a key intermediary between hotel operations and strategic revenue management for our clients and helps to seamlessly integrate business principles into the day-to-day workflow of the hotels. Juan holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration.

The

Team

Daniel Edward Craig Based in Vancouver, Daniel is one of the leading voices in social media and reputation management for hotels.

The former general manager of one of the world’s leading boutique hotels, Daniel has worked with dozens of hotels, from independents to large chains, in positions ranging from Director of Sales and Marketing to Vice President. With a varied background in operations, sales and marketing and revenue management, Daniel has a keen understanding of the interdependence of these functions in hotels. He helps hotels develop integrated strategic plans for harnessing the powers of social media to drive revenue and optimize online reputation.

His blog and articles about social media for hotels have attracted a worldwide following.

Con

tact

Bamboo Revenue Ltd 4th Floor, Sussex House 143 Long Acre

London WC2E 9AD   Tel: +44 (0)20 7836 0002 Fax: +44 (0)20 7900 6494 [email protected]

www.bamboorevenue.co.uk