Survey Results: Revenue Management Trends & Predictions for 2024
The annual Duetto Revenue Management Trends & Predictions Survey results are in! After weeks of polling hoteliers from around the world, we can now deep-dive into the results and see what trends and predictions hotel teams are looking at for 2024.
This is the third annual survey from Duetto. The 2023 results showed that hoteliers were hopeful of the return of business travel and group business, and mindful of short booking windows. There was also continued investment in technology,
This year, we take a closer look at how that group business might be revenue optimized, as well as identify the channel management tactics hotels are planning to invest effort in for 2024.
Top line, the continued growth in operating costs and staff bills continue to lead the list of challenges for hoteliers in 2024, with the top five being:
Increased costs
Staffing
Lead times
Business travel
Government restrictions
Considering the most important trends in revenue management in 2024, revenue strategy and revenue technology are the two main threads of focus for revenue professionals looking ahead.
The top six trends identified by our survey respondents are:
Profitability
Automation
Integrated Systems
TrevPAR
Ancillary revenue
Artificial intelligence
Revenue Management More Important Than Ever
The revenue management discipline in hotels continues to grow in importance, with respondents ranking it 4.8 out of 5 in terms of its importance to their company in 2024, this was up from 4.4 out of 5 in 2023. More than half, 57.1%, said revenue management was more important to their business than the previous year.
Of those surveyed, 83.9% are currently using a revenue management system (RMS), up from 82.3% in 2023. Of those not using an RMS, 33.3% are looking to invest in an RMS in 2024, and 36% are looking to invest in the next two years.
For RMS users, automated pricing recommendations topped the list of important features. The top five features listed by RMS users are:
Automated pricing recommendations
Real-time insights
Quick and efficient forecasting
Ease of use
Market intelligence data
Tech Investment Set to Continue
Hotel tech spending continues to increase, with 60.7% of respondents saying they had spent more in 2023 compared to 2022, and 71.4% predicting that hotel tech spend will continue to increase over the next three years, up from 60.8% in 2023.
Out of 5, respondents ranked automated processes in Revenue Management 4.5, up from 4.2 out of 5 in 2023. And 64.3% said that automated processes in Revenue Management would be more important in 2024 than in 2023.
This continued investment in technology can be seen in the way revenue teams are getting more strategic, with less time being spent on manual tasks. Nearly a third (30.4%) of respondents are spending more than 61% of their time on strategic revenue management in 2023, with 60.7% of respondents saying this had increased from 2022.
Channel Management: A Direct Focus
Managing cost per booking per channel will continue to be a focus for revenue leaders in 2023, with survey respondents marking it 4.3 out of 5. This has come to the fore, with 60.7% saying this is more important now than before.
The top five ways in which revenue leaders intend to optimize their business mix in 2024 are:
Channel management
Group business
OTAs
Corporate business
Tour operator, wholesale, FITs
Revenue teams are focusing more on driving direct business in 2024. Investments in channel management will be on:
Own website
Metasearch
Loyalty
OTAs
GDS
Groups Business Optimization
More than half (51.8%) of respondents said their primary objective when managing group business in 2024 is increasing revenue by optimizing pricing strategies across group and transient business. Nearly 40% intend to look for pipeline insights and comprehensive analysis of business mix to deliver more accurate forecasts and rate recommendations.
When considering product features for optimizing group business, these are the top five features revenue teams are looking for:
Analytics, including displacement and forecasting
Pricing and rate recommendations
Meeting space optimization
PMS and/or Sales & Catering system integrations
Settings, including group restrictions and pricing strategies
Download the full report ‘Trends & Predictions to Advance Your Hotel Revenue Strategy in 2024’ and learn from industry experts on their trends and predictions for the year ahead: https://www.duettocloud.com/special-reports/advance-your-revenue-strategy-in-2024
This post originally appeared on the Duetto blog here and is reproduced with their permission.
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