In 1991, a California court, applying California law, in the Woolley versus Embassy Suites case sent a startling message to hotel management companies. At the time, those of us who follow these kinds of cases thought the holding was a one-off, quirky decision that is not likely to be followed and may be overturned in subsequent decisions. It held that a hotel management agreement is not only a commercial contract that sets out the rights and obligations of the parties, but it also gives rise to an agency relationship.

To maximize your effectiveness with your leadership team around the money you would be well advised to accept the fact that itÕs an endless exercise. We must see that the idea of mastering the numbers is elusive. This imperfect reality is comforting and seeing the challenge we have as just another endless mountain to climb is very healthy.

For many hoteliers, there is a great deal of confusion about the different revenue management technologies available on the market today. ItÕs hard to remember which technology calculates rates, which manages inventory, which updates the new prices to the online distribution channels, or if they do both.

Increasing traffic to your own website is one of the most important factors for a hotelÕs success, as 100 per centÊof all revenue from direct bookings are paid to the property withÊno acquisition cost. It is possible to increase your propertyÕs website traffic by establishing direct links to your site so customers can reach yours via other sites. While this method is efficient, building direct links can be time-consuming and expensive.

The whole conversation around big data is exhausting. The possibilities are endless. But here we are, every day, worried that we are sitting on a mountain of data but doing very little with it. But is it paralysis caused by these overwhelming possibilities? Or do you just think big data is best left to big hotels and chains?

The business of managing the hotel finances is not terribly technical or complicated. What makes it challenging is that itÕs usually a very large job involving many people. In a 500-room hotel, you can easily have 20+ forecast contributors. The communication system in the hotel is the key to both smooth management and predictive financial results. This is the how to.

In the highly competitive environment of the hospitality industry, there is a common denominator among the various day-to-day hotel management operations Ð they all need to provide instant gratification to guests without delay. To stay ahead of the competition, you actually need a platform integrating every aspect of your business to let you efficiently adapt to the ever-changing market situation in real time.

Simply put, a hotel that does’t apply overbooking is losing a big chunk of profitable revenue, as normally the high BAR rates are sold last. On days when there is incremental demand, the opportunity to sell 100 per cent of the rooms is there. In a market with lot of incremental demand, hotels need to pay extra attention in order not to lose out on revenues.

travelikoÊis aÊbooking platform thatÊwas conceived by a group of hospitality professionals who saw hotel profits squeezed due to the high commissions paid to the dominant global OTAs, which ultimately had a negative impact on the quality of services provided to guests.