New Revenue Management Tools Elizabeth A Craig Founder

New Revenue Management Tools Elizabeth A Craig Founder, CEO liz@oneglobenetwork. com

The Company • Established 1997; US office – Boston; EU office - Paris • Purpose – help clients drive revenue results, from the Internet • Clients – GDS, online booking systems for hotels, destination booking platforms , Hotel Groups Key Issues expressed by clients: : : Which online channels to choose : : What rates/prices to publish in each channel : : When to discount inventory In short, classic RM issues… Elizabeth A Craig Founder, CEO liz@oneglobenetwork. com

The ‘big picture’ of revenue

Corporate traveler – extended stay rate Weekend last minute package Corporate traveler The ‘big picture’ of revenue Is composed of Microsegments Weekend – Family Plan Discount Corporate Rate Weekend – special event rate

concept context disruption The ‘big picture’ of revenue, in reality, composed of micro-segments. These segments vary in: Price sensitivity Purchasing behavior Channel preferences Traditionally, aggregated data collected by the RM system was a predictive indicator of future customer demand…therefore the basis of pricing/inventory decisions. That normally reliable data has been severely disrupted by a confluence of global factors. issues The question: How can pricing, inventory and timing decisions be made in the absence of reliable data? answers advice Proposed solution: Specialized websites – create predictive data target micro-segments test price and demand patterns determine ‘fail points’…. without compromising your pricing integrity.

concept context RM Basic Principles: Pricing, inventory allocations decisions are based upon supply and demand. Supply/demand factors are data driven. disruption issues answers advice Revenue is optimized from your existing demand, based upon analysis of historical data. Traditional RM Examples: If you are ahead of your historical booking pace, demand is up – there is the opportunity to increase rates and apply booking restrictions to optimize revenue. If you are behind your historical booking pace, demand has weakened – opening additional discount categories will stimulate bookings.

Sample Weekend Package Booking Pace concept Behind Pace Strategy Open / Create Discount Categories context Historical Booking Pace 100% Current Reservations Booking Pace 75% disruption 50% issues answers 25% advice 60 days 45 days 30 days 14 days 7 days 3 days Day Of Arrival

Sample Weekend Package Booking Pace concept Traditional RM strategy Ahead of Pace Close out / Restrict Discounts context Historical Booking Pace 100% Current Reservations Booking Pace 75% disruption 50% issues answers 25% advice 60 days 45 days 30 days 14 days 7 days 3 days Day Of Arrival

concept A collision of circumstances have impacted the travel industry, on a global scale. We are all very familiar with these factors, which have had extensive press coverage: . . SARS. . military action in Iraq. . the threat of terrorism. . airlines financial problems… context . . and the rate of adoption of the Internet as a travel planning tool. The results disruption Causing historical data to become less accurate for predictive indicators… Corporate travel restrictions, budget cutbacks Globalization of ‘last minute’ as a market segment issues Ease of comparative shopping online Shifts in domestic travel answers Explosive growth of 3 rd party travel sites Excess inventory supporting 3 rd party booking sites success advice Low cost airlines market penetration

Last Minute - global customer segment packages

Last Minute - global customer segment Hotels

Last Minute - global customer segment Travel

Ease of cost comparison

Shift to domestic markets Visit. Britain encourages agents to sell England with the launch of the new marketing campaign. Visit. Britain, the new tourism body charged with marketing England within Britain, launches ‘Enjoy England’, the first campaign to market English tourism in almost ten years, pledging to work closely with the travel trade to help sell England. The campaign, which is endorsed by ABTA and the Tourism Alliance, is designed to raise awareness and generate interest in England as a destination for the British. It is also designed to stimulate sales by an extra quarter of a million holidays in advance of the peak summer period, against a backdrop of falling international package bookings.

concept Emerging Issues : Moreover, there are several emerging issues which could further invalidate historical data…as there is no history. context disruption issues Reclassification of market segments – travelers are identifying themselves via special interests/events in addition to purpose of travel. Newsweek magazine recently featured “Travelers of Tomorrow” – New Market sources – Chinese outbound tourism, independent Russian travelers The evolution of ‘distribution relationships’ - integrating online booking within special interest sites, where travel is essential to pursuing that interest. Examples: NASCAR, Active. com, Active. Europe. com answers E-collaboration areas, shared workspaces, Blogs (web logs), P 2 P networks – as distribution access points. Examples: Morpheus, Groovenetworks, Gawker, Skyblogs advice

Reclassification of market segments

Beyond Distribution Channels - Distribution Relationships

Distribution relationships - Travel as integral to special interests

Distribution relationships

Distribution relationships www. active. com Online registration for sporting Events Team websites Over 2. 5 millions users

Distribution Relationships with special interest groups Via ‘community’ sites incorporating Facilitating services Travel can be event Related… or personal. Savings as a member benefit

Distribution Relationship Flight/Lodging offers in the event Registration confirmation

Morpheus is a P 2 P free music, videos, software download site. Users earn cash by buying through the site. Travel, of course, is offered.

Shared Workspaces (P 2 P) as Potential distribution points. www. groove. net P 2 P – Peer to Peer or Distributed computing Groove is Ka. Zaa for business applications

Distribution Relationships – P 2 P space Alternatives to corporate travel networks

E-collaboration ‘Blogs’ or Weblogs Latest online trend

concept How to generate meaningful data for critical RM decisions? Create specific mini-sites to target micro-segments. context disruption issues answers Highly focused : specific interests ‘hot’ destinations + attractions specialized activities Integrate online booking : create 3 to 4 price points assure differentiation – product, booking barriers aggressively e-market ‘organic approach’ to pricing - keep changing until you determine what generates the most transactions test for ‘fail points’ Examples: Choice Travel Sports – athletes, teams – very price sensitive; fans – less price sensitive Landmark Weekends (prototype) advice

Choice Hotels targets the amateur athletic market with www. choicesportstravel. com

Landmark Hotel’s Destination Mini-site - Focus London Weekends (prototype) www. landmark-weekends. com Vs. www. landmarklondon. co. uk

Mini-site tests weekend package price points

concept Analysis What price +/ product yield the highest conversion ratio? context How does the rate compare to rates available in 3 rd party sites, targeted at the same (micro) market? What is the advance buy time? disruption issues Are there online actions that lead to a transaction? Example actions – sign up for promo announcement, download map How does the data compare to your RM system data? Can new data be factored to create revised benchmarks? answers advice When you find what works – grow the business: distribution alliances, distribution channels, direct bookings. Then – select another micro segment!!!

concept Stay focused – start small… 2 -3 pages, focus content on 1 factor e. g. weekend activities. It is not a product promotion – but linked to your product’s promotion. context Web Optimize disruption issues URL = your brand + site focus Lots of links – activities and interest, according to site focus - quote media, use the link onsite (get permission) Meta tags – Use ‘wordtracker’ or other programs to determine tags Use keywords that are popular with the target microsegment 1 or 2 good visuals per page; tag as destination Aggressively market online – to generate test traffic. Modify - Refresh answers Change components until you get the right ‘recipe’. Have fun…experiment! advice Ideas from other industries…Take a look at: www. cokemusic. com www. dealdenfer. fr

Ideas from other industries www. cokemusic. com Games+ Viral+ Chat+ Record music+ Offline Promo+

Ideas from other industries

Ideas from other industries www. mcdonalds. fr Summer promo

Ideas from other industries dealdenfer. com Specialty site Minimal branding

Ideas from other industries Travel next ?

Site 59. com Lastminute. fr Expedia. com Travelocity. com Weekend last minute package Hotel. Guide. com Corporate traveler – extended stay rate Corporate traveler Weekend – Family Plan All-hotels. com Ratestogo. fr Weekend – special event rate Discount Corporate Rate Orbitz. com Highwire. com Activeeurope. com

Your site+ Mini sites + Select third party sites = Revenue Maximization

The Net as an RM tool …inexpensive …invisible to your competitor …business innovation …forward thinking research VS. past, polluted data Questions, comments…radical answers ? -- Liz Craig liz@oneglobenetwork. com