Profiting through teamwork: The role of the revenue management and sales functions in group revenue management

Revenue management and sales staffs collaborate substantially in making decisions regarding rate setting, accepting group business, and forecasting. However, according to a survey of 82 sales and revenue management executives at three hotel chains (47 revenue managers and 35 sales executives), hotels could foster even better coordination between revenue management and sales by educating each group regarding the other group's responsibilities. This might reduce sales staff frustrations about the way revenue managers make rate recommendations, and it might help revenue managers understand the importance that sales executives place on maintaining a relationship with a group, even when room rates do not meet targets. Forecasting is a major function for revenue managers, who take numerous factors into account, and some sales executives also are responsible for forecasting, primarily using one data source. Thus, the two groups focus on the data in different ways. Respondents suggest several ways to strengthen the relationship, including on-the-job training and education. For both groups, implementing performance assessments that involve several measures would allow the two groups to have some measures in common. Useful measures might include a group's total revenue contribution, which is not commonly applied among these respondents. Another measure, the hotel's total revenue or contribution, is a worthwhile consideration for both revenue managers and sales executives.