Oonagh Cremins, Owner and Director of The Innovate Room shares her thoughts on pricing for your hotel.

Pricing is one of those topics that can elicit fear and bravery in the same breath. Setting & getting your pricing right is so important not alone for your budget achievement but for your marketing and brand position in the eyes of your potential customers & the success of your hotel.

Too often I think the subject of pricing does not receive the level of work & examination that it deserves.  We can often be accused as a sector of being too focused on rate control! Rate control is really the last step in a 360 Revenue Management Process and only happens when all the other elements in the Marketing process have been completed.

To get your pricing aligned with your Marketing and Brand activity I recommend you create a clear distinction in your work between Pricing and Rate control.  The latter element is end game, the former is where all the hard work needs to happen. Too often hotels are working with a legacy pricing structure. Reviewing their pricing process end to end could really support greater growth of their business.

A few questions that might be helpful to ask when sense checking your Pricing:

When is the last time you reviewed your rate values in detail, versus our current product and versus a challenging competitive set?

Is your Pricing supporting your brand position?

Does your marketing support your price point?

Have you completed a Product and Price Matrix in recent times to evaluate your price position in the market place?

And finally, how much will Price contribute to your Revenue Growth in 2020?

You are welcome to contact Oonagh or any of our team of Associates at The Innovate Room for further information on the services we provide.