What Exactly Are Revenue Management Systems?
In my previous Property Management blog post, I talked about what it really means when all of your apartments are rented out in advance. Contrary to popular belief, having units sold out for weeks means potential income is left on the table.
The key to figuring this out to a tee without the extra headache? Revenue Management Systems, or Revenue Software (RS), of course!
You may also hear them being referred to as “yield management systems” or “pricing engines.” All the same.
Revenue Management Systems combine the wonders of art with the technicalities of science to see what the human eye cannot. They strategically use distribution and pricing tactics and analytics to boost the growth of your revenue.
Raising room rates. Maximum pricing on amenities, as well as food and beverage services. These are all components of revenue management.
Every guest that enters your property has a maximum value. Revenue management systems are responsible for determining the range that customers are willing to pay.
How? By using algorithms to hone in on supply and demand.
Why stress yourself trying to capture every ounce of value possible when a reliable system can do it for you? Should be a no-brainer, right?
A few important features that a revenue management system should have are:
- Real-Time Pricing
- Automatic Updates (rates per room type)
- Multi-Property BI & Reporting
- Group Pricing
- Competitor Rates
- Integration – (with your PMS, CRS, CRM and booking engine)
- Open Pricing (independent pricing of roomroom types and channels VS set BAR price)
- Cloud Technology
Here is a look at the 5 best revenue management systems for hotels and short-term rentals.
Top 5 Revenue Management Systems
Gamechanger by Duetto
Known for its ability to ingest more data than any other RMS currently on the market, the Gamechanger by Duetto is a fantastic choice.
This revenue management system uses its advanced pricing analytics, as well as expertly created segmentation tools, to raise booking revenue to its full potential.
Duetto also helps hoteliers and property owners by using existing and real-time data from the hospitality industry to determine the most profitable course of action.
Managers looking to surpass their revpar index? Reporting solutions like open pricing make it happen with ease and finesse.
Users rave on Duetto’s benefits, calling it “extremely intuitive” with “great development capacity, easy configuration, and excellent support.” Most importantly? Connecting to their PMS was simple and painless as well.
Another satisfied user was impressed by its “flexible setup/application, sub rates, room type pricing…, which all make creative approaches towards revenue management easily managed.”
Sounds like Duetto knows what property managers want.
Benefits:
- Dynamic Pricing
- Price Sensitivity
- Fully Automated
- “What-if” Scenarios
- Guided Workflows
- Group Pricing
- Group Evaluation
- Channel Management
- Analytics Dashboard
- Multi-Property Management
- Open API
- Mobile App
- Inventory Management
- Open Pricing
- Lost Business Data
- Pricing Options (Automated Room-Type & 365-Day Forward)
- Dynamic Price Hierarchy Control
- Price Optimization (in real-time)
- Alternate Property Recommendations
- Alternate Stay Date Recommendations
- Five-Year Forecasting
- Smart Spreading Technology
- Scheduled Reports
- Custom Reports
- Enterprise Business Guidelines
- Mobile-Friendly Design
Optima by RateGain
Optima by RateGain innovatively compiles data from over 500 sources to provide the full spectrum of Rate and Competitive Intelligence.
By making data accessible by way of an easily operated UX and UI platform, Optima ensures that you can quickly and effectively improve your pricing strategies.
Armed with the data of yesterday and the future data of tomorrow alike, RateGain provides insight on important revenue management components, such as Geo-Based Rate, Member Rates, VAS inclusions, as well as Mobile Rates and Parity Tracking.
RateGain even includes keyword mapping for products and tracking for promotions. (Talk about a bird’s eye view!) You can tap into events in the area, as well as the analytics of Ranking & Reviews to make an educated decision on pricing and availability.
Simply put, RateGain has a full grasp on what property managers really need.
Benefits:
- OPTIMA MarketDRONE (tracks rate plan changes and intra-day rate from hotels)
- dataSURE (framework based on Machine Learning)
- Lightning Refresh (100% real-time data)
- New Multilingual User Interface (English, French, Japanese, German, Portuguese and Spanish all with local language support included)
- Market Compression
- Indicator (highlights most profitable dates)
- Geo-Rate Shopping
- Pricing Playground (compare your market position vs competition)
- Advanced Rate Tagging Engine (follow competitor’s promotions)
- Mobile & Member Rates Tracking
- Airbnb Insights
Pace Revenue
The creators of Pace Revenue have effortlessly nailed it.
Pace Revenue takes industry-leading trends and applies them to pricing for all property sizes in real-time.
Because the Pace RMS consistently tweaks their machine learning algorithm to pick up on your property’s data and consistencies, your experience is tailored to fit you and you alone.
Especially convenient with the present need to work remotely, Pace automatically readjusts to fit any changes in demand for a whole year out.
That’s right. Pace actually gives booking curve predictions, including every night, room category, and segment, using its algorithm. Pretty nifty, huh?
Its users don’t lie, either.
One review praises Pace for their property dashboards which “give a good overview of all relevant KPIs.” This user also refers to Pace as “a very powerful BI solution, with great capability to explore your data and share reports.”
Powerful words for a powerful product.
Benefits:
- Dynamic Pricing
- Price Sensitivity
- Fully Automated
- “What-if” Scenarios
- Guided Workflows
- Group Pricing
- Group Evaluation
- Analytics Dashboard
- Multi-Property Management
- Open API & Pricing
- Mobile App
- Inventory Management
- Pricing Options (Automated Room-Type & 365-Day Forward)
- Dynamic Price Hierarchy Control
- Price Optimization (in real-time)
- Smart Spreading Technology
- Scheduled & Custom Reports
- Single Sign-On
RevControl
Whether a big hotel, medium-sized hostel, or small short-term rental property, the RevControl RMS works efficiently and practically.
You can use the AutoPublish feature for automated rate updates to either PMS or your Channel Manager.
This revenue management system doesn’t just stop at using PMS data. It also cleverly considers competitors rates when calculating your rate recommendation per room type.
You can also access Rate Shopping for 365 days, as well as 10 competitors. Daily rates and competitor info are all easily accessible through RevControl’s user-friendly system.
Not only does your system fully integrate into the Channel Manager, but all of your rates are directly synced to OTAs and PMS.
The icing on the cake? Their customer service is speedy and awesome.
Reviews praise RevControl for its ease of use, with “minimum effort required to achieve maximum results.” There is also “good integration with Mews as PMS” as well as a “good price quality ratio.”
Sounds like a winner to me.
Benefits:
- Dynamic Pricing
- Fully Automated
- Group Pricing
- Group Evaluation
- Analytics Dashboard
- Multi-Property Management
- Pricing Options (Automated Room-Type & 365-Day Forward)
- Price Optimization (in real-time)
- Scheduled & Custom Reports
- Mobile Friendly Design
BEONPRICE
It’s no secret that BEONPRICE gets the job done.
First, this revenue management system uses data to optimize your RevPAR.
Then, it uses its own Hotel Quality Index, or HQI™, to maximize your Guest Retention. Instantly, you are placed light years ahead of the competition.
Pricing recommendations conveniently adapt to different scenarios with BEONPRICE’s Al-driven algorithm.
Their motto is “data-driven RevPar, people-driven service,” and it shows.
Satisfied customers are pleased with BEONPRICE’s “agility to remove or add hotels from the competitive set.”
They are also fans of the “Be On Price” tool which makes data and revenue analysis as easy as can be. They also praise being able to “track your CompSet in a more intuitive way.”
Let’s give the BEONPRICE revenue management system a hand, shall we?
Benefits:
- Dynamic Pricing
- Price Sensitivity
- Fully Automated
- “What-if” Scenarios
- Guided Workflows
- Group Pricing
- Group Evaluation
- Channel Management
- Analytics Dashboard
- Multi-Property Management
- Open API
- Mobile App
- Inventory Management
- Open Pricing
- Lost Business Data
- Pricing Options (Automated Room-Type & 365-Day Forward)
- Dynamic Price Hierarchy Control
- Price Optimization (in real-time)
- Alternate Property Recommendations
- Alternate Stay Date Recommendations
- Five-Year Forecasting
- Smart Spreading Technology
- Scheduled Reports
- Custom Reports
- Enterprise Business Guidelines
- Mobile Friendly Design
Hopefully, this eases the seemingly difficult process of finding the best revenue management system for you. With research and just a little push, you can begin maximizing your profits too.
Continue to stay safe out there.
Ignacio Suárez, CEO Roomonitor