McLEAN, VA & Singapore (April 24, 2015) – Marina Bay Sands has made a US$180,000 grant to the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International to  develop the association’s chapter in Southeast Asia.   

The grant will help HSMAI develop membership and fund educational programs in the Singapore market and South East Asian region. During the three-year period from 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2018, HSMAI will conduct industry events, recruitment sessions and educational programmes, covering areas such as sales, marketing and revenue optimization.

“The grant provides funding that allows us to develop a strong brand in the region and advocate and educate hotel sales, marketing, and revenue management professionals.” said Bob Gilbert, CHME, CHBA, President and CEO of HSMAI.  “HSMAI plans to develop additional educational programs there following the launch of HSMAI AsiaPacific Revenue Optimisation Conference (ROC) which debuts in Singapore on April 22^nd and a Chief Revenue Officer Executive Roundtable on April 23^rd.”   

Mike Lee, Vice President of Marina Bay Sands, said, “Marina Bay Sands is pleased to support the development of the Southeast Asia Chapter of HSMAI.  The markets in this region are thriving and so is the need for greater educational resources and professional training for members of the hotel sales, marketing, and revenue management industries. As a thought leader, we hope to share our expertise and play a part in contributing to the region’s business landscape. An educational association such as HSMAI can help hoteliers navigate emerging trends, optimize their revenue performance and attract new customer segments to markets such as Singapore.”   

Jackie Douglas, President of HSMAI Asia Pacific said “We’re excited to be partnering with Marina Bay Sands as we implement our strategy in South East Asia.  The additional funding will allow us to develop more educational programs and content for the industry, and to expand our South East Asia Chapter, to better serve hoteliers in global brands, local chains and independent hotels.”  

Marina Bay Sands, which will be positioned as a Platinum Educational Partner for the chapter, will host two educational events for the Singapore chapter each year.

Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI) Global is a federation of Regions committed to growing business for hotels and their partners, and is the industry’s leading advocate for intelligent, sustainable hotel revenue growth. HSMAI Regions provide hotel professionals & their partners with tools, insights, and expertise to fuel sales, inspire marketing, and optimize revenue through programs around the world. HSMAI is an individual membership organization comprising more than 7,000 members globally with a presence in the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, and Middle East. Connect with HSMAI at www.hsmai.org.  For more information, contact: Jason Smith, HSMAI Global Headquarters jsmith@hsmai.org.

Founded in 2005, HSMAI Asia Pacific’s mission is to be the leading source for sales and marketing information, tools, insight, business development, and networking for professionals in the hospitality industry. With a strong focus on education, HSMAI has become the industry champion in identifying and communicating trends in the hospitality industry while operating as a leading voice for hotel sales, marketing and revenue management disciplines. Activities in the region are held in Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, Bangkok, Jakarta, Bali and Beijing.

For additional information, refer to our website at www.hsmaiasia.org or follow us on Twitter at @hsmaiasia or join our LinkedIn group at

HSMAI Asia Pacific

Key Areas to Watch for Revenue Management in 2015

Singapore, 5^th March, 2015

Four areas for revenue professionals to focus on for the year ahead, according to the HSMAI APAC Revenue Advisory Board. 

Distribution

The distribution landscape is always evolving and 2015 has started with a bang, or two!  With the consolidation of the big brand OTA’s along with the emerging new channels, there is a lot for the revenue manager to think about.  Things are developing so quickly that it is difficult to see how to adapt and select the right opportunities.  The most successful hoteliers are adapting their distribution strategy in order to optimise revenue and profit from the different channels.  If you’re not changing your distribution strategy this year, you might be falling behind; don’t expect the same results from a vastly different landscape. 

When partnering with intermediaries, identify which are most valuable, who to align with, and what unique offers to provide through those channels.  Know the cost per channel and optimise your channel contribution.  Measure, test, and measure again. 

Revenue Management Culture

Silos still exist in many organisations between sales, marketing and revenue management. All organisations can benefit from optimising revenue and profits (and operating efficiencies) when these disciplines converge.  

Ensuring success means building a culture across your company that understands and embraces revenue management practices and respects and understands the role of revenue management and its ability to improve profitability for hotels of any size.  More revenue management tools are available to hoteliers to assist decision-making but revenue managers should also use their own experience to adapt and adopt dynamic pricing tactics.     

Total Revenue Management is key, not just rooms revenue. Take into account how different guest types drive non-room revenue through Restaurants, Function space, Spa, Touring and other ancillary revenue. 

RM culture will be a hot topic at our upcoming Revenue Optimisation Conference in Singapore April 22^nd, 2015.

Digital

No hospitality trends piece would be complete without a reference to digital and the changes coming via the mobile wave.  You will need to understand the net impact of technology in the travel space – especially adoption by upcoming generations.  Firstly, consider how technology is changing your guests’ experience, not just during the shopping and booking process, but also when they are in-house.  Begin by trying to figure out how to improve your customer experience before you start trying to calculate the impact on revenue.  What are your competitors planning or doing?  Will improved digital technology be able to steal customer share? For independents and smaller chains, can you compete with big brands who have deep pockets when it comes to technology development? 

Big Data

What’s really going to make the difference in big data is what data we work with as sales people, marketers and revenue managers and what we do with that data once it is collected. 

Data today comes in all types of formats and the volume of data can feel a bit overwhelming. Try to cut through the volume of data and focus on the most valuable data for your task.  Determine which data you already collect, and which data you need to start collecting.  Work with the marketing team to streamline how to test and measure the data, then evaluate whether what’s being collected is actually being used. Is it improving profitability?  Technology can assist and we are seeing enhancements to revenue management software to not only display and report on the massive amounts of data, but incorporate it into their demand forecasting and algorithms in a way that enhances the forecasting performance.

To continue to compete effectively in 2015, marketing, sales and revenue management will have to mine for opportunities where they can market to current and potential guests effectively, and where they can truly meet the needs of their guests.  All while monitoring a constantly shifting landscape of consumer behaviour and booking channel preferences. 

HSMAI Collecting Data for Hotel Digital Benchmark Study

01-29-2015

The Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI) has begun collecting information for its second annual Hotel Digital Marketing Benchmark Study. The study will allow a hotel to better understand the performance of its digital marketing program, gaps it needs to fill in marketing and its place within the industry.

"We consistently hear from hoteliers that it's not only difficult to measure the success of digital marketing programs but it's also difficult, and near impossible, to figure out how a program has performed relative to the industry," said Bob Gilbert, president and CEO of HSMAI. "This study will hopefully help answer some of those questions.

New this year is an interactive platform that will provide customizable reports and insights to help hotel owners in their resource allocation decision-making.

Hoteliers, especially those responsible for digital marketing performance, are urged to participate in the study by the March 1 deadline. The 25-question survey covers a hotel's digital marketing efforts and results from 2014.

Participants are allowed to enter data for multiple hotels in the survey and will have access to separate reports for each.

Data collected during the study will be kept confidential, and all information reported will be an aggregation of all survey responses.

For more information and to access the survey, follow this link: Hotel Digital Marketing Benchmark Study.

Our next major event is in Bangkok on September 2nd, 2015.
This event will focus on the Sales function in Hospitality. 
More information shortly. Keep an eye out on www.hsmaiasia.org.