The importance of Revenue Management has grown significantly over the years. This has evolved and has become more comprehensive. Along with this sensitivity throughout the hotel industry, the need for updated technological tools is also transversal. The liability on data management tools is increasing. These tools are progressively complex and packed with algorithms to optimize time and revenue.
The big question is: Is technology always an ally or will it come with all its power of artificial intelligence to replace the human component in hotel analysis and its management?
Currently AI is very present in the hotelier's routines. You'll be able to find it in customer interactions, website chats, concierge services, as well as support Revenue Managers in their ongoing struggle to analyze trends and segments, etc. They are very important tools that help to break the intricate data web and to suggest the Optimum Price taking into account the various factors that we add to the equation. All this in a second and with incredible ease.
This help is so deep that the quest for solutions of this nature increases day by day. The most fearless hotelier getting involver is a deeper way and his strategies begin to rest on AI solutions.
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”[1]
The sky is the limit. Robots are equipped to do much more, and add value to Revenue Management. Reading data is extremely efficient and fast. AI deconstruct data in order to identify target market segments, suggest the optimum price in order to increase the average daily rate, design specific promotions for each market segment, optimizing Revenue to the maximum.
The beginning of the Robotic Era is Now, enthusiasm is all over the place. The issue is transversal. Will Artificial Intelligence Replace us in our Jobs? For our part we would like to know if the role of the Revenue Manager will be compromised by relying more and more on this automation. Will we reach a point where we will be discarded?
We understand that any automation has to be programmed. Its efficiency will always depend on the programming that has been carried out. New variables will only be taken into account if they are added to the algorithm. A constant reprogramming will be something time-consuming and expensive, and this is where the Revenue Manager stands out and drives the strategy, taking into account variables outside the algorithm, such as:
- Change in Comp Set[2], as the opening of a new Hotel;
- Recent development of the hotel industry;
- Knowledge of the consumption trends of a given event based on professional experience;
- Emotional factors of trust or uncertainty, whether political, social or economic;
- Weather Constraints;
"Science and technology revolutionize our lives, but memory, tradition and myth shape our responses."[3]
The Revenue Manager will always be the Maestro, able to anticipate and avoid unexpected situations. He will further extend your field of activity, as he has been doing. He will not lose the importance to the viability of the business in a near future. Tools based on Artificial Intelligence are an added value by the availability given to the RM to focus on other tasks in which human involvement is essential, and he cannot neglect the constant learning that this new reality obliges.
