2007 Agenda

Tuesday 27th November

18.00 - 19.00 Pre-registration

Pre-registration including a 45 minute Evening Workshop 'Understand the importance of Integrating Pricing and RM' run by Steve Pinchuk starting at 18.15

18.15 - 19.00 RM Masterclass

Understand the Importance of Integrating Pricing and Revenue Management

  • What role does pricing play in an RM system?
  • How can you integrate your pricing and revenue management?
  • How can you make your RM system into a pricing system?
  • What data is needed to make optimal pricing decisions and how should that knowledge be utilized to make automated pricing decisions?
  • What are the dangers to avoid when making pricing decisions?
  • Steve Pinchuk, President, Profit Optimization Strategies Ltd.

09.00 - 17.30 Day One: 28th November

09.00 - 9.10 Chairman's Introduction

  • Steve Pinchuk, President, Proft Optimization Strategies Ltd.

09.10 - 10.30 Session One: Presentations and Panel

Creating a successful RM Culture in your organisation

Examining Revenue Management as a culture

  • Structure is a bi-product of culture - What does your company structure mean and how does this affect the acceptance of RM as a driving force in your organisation? Ensure you have a reporting structure that gives your Director of Revenue Management the necessary authority to execute strategies.
  • Why does the discrepancy between travel companies with a key RM function and travel companies without still exist? How is it that some company cultures have evolved to be opened to new money saving ideas??
  • What is the best way to integrate and optimise the RM knowledge you have into your organisation?
  • Does your COO really understand RM? What is the optimal way for revenue managers to work with sales, marketing and top management?
  • Attracting, recruiting and retaining the right Revenue Managers for your organisation is a key part of establishing your RM culture - How should you advertise RM positions in your organisation to make them more appealing?
  • Duncan Bramwell, VP, Sales, Distribution and E-commerce, The Dorchester Collection
  • Siv Forlie, Director of RM, EAME, Hyatt International Hotels & Resorts
  • Jorunn Svidal, Director Of Revenue Management, Thon Hotels
  • Patrick Wimble, Revenue Development Director, InterContinental Hotel Group (panel only)
  • Clive Taylor, Vice President - Operations, EasyRMS (panel only)

10.30 - 11.00 Networking Coffee Break

11.00 - 12.15 Session Two: Presentations and Panel

Apply effective RM across all your distribution channels

With an ever increasing number of distribution channels available, how can you ensure that you apply consistent revenue management across all of them?

  • As you are increasingly able to choose between different online/offline channels how do you ensure that you are only working with those that work best for you?
  • How much of your revenue is being 'lost' to TPI's? Are they a deserved cost or are they eating away at your profits?
  • How can you control the inventory displayed in each channel whilst ensuring your rates are displayed on all channels in real time?
  • Does charging different rates on different online channels devalue your product? Or is it the best way to ensure you are charging the right price to your customers?
  • Learn how to employ channel conversion techniques to encourage guests to book directly next time through less costly channels.
  • Kjetil Smette, Director of Revenue Management, First Hotels
  • Alex Gisbert, Regional Director of International Strategic Accounts, EMEA, Expedia

12.15 - 14.00 Networking Lunch Break

13.15 - 14.00 Lunchtime workshop

Best Practices in Integrating Technology and Revenue Management to Maximize Revenues

  • Learn the difference in forecasting methodologies
  • Understand the various recommendation strategies and how each maximize revenues
  • Ensure you implement revenue management best practices in everyday operations
  • Rory Fagan, Director, PROS
  • John Riddell, SVP, PROS

Please note the afternoon tracks have been designed to give more focus to revenue management practices and issues specific to the industries you work in. Track A will be debate-led and will give delegates the chance to discuss key issues relating to RM and Pricing in hospitality. Track B will focus on RM and pricing for tour operators and transport providers and will be primarily presentation-led. Both tracks will provide learning opportunities to all and you are free to move between them.

Track A

14.00 - 15.15 Presentations and Panel:

Implementing a total RM strategy for your hotel

  • Often managed poorly due to the dependence on REVPAR, how can hoteliers integrate conference, events, food and beverage RM into their core RM strategy?
  • How should you measure the performance of a conference/event? Occupancy in the room or revenue per individual?
  • Much F + B is loss making as the margins are so high. Would an integrated system be able to avoid this?
  • Will a standard all encompassing automated total RM system for hoteliers ever come into place?
  • How can you evaluate the performance of your whole portfolio?
  • TBA, Park Plaza Hotels
  • Patrick Wimble, Revenue Development Director, InterContinental Hotels Group

Track B

14.00 - 15.30 Presentations and Panel

Optimizing Pricing strategies for transport providers

  • In markets with weak connectivity and communication with distribution channels, how can you retain control over net rates? How can you react to unexpected demand?
  • Pricing in a fenceless environment - how many different rates should you charge and what is the optimal way of ensuring they are implemented at the right place, right time for the right product?
  • Airlines commonly use partitioned pricing - do partitioned prices help the consumer to make a purchasing decision or just add to the confusion?
  • How can dynamic pricing be linked into controlling the inventory available?
  • What strategies do train companies use to optimise RM when they have limited advanced reservations? How do they compare to companies who have advanced reservations?
  • How can RM indicators be isolated for performance measurement purposes?
  • Kevin Ger, VP RM and Planning, Eos Airlines
  • John Waddington, Revenue Optimisation Senior Manager, Eurostar
  • Lars Sandström, Director of Strategic Pricing, SAS Group

15.15 - 15.45 Networking Coffee Break

15.30 - 16.00 Networking Coffee Break

15.45 - 17.15 Round tables

Optimizing Pricing Strategies for hoteliers

  • Are you confident that you are charging the right rate for your hotel?
  • Is best rate guarantee on your website the best way to encourage direct sales and greater rate control?
  • REVPAR is driven by sales and marketing - is it an accurate enough performance indicator?
  • In corporate pricing there are greater considerations including group ceilings, last minute room rates. Discuss how RM departments should decide upon this
  • When operating as part of a large franchised hotel chain, how can you avoid franchisees competing for the same revenue share?
  • Roundtables led by Steve Pinchuk, President, Profit Optimization Strategies Ltd.

16.00 - 17.30 Presentations and Panel

Pricing for tour operators and travel intermediaries

  • With more and more traditional tour operators shifting online, how can tour operators continue to justify a price premium to well informed, web savvy customers?
  • How effective are your pricing strategies? How do you predict the right price when historical data no longer applies to your business?
  • What is the role of revenue management in the creation of new packaged products that might include insurance, flight, room and activity elements?
  • How do you make sure all your sales channels not only sell your core product at the best price but also sell the most applicable add ons and packages for the optimum price?
  • In today's rapidly changing marketplace, analyse which operational activities add real value to your business and identify loss making activities
  • Regina Mylan, Senior Director of Revenue Management, GTA
  • Joerg Esser, Head of Yield Management & Business Development, Thomas Cook Nederland BV
  • Harsha Krishnan, Head of Strategy Management, TUI plc (Hotelbeds)
  • Christian Vitiello, Head of Revenue Management, Haven & British Holidays

17.15 - 19.30 End of Day One Networking Drinks Party

Including the presentation of Pricing Inside's prize draw at 18.30!

09.00 - 16.30 Day Two: 29th November

09.00 - 9.10 Chairman's Introduction

  • Steve Pinchuk, President, Proft Optimization Strategies Ltd.

09.10 - 10.30 Session One: Presentations and Panel

Examining the relationship between RM and CRM

Part A: Integrating customer data into your RM policies

  • Discover how to identify your most valuable customers and employ revenue management tactics to stimulate demand, improve conversion rates and increase average booking revenue
  • As customer bases are increasing segmented, the number of different rates your company deploys will increase. How do you know what price to charge when? Are the algorithms effective enough to rely upon? Are in-house systems better?
  • Which management information systems can provide Revenue Managers with the right information about consumer behaviour to make optimal pricing decisions?
  • Should you try to influence consumer behaviour or simply price your product according to their previous behaviour?
  • What impact does the quality of your data have on your ability to yield effectively?
  • Nayan Peshkar, Regional Director of RM, Millennium Copthorne Hotels
  • Frank Komen, Director of RM, NH Hotels
  • Pieter Dorhout, Principal Consultant, Pricing & RM, JDA Software
  • Joerg Esser, Head of Yield Management & Business Development, Thomas Cook Nederland BV (panel only)

Part B: Synchronising your Pricing Strategies with the latest Consumer preferences

  • Should group rates be available on the internet?
  • How does the customer react to dynamic pricing? Does it affect the perceived quality of your brand?
  • Price sensitivity - how can you really understand how much you consumer is willing to pay? How much is determined by market conditions rather than the individual's propensity to spend?
  • Felix Eichhorn, Head of Yield and Flight Operations, AIDA Cruises

10.30 - 11.00 Networking Coffee Break

11.00 - 12.15 Session Two: Presentations and Panel

RM for Budget travel suppliers - does a single pricing strategy ever optimise revenue?

  • What RM techniques are deployed by low cost travel suppliers? Are their strategies becoming increasingly scientific?
  • Why do budget hotels depend on fixed single pricing strategies? Do they work? Is this about to change? Does single pricing ever work?
  • Why do traditional revenue management procedures and algorithms fail in a fenceless environment typical of low-fare carriers?
  • Do low cost airline price wars ultimately damage their bottom line?
  • Calum Russell, Commercial Director, EasyHotel
  • Warren Mandelbaum, UK Revenue Manager, Premier Inn
  • Cheryl Hawksworth, Sales Manager, UK IDeaS Revenue Optimization

12:15 - 14:00 Networking Lunch Break

13.15 - 14.00 Lunchtime workshop

Using market data in pricing and revenue management

  • Why is it important to use near-time market data in pricing and revenue management?
  • What is the margin impact of using near-time competitor data in pricing and revenue management applications?
  • Where are data for comparable products available?
  • Which channels should be monitored?
  • How can data from competing products be gathered reliably and cost effectively?
  • What infrastructure is required to effectively gather market data for pricing applications?
  • What factors should be considered when selecting a vendor?
  • Jason Houle, VP Travel, Lixto Software GmBh

14.15 - 15.00 Case Study 1

Optimise how you Sell Distressed Inventory

  • How can you sell distressed inventory without damaging your brand? Which TPI's in Europe are the best to work with? Is it possible to price in order to create demand?
  • Is it better to sell distressed inventory as part of a package? How can hoteliers optimise their dynamic pricing policies?
  • How can you guarantee your product is sold at the right price when it is dynamically packaged?
  • How can OTA's and other intermediaries apply RM to dynamically packaged products?
  • Kate VARINI, Msc., Founder, betterrevenue.com
  • Senior Lecturer, Tourism Technology, Revenue & Profit Management, Oxford Brookes University

14.15 - 15.00 Case Study 2

Successfully integrating market trends into your RM Forecasting

  • In an unstable economic situation, how can you ensure your RM function meets future demand?
  • As the travel market reaches saturation is your RM function fully prepared for too much supply vs. demand?
  • Long term forecasting - what are the market trends that will affect your RM strategies over the next 5-10 years?
  • Meeting the challenges of forecasting RM across multiple brands and cultures
  • Carol Dodds, Director Of RM, Chardon Management

15.00 - 16.15 Round tables and coffee

Discuss key hints, tips and strategies to optimize your revenue strategies and leave buzzing with ideas ready to implement upon your return to the office!

16.15 End of conference