2010 Revenue Management & Pricing program

All sessions will be Moderated by our Chairman Steve Pinchuk, SVP Resort Profitability, Westgate Hotels & Resorts

08.45 - 10.15 Day 1 KEYNOTE

The Changing Travel Landscape in Asia

How has the online travel game changed and how you can proactively respond to ride the wave of economic recovery? Hear 4 keynote perspectives from differnt sectors of the Asian Online Travel Industry.

Analyze the current state of travel and tourism in the APAC region
How the industry landscape changed over the past year and what lessons can we learn?
Gain valuable insight into the new trends, key issues and challenges that will shape the industry in 2010 and beyond
What technologies and opportunities can you capitalise on to drive your business forward?
Is accurate forecasting possible in the fragmented and turbulent Asian travel sector?

John Koldowski - Director, Strategic Intelligence Centre, PATA
Rob Bailey - President & CEO, Abacus International
William Bao Bean – Senior Analyst, Softbank Venture Capital
Azran Osman-Rani – CEO, Air Asia X

10.15 - 11.00 Networking Coffee Break

11.00 - 12.30 Presentations and Q&A Debate

Surviving the Revenue Roller Coaster

Over 12 months have passed since the foundations of the global economy took a seismic hammering. For many it has been a tough year worth forgetting, riddled with discounting and disastrously low yields. Yet for others it was a challenge that instigated new outside of the box revenue practices, and creative solutions to a range of unforeseeable problems. So how did the global revenue management community react, what worked, what didn’t, and what have we learnt?

Join Sherri Kimes in this intriguing evaluation of the second annual Global Revenue Management survey, compiled in conjunction with the Cornell-Nanyang Institute of Hospitality Management. Hear collated industry data on how we survived the economic downturn, and expert opinion on how this could impact Asian revenue management of the future.

Sherri Kimes, STB Distinguished Professor of Asian Hospitality Management, Cornell-Nanyang Institute of Hospitality

The Challenges of Online Channel Shift

Channel shift can erode profit on rooms’ sold by as much as -10% to -50%. Do your strategies allow customers to purchase where they want without encouraging them to book a costlier booking path? What role does online rate parity play in ensuring that you achieve maximum customer profitability online?

Discuss ways to engage your hotel team to think differently about your wholesaler and online strategies. Learn effective ways to evaluate your wholesaler partners to ensure they bring incremental room nights versus encouraging online channel shift.

Greg Albertini, Regional Vice President Revenue Management Strategy, Marriott International

How to React to the Changing Market Conditions

Assessing the strength of a market during an economic recovery is no easy science. For many, October 2009 displayed the first signs of a positive economic turnaround. But was it, and what actions should we take to maximize revenues if it was?

Hear Jurgen Ortelee give his opinion on reacting to positive market changes. Discover new techniques to help read the market and assess when you should react to it and in what way. What indicators of positive economic change should be the prompters of an industry reaction?

Plus, responding to competition offers. If demand is on the rise, how should you respond to your competitors’ promotions (if at all)?

Jurgen Ortelee, Director of Corporate Revenue Management, Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts

12.45- 14.00 Lunch

14.00 - 15.15 Session

Prices on the Rise

As demand tumbled and groups disappeared, price wars ensued and every supplier began discounting. Not even the toughest of brands could avoid the discounting madness of the past 15 months.
The adverse effects that low prices have on a brand are heavily publicized, so now that prices have hit rock bottom, what strategies should we be considering to lift prices without sacrificing on demand?

What is the real cost of a year’s worth of discounting?
How can prices be increased without losing ground on your competition?
The bargain hungry traveler – adding value instead of discounts for the fickle modern consumer
Prices slumped for 5 years post 9/11. What strategies will ensure a lengthy slump doesn’t repeat itself?
Are we at risk of new loyalties being formed with the lowest priced brands only?

Brij Bhushan Chachra – Director of Revenue Management India Middle East & Africa,Preferred Hotel Group

Jagdish Sandhu, Assistant Director of Revenue Management, Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts

15.15 - 15.45 Networking Coffee Break

15.45 - 17.00 Presentation

Understanding the Total Worth of a Customer

70 – 80% of hotel revenue in Asia is driven by room nights. In most instances this leaves a staggering 30% of the value of a guest remaining only very broadly grouped. As technology and the ability to collect customer data improves, to maximize your guests spending is greatly enhanced and a revenue management function more essential than simple REVPAR.

Ascertaining the entire enterprise value (guest worth) can help comprehensively evaluate their importance to your organization. Hear the hurdles of gathering complete enterprise value information, while understanding the rewards it can bring from a marketing, special offers / CRM, and revenue management perspective.

What new ideas are emerging in this area, and how can these be feasibly applied to properties with fewer points of sale than a casino?

Steve Pinchuk, SVP Resort Profitability, Westgate Hotels & Resorts

17.00 Speed Networking & Drinks

09.00 - 10.30 Day 2 KEYNOTE

Future Trends and Technology in Travel – Planting the Seeds for Profit.

The progression of technology and innovation in the travel Industry continues at a quickening pace and Asian countries are closing the gap on their western counterparts. The dizzying pace has the power to undermine existing revenue models or create exciting and highly lucrative new opportunities for those in the know.

Prepare you travel business for the future. Cut through the hype and identify the technologies that will add real value and reap the largest rewards.
What will be “the next big thing”? Know where (and where not!) to invest to ensure ROI is real, abundant and measureable
The way your customer interacts with the web is changing. How can you continue to reach and influence travelers in a dynamic, user led online environment?
Travel 3.0?...How will developments in the semantic web enable more complex and sophisticated trip planning for online travelers?

Sajith Sivanandan - Head of Travel, Retail and Automotive Google South East Asia

Tim Hughes - VP, Orbitz, Hotelclub.com and founder of the BOOT

Mark Inkster - GM, Microsoft Online Services Group Asia

Morris Sim - Co-Founder, Circos Brand Karma

10.30 - 11.15 Networking Coffee Break

11.15 - 12.30 Session

The Rocky Balance of Distribution Power

For apparently a “win – win” relationship, OTAs and suppliers are beginning to look a little strained. Even with travel supply far outstripping demand, the big distribution channels swear the balance of power remains even in this partnership. But should suppliers be prepared to commit more to OTAs, as their reliance on them (and their marketing) increases?

Distribution costs are one of the highest controllable costs. How should you be managing them?
Is this relationship as symbiotic as it is claimed?
Hear discussion on the Last Available Rate issue, and perspectives from both stakeholders
“The Billboard Effect” – are suppliers reaping the rewards of untracked revenue from this consumer phenomenon?
Contract negotiations – hear opinion from both sides on what a win-win relationship means and negotiating an equally beneficial

, VP Sales & Marketing,

Hotel Equatorial

, Director of Market Management,

Expedia

12.30 - 14.00 Networking Lunch

14.00 - 15.00 Presentations

Revenue Management Culture Integration

The cultural change of integrating revenue management into an organization, can be perceived as a threat to a management team who is used to making business decision based on "gut feel" and "experience".

Incorporating this change firstly requires a true belief in revenue management as a key business function. Simon Pearson of Marco Polo Hotels, has successfully built and integrated a revenue management culture into a 40-year old independent hotel chain.

Hear Simon's experiences with integration, and discover Marco Polo's tremendous growth in rooms revenue generated by adapting to cultural change.

Simon Pearson, Vice President, Marketing & Business Development, Marco Polo Hotels

The Disparity of Parity

Rate parity is an ongoing struggle. With wholesalers incentivizing customers to search around for lower rates, is parity an ideal that is still a long distance off?

Similarly, during this recovery is parity of rate something hoteliers need to put emphasis on when the consumer doesn’t actually care?

Is true rate parity an achievable thing in the current asian market?
Is disparity actually detrimental to your brand, if the consumer is satisfied by sourcing these bargains?
Understand the impact that rate parity can have on OTAs and your relationship with them
Ignore the undercutting wholesalers – here the argument for ensuring only your most profitable channels display the same rates.
What (if any) are the real revenue benefits of rate parity versus disparity, when lower rates can introduce new consumers to your brand?

Rahul Pandit - VP Operations, The Lemon Tree Hotel Group

15.00 - 15.30 Networking Coffee Break

15.30- 16.30 Presentations

MICE, Spa and F&B Revenue Management

Thrust to the forefront of the revenue strategy is the need to manage revenue from every possible revenue stream. MICE, Spa and F&B are 3 areas that are being targeted as larger contributors to an organizations total revenue management strategy. So what must you consider to ensure that you are maximizing revenues from all of your many streams?

How do you implement a systematic approach to MICE, Spa and F&B revenue management?
Total revenue management done in conjunction with rooms – hear best practice techniques
Identify your revenue potential – what revenue streams should you be concentrating on growing?
Transient business is returning to Asia, so what techniques can now be applied to stimulate demand from meeting planners as well?

, Corporate Director of Revenue Management & Global Distribution,

Taj Hotels, Resorts & Palaces

Managing Director Asia Pacific,

IDeaS a SAS Company

Managing Director Asia Pacific

The RainMaker Group

16.30 - 17.15 Presentation

The Challenge of the Shortened Booking / Reservation Window

The shortened booking window is becoming a major issue for suppliers from both a pricing and forecasting standpoint. There is no calculated optimal point at which prices should be dropped in the instance of a largely empty flight or hotel. When prices are revised down the byproduct is a consumer culture that searches for the last minute deals.

This challenge is being facilitated by the wholesalers of the industry, who encourage this behavior by advising of the inevitable last minute price cuts. What is the long term cost of the shortened booking window for suppliers, and how should they be responding to help revitalize revenues and reverse this difficult booking window trend?

Kathrin Artaker, Senior Manager Revenue Management Systems & Training, Starwood Hotels & Resorts

Tarun Lakhanpal - Group Manager, Revenue Management & Distribution, The Lemon Tree Hotel Company

17.15 Conference Close