Guest post by Gianluca Marongiu, from our partner Swiss Hospitality Solutions who offer a high level of revenue management consulting, outsourcing and education. 

We see digitization and automation as one of the greatest opportunities for the hotel industry, especially during COVID-19 times. Implementation of new systems is easier now because a) hotels will have the spare time to implement changes (or more time than normal at least) and b) with lower demand the cost of any error will be lower. We see it as the perfect time to increase operational efficiency.

Why not try it in revenue management? As experts in the subject, one thing is clear to us: in the Swiss market, pricing software will never be able to replace professional revenue managers. The Swiss market is very small and the hotel experience is extremely differentiated, due to the high number of individual hotels. The price and demand for business and leisure hotels depend on a large number of factors, with Swiss and international travelers having different price expectations. 

But which revenue management software best fits the typical Swiss hotel with 50 rooms? 

Many hoteliers are asking themselves this question at the moment and we would like to comment on it. There are many possibilities available nowadays; we would estimate worldwide over 100 well-known hotel pricing software companies; commonly known as RMS (Revenue Management Systems). Everyone promises the same thing: more revenue! However, as many hotels have themselves experienced, the RMS will only do as well as the humans maintaining and managing it. Sometimes it quickly becomes clear that a software not only costs money, but can also generate more work. More well-known software, the so-called “Ferraris” of the RMS world, are not cheap and need a set-up time of approximately 12 months including installation and calibration. This can make a lot of sense for a city hotel with over 100 rooms and a revenue manager but for a smaller business would be overkill. 

Whilst looking for a partner in the RMS world, we came across the team at RoomPriceGenie. A Swiss startup that, with help from Innosuisse, has developed pricing software that helps the small hotelier efficiently and cost-effectively. The tool can be installed within half a day, and thanks to the practical settings, the hotelier can set up their strategy and have the machine do the calculations. 

The system is a hit with us for its simple and practical functions, which enable the hotelier to upload prices automatically via the PMS or Channel Manager interface. As soon as you have gained confidence in the softwares’s recommendations, you can automate the entire process with an autopilot function. But the overall price sovereignty always remains in the hands of the hotelier, who has the option to override the prices at any time.
We believe we can use RoomPriceGenie to create the perfect combination of man and machine for smaller hotels. Contact us for more details.