What is a Hotel Revenue Manager and what are the required skills and studies to become one?

The role of a revenue manager is one of the most important in a hotel or other organisations like airlines or tourism companies. She/he is overlooking the revenue and sometimes reservation department of these companies.

Her/His role is to manage and optimise the overall revenue of the hotel(s) by implementing effective pricing, distribution, and marketing strategies. She/He predicts and decides on the room prices by analysing the market and the competition.

What are the different job titles:

  • Revenue Manager
  • Yield Manager
  • Director of Revenue Management
  • Cluster Revenue Manager
  • Revenue Strategy Manager

What is the role of a Revenue Manager?

A hotel revenue manager is responsible for maximising the revenue and profitability of a hotel by managing room rates and occupancy levels.

This may involve setting room rates, monitoring market trends, analysing data, and implementing strategies to increase occupancy and revenue.

A revenue manager may also work with the sales team to develop promotional packages and discounts to attract guests, as well as with the marketing team to promote the hotel through various channels (Booking, Trivago…).

In addition, a revenue manager may be responsible for managing the hotel’s revenue management system, which helps to track and analyse data related to room rates, occupancy, and revenue.

The Revenue Manager is working closely with the other service departments of the hotels, mostly with the General Manager, the Sales and Marketing team but also with the F&B Manager. Indeed, a revenue manager doesn’t only sell rooms, but can also sell meeting rooms, breakfast, dinners, or even spa services.

What are the main tasks of a Hotel Revenue Manager?

The main tasks of a Revenue Manager that you could find in a job description are the following:

  • Implementation of pricing, distribution, and reservation sales strategies
  • Revenue support and optimisation
  • Forecast and budget planning
  • Analysis and observation of the price development and hotel inventory
  • Analysis and monitoring of the market and competitors
  • E-Commerce and marketing strategies
  • Preparation of daily, monthly and yearly reports to maximise overall revenue
  • Contact with travel agents and negotiation of commissions
  • Close work with the F&B and sales & marketing departments

What are the skills required for a Revenue Manager?

A Revenue Manager works with different tools to help her/him with her/his analysis and reports. It can be a PMS, a CRM, a channel management tool…

Here are some hard and soft skills that are important for this role:

Hard Skills:

  • PMS: Sihot, Opera, Oracle, Protel, Fidelio…
  • Channel Manager: OTA Insight, Travelclick, Rate Tiger…
  • RMS: Duetto, EzRMS, Ideas…
  • Excel
  • English is a must

Soft Skills:

  • Analytical and strategic mindset
  • Strong understanding of numbers
  • Good communication and teamwork
  • Detail oriented
  • Performance-oriented
  • Problem solver
  • Goal oriented
  • Good presentation and dress code

What salary does a Revenue Manager earn?

Depending on which city or country you are living in and the size of the hotel, the salary might differ.

The gross salaries per year are around:

  • 0 – 5 years: EUR 35.000 – 45.000 + bonus
  • 6 – 10 years: EUR 46.000 – 60.000 + bonus
  • > 10 years: EUR > 60.000 + bonus

Which studies should you do to become a Hotel Revenue Manager?

To become a Revenue Manager, you need to have in-depth knowledge of hospitality and revenue management.

You need to understand how a hotel is working, which different teams exist and how they correlate. You should know how to sell and promote the hotel and all its products or services in the best way possible. But also, to have a deep knowledge of the market, the competition, and future perspectives.

A bachelor’s degree or a master’s in hotel management, Finance, Accounting, or equivalent experience is often desirable.

You can also start with a first experience in a lower position in the front office or the reservation department of a hotel and move upward in the team.

Hotel Revenue Manager Template

You can download the full description of the Hotel Revenue Manager position.

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