There’s more than balancing the scales for this revenue executive

Michelle graduated from Hotel Institute Montreux in 2016 with a Master’s Degree in International Business in Hospitality, specializing in Finance.

Like most people who work in hospitality, Michelle entered the industry because of the glamour and luxury associated with it. Rather than working at the front of house however, she chose to work in revenue management - an unexpected path even by her standards. 

Going down this path, Michelle discovered a whole other side to herself – that she actually enjoys working with numbers.

Her job not only sees her crunching numbers to balance the scale between occupancy, rates and revenue, it also requires her to have a macro view of the economy and knowledge of new technology.

What makes a person well suited for revenue management?

Firstly, they should like to work with numbers. He or she should also be inquisitive and ask a lot of questions because you need to have a curious mind to always dig into the details and explore more.

If you choose to go down the revenue management path, you can find opportunities outside of the hospitality industry because you will gain analytic and system skills that’s required even in other industries.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

That I get to learn about the market and new technology. For this job, I have to keep up to date with news in the industry – for instance, what are the new openings in town and where people are moving.

I like that I don’t just need to know about the hotel industry, but also macro trends that have to do with airlines, tourism and political situations. That, to me is very interesting.

Can you briefly describe a typical day at work?

The first thing I do when I come into work is to check the room pickup of the day to see how many room nights we have and where’s the hotel standing in terms of revenue. Then we have the forecast of the month and the budget to get to – we want to know where we are at the beginning of the day. After the daily report, I work with my team on what else we can do to increase revenue and find out what we can do to catch up with the groups that are still tentative. We also discuss if we can do more promotions for OTAs and work with the reservations team for bookings and no shows.

What is your advice to those who are keen to pursue a career in revenue management?

If you like numbers, if you enjoy learning, if you like to know the hotel business and the market and if you have passion for the industry, then this might be the path for you. In addition to numbers, you will also need to have good communication skills to build strong relationships with the sales team. An important part of the job is to explain strategies to the sales team so that they can understand the business and find the best ways to deal with customers.

Today, Michelle is a Revenue Manager for M Gallery Hotel Collection in Vietnam. You can connect with Michelle on LinkedIn.