The ultimate RM Fitness Challenge: Flex your data, lift your forecasts, and balance your Inventory | By Fabian Bartnick

Revenue management: it’s like signing up for a gym membership you thought would be light and easy…until you realize you’re actually training for the RM Olympics.

And while some days you feel like an RM rockstar, other days, well, it’s a battle with Excel cells and strange reports that seem to be written in ancient hieroglyphs.

But hey, we do it for the love of the game (and because no one else seems to understand the magic of forecasting quite like we do).

So, let’s break down a few RM workouts we face daily—and what they would look like in the “real world.”

Making Data Speak: The Translation Workout

Imagine you’re at a restaurant in a foreign country. The menu is in another language, the waiter doesn’t speak English, and all you want is a burger. That’s what a revenue manager’s day looks like trying to make data “speak.”

It’s like we’re sitting there, deciphering between columns, trying to understand, “Are we talking about average daily rate, ARI, Lead time, or some obscure metric no one mentioned in the last training?” And every time we finally get the data to “talk,” it’s like finding out they do serve burgers here after all.

But once you get the hang of it, you become the data whisperer.

You can make numbers sing arias, reveal secrets, and tell stories to anyone who will listen—whether they understand it or not.

Forecasting: The Crystal Ball Lift

Ever felt like the fortune teller at a carnival? That’s a revenue manager every time we open the forecasting tool.

Picture this: you’re lifting a giant crystal ball, but instead of looking into the future, it’s mostly filled with past occupancy rates, market trends, and maybe a little dust from the last time it was used.

You squint into the depths, hoping for a clear vision of next month’s numbers, but all you see are the faint traces of your last guess and the haunting words, “Last year’s performance.”

But over time, you build muscle in this.

Forecasting isn’t just a one-rep lift—it’s a daily exercise that builds up your accuracy and keeps you one step ahead, even when the future looks foggy.

Setting Rates: The Price Is Right Cardio

Imagine playing a game of “The Price Is Right,” but every contestant has access to last-minute price-checking apps, and they’re all changing their bids every few seconds.

Welcome to setting hotel rates in 2024. You’re adjusting, refreshing, checking competitors, refreshing again, and hoping no one has undercut you by a dollar in the last five minutes. It’s cardio at its finest, keeping up with all the moving pieces and hoping your heart rate stabilizes by the time you finally lock in rates.

And just like a HIIT workout, this rate-setting cardio makes you more resilient every time. Soon, you’ll be sprinting through rate changes with ease, looking like the cool pro you are.

Channel Management: The Juggling Act

Picture a circus, but instead of juggling bowling pins, you’re juggling booking channels, OTA platforms, and direct booking campaigns. One wrong move, and you’re either overbooked, undercooked, or explaining to the front desk why a bus tour group is checking in after all.

Channel management is the art of not letting anything drop, even as you’re spinning between reports, adjusting availability, and keeping tabs on promotions.

Like every good juggler, a few slips here and there are inevitable, but once you get the rhythm, you look like a master…and yes, people will think it’s magic.

Inventory Control: The RM CrossFit Challenge

Inventory control? That’s CrossFit.

You’re lifting, pushing, pulling, and dragging room blocks, group allocations, and special event restrictions to keep everything running smoothly. Every day is a new challenge, with unexpected twists like last-minute wedding bookings and corporate clients with “very specific” requests. Some days, you wonder if anyone has ever set foot in an RM office and realized that inventory isn’t just numbers on a screen—it’s a full-contact sport.

With enough reps, though, you become an inventory ninja. You know where every room is going, who’s staying where, and how to squeeze in those last-minute bookings like they were always part of the plan.

Conclusion

Revenue management: it’s a workout routine that would make any personal trainer proud.

And maybe, just maybe, when we finally conquer the forecasting and rate-setting cardio, we can sit back, relax, and realize we’re not just building a profitable portfolio: We’re building RM muscles of steel amongst others in our revenue tribe.

Love,

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