How to choose hotel revenue management software

Purchasing the best for your property

If you’ve decided to purchase hotel revenue management software, you’ve really only started your journey. Understanding what the software is and the benefits it provides is the easy part. Now you’ve covered that, there is plenty to do in regards to making a final purchase decision.

Choosing the best provider for your individual property and business case means a lot of research is required to sift through the many options on the market.

We could tell you the obvious course of action is to move forward with an established industry leader like SiteMinder but no one should make a blind choice when investing in such critical software that’s going to impact the success of a business.

This page will tell you everything you need to keep in mind when investigating a technology partner and what you can do to make a more informed, confident, choice.

Hotel revenue management software companies

As stated, there are no shortage of hotel revenue management software companies that could suit your needs. Some will present very similar offerings, while others will work in more specialised or niche territory.

For example, some will be based largely around rate setting and some may focus specifically on revenue strategies related to food and beverage services. It’s a broad sector of hotel technology, meaning you have to be especially clear about what you want and what results you expect from a provider.

An easy example to give is SiteMinder’s hotel business intelligence software, which enables you to understand the local market and your competitors, and set rates to deliver the maximum amount of revenue to your property. This is regarded as a rate shopping and market intelligence tool.

Other companies in this category include:

RateShopper by Rategain
eRevMax
Market Intel
Fornova
Transparent Intelligence
Benchmarking Alliance
D-EDGE
TravelClick
OTA Insight

SiteMinder has more than 13 years industry experience and upwards of 35000 hotel customers, pioneering some of the most powerful hotel technology solutions that exist today.

Types of revenue management tools for your hotel

Revenue management tools consist of a broad range of products. They can serve many different purposes and be suited to a whole spectrum of properties.

This might include:

Tools targeted towards smaller, independent, hotels
Tools targeted towards larger, enterprise, groups
Tools that offer niche tools such as accounting services
Tools that specialise in food and beverage management
Tools that focus on room pricing etc

That’s why it’s very important to clearly understand what you want for your property. You don’t want to make the mistake of using the wrong tool or buying one that doesn’t include all functions you need.

Some of the most useful tools are focused on rate shopping. If you can set your prices accurately and to maximise revenue and profit, it gives you a lot more freedom to manage revenue across the rest of your business.

Hotel revenue management tools: What do they cost?

Price will obviously vary based on the type of tool you’re looking at. In the case of tools based around market intelligence and rate shopping, price will be very reasonable.

Look for providers who offer a flexible pricing model. This means no lock-in contract or commissions. The preferred way of paying is by set monthly fee.

You can always move to a contract later if you want a discounted price and are happy with the service.

Commonly the amount you pay each month will depend on the size of your property. The more rooms you have, the higher your fee will be. However the price will remain pretty static for hotels with less than 70 rooms.

To see a pricing example for your property, visit SiteMinder’s pricing scale here.

Free trial hotel revenue management software

Most top providers will offer a free trial of their software.

This gives you risk-free use of all the features for a set time period with no payment required. It’s a good opportunity to assess the usefulness of the software for your property, and you’ll also learn everything you need to know to maintain success in the future. Analyse results carefully so you know if the product had the necessary potential to warrant an ongoing investment.

When you sign up for a free trial with SiteMinder you should expect to be contacted within one business day to get set-up. The added benefit of the free trial is that configuration and training take place at the same time, so when it comes time to paying for the software you can hit the ground running.

SiteMinder can offer a 14-day free trial of its revenue management software – to help master your room rate and greater revenue strategy. Click here to see for yourself.

Free hotel revenue management tools: Comparing providers

A big part of any important decision, whether it be buying shoes, a new pet, or a home appliance is to compare your options on a number of factors. Weighing up the pros and cons and many different considerations helps you make a clear decision.

The principle can easily be applied to revenue management tools. You can use review sites such as Hotel Tech Report to perform your competitive analysis.

On Hotel Tech Report you’ll be able to see scores and user rating for factors such as:

Ease of use
Range of functions
ROI
Customer support
Implementation process
Integration
Price
And more!

Additionally, you can view full customer reviews and recommendations from hoteliers just like you to gain some tangible insight. This type of feedback is usually very reliable because your peers have faced the same struggles and sought the same solutions.

Social media pages, such as Facebook, are another place you can visit to see customer reviews and compare the overall ‘vibe’ of providers. Do they interact with their audience? How many followers do they have? Are there positive reactions to their content? All of this can serve to help inform your decision.

How to select revenue management tools for your hotel

Choosing your tool will largely revolve around the features of the product and the results it can deliver. Your provider needs to have the ability to unlock and analyse large amounts of market data for your hotel, and make it digestible for you.

Before you make your investment, ensure your tool has these features: