REVENUE MANAGEMENT IN THE HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY: A CASE STUDY OF HILTON PRAGUE

Menadžment prihoda predstavlja disciplinu koja podrazumijeva primjenu različitih alata i metoda kako bi se maksimizirali prihodi i ostvario što veći profit. Kako bi se to ostvarilo, prije svega, potrebno je postaviti određene ciljeve koje želimo postići, kako bismo na kraju procesa procijenili je li proces bio uspješan ili ne. Kada govorimo o hotelijerstvu, važno je naglasiti kako svaki hotel ima drugačiji ciljni segment ovisno o uslugama koje pruža, stoga je marketinška segmentacija vrlo važna kako bismo se pozicionirali na tržištu i prepoznali želje i potrebe potencijalnih gostiju. Nakon toga slijedi predviđanje potražnje na temelju povijesnih podataka primjenom različitih alata, najčešće kroz kalendar potražnje. Posljednji koraci su određivanje cjenovnih i ne cjenovnih strategija koje će se koristiti u poslovanju, a one ponajviše ovise o prethodnim koracima. U brojnim hotelima, pa tako i u Hiltonu Prag, postoje odjeli koji se bave isključivo upravljanjem prihodima i zaduženi su za praćenje svih prethodnih koraka. Kod primjera Hiltona Prag specifično je i to što je dio globalnog brenda, stoga se odluke o cjenovnim strategijama ne donose na razini hotela, već u suradnji sa odjelom na regionalnoj razini koji uključuje područje Europe, Afrike i Bliskog istoka. To pokazuje koliko je ovaj proces zahtjevan, ali i važan za cjelokupno funkcioniranje hotela.Revenue management is a discipline that involves the application of various tools and methods in order to maximize revenue and achieve the greatest possible profit. In order to achieve this, first of all, it is necessary to set certain goals that we want to achieve, in order to assess at the end of the process whether the process was successful or not. When we talk about hotel industry, it is important to emphasize that each hotel has different target segment depending on the services it provides, therefore, marketing segmentation is very important in order to position ourselves in the market and recognize the wishes and needs of our potential guests. This is followed by demand forecasting based on historical data using various tools, most often through a demand calendar. The last steps are the determination of price and non-price strategies that will be used in business, and they mostly depend on the previous steps. In many hotels, including the Hilton Prague, there are departments that deal exclusively with revenue and are responsible for monitoring all previous steps. In the example of Hilton Prague, it is specific that this hotel is part of a global brand, so, decisions regarding the price strategies are not made at the hotel level, but in cooperation with the department at the regional level, which includes the area of Europe, Africa, and Middle East. This shows how demanding this process is, but also how important it is for overall functioning of the hotel