Cashing in on a career that turns data into dollars

Indonesian-born Daniel always had a fascination with data and analysis, but also wanted to work in the hospitality industry. He didn’t quite know how to combine both his interest until he started his studies with Swiss Education Group and was introduced to the world of revenue management. Today, Daniel is a Cluster Revenue Manager for Hilton Worldwide, based in the brand’s regional office in Dubai.

What is revenue management really about?
I know it sounds boring and sounds like I sit in a dark office crunching numbers behind a computer screen all day. But it’s not! My job is essentially to determine the right price to sell to the right customer at the right time. In order to do this, I analyse sales trends, forecast results, refer to historical data and strategies to adjust and maximise revenue for a hotel.

 

“Revenue management is complex as you have to build your knowledge in diverse product knowledge but at its heart, it’s a business about understanding what customers want.”

 

What is a typical day in the office for you?
As a Cluster Revenue Manager, I am responsible for a portfolio of four hotels in Seychelles and Cameroon. Additionally, I also support other hotels across the region in UAE, Chad, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, Morocco, Turkey, and Azerbaijan.

My mornings are usually spent catching up on emails, checking the daily reports about pricing of rooms and sending it out to the hotels that I manage. I then have a cluster call with the hotels, discuss pick up trends or any specific promotion that needs to be pushed. Afternoons are spent working with our sales team on group requests and testing out pricing of rooms for future weeks and monitoring the systems we use. On a weekly or monthly basis, I also have meetings with commercial teams, F&B teams and other departments to work on future business actions.

Is this what you imagined a career as a Revenue Manager would be like?
I think it’s more than what I expected! Working with data and numbers is my comfort zone. To be able to do that and still have the opportunity to work with different departments in the hotel is a bonus.

Other than having a critical mind, what makes a good Revenue Manager?
You need to be a people person. One of the biggest challenges is managing various stakeholders. As a revenue manager, you might need to develop risky strategies, and you need to be confident about what you’re recommending and convince the team that you are making the right decisions for the business. Thus maintaining good relationships with the departments within your business is important.

It is also important to be up-to-date on industry news, global economical developments and market trends as these issues influence a hotel’s revenue.

 

“Someone who is a risk taker and has a creative mind when it comes to reviewing trends and seeing patterns makes a good revenue manager. More importantly, you must not be afraid of failure as sometimes risks or plans don’t work out.”

 

So what’s next for you?
I’m very keen to continue gaining more experience in this field. As Hilton Worldwide has a significant number of pipeline hotels, I am interested in being involved in the commercial strategies of pre-opening hotels before they go live.