How to Class Hotels. Meaningfully.

March 28, 2012 in Journal by Hotel Compete

Last week we re-opened the analytically important issue of Hotel Classification.  In that article we explained how Chain Scale categories are not specific enough for hotel performance analysis. In this article we share the results of a major analysis and classification of more than 60,000 hotels, and demonstrate how an analytical “Booker’s Eye View” of the market leads to a better understanding of hotel classes, brands and markets.

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Hotel Classification and Hotel Performance Analysis

March 19, 2012 in Journal by Hotel Compete

A few months ago we published an article about the way that the industry categorizes hotels for the purpose of hotel performance analysis.  In it we argued that our industry depends too heavily on “top-down” forms of classification, like chain scale.  Specifically, broad categorizations like “Upscale” and “Mid-Market” fail to account for inconsistency within brands; and fail to provide useful insight into the choices that bookers are faced with in a competitive and diverse hotel marketplace.

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The Rearview Mirror, and Why it’s Hurting the Hotel Industry

October 5, 2011 in Journal by Hotel Compete

It’s always encouraging to find kindred spirits.  This is particularly true when industry commentators swim against the tide with controversial opinions that you also hold.  Last week we were delighted to read an excellent account of this year’s Lodging Industry Conference, provided by the hotel industry’s “Dr Doom”, Joel Ross, founder of Citadel Realty Advisors. 

The article, which can be accessed here, is a must-read for anybody who follows hotel industry performance.  It voices a mixture of skepticism and amazement at the forecasts provided by various industry “data people” at the event.  The presentations apparently found consensus on the following view: because July has been so wonderful for the industry, the outlook for 2012 looks rosy.

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Quality: A Missing Ingredient from Hotel Performance Analysis

July 12, 2011 in Journal by Hotel Compete

In our last two blog posts we introduced the idea of analyzing hotel attributes to define comp sets.  We suggested that the industry’s exclusive focus on historical performance biases analysis in some unhelpful ways.  In particular, it limits our ability to identify true performance opportunities.

Today the industry reports exhaustively on the performance that a property achieved relative to the comp set that it selected for comparison.  But to identify true opportunities, we must have a notion of the performance a hotel should expect to get.  This is a blind spot in current industry metrics.

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Comp Set Selection Gets Airtime at a Leading Revenue Management Conference

June 16, 2011 in Journal by Hotel Compete

Next week will be an important one for the industry dialogue on competitive set selection.  Readers of this blog will know that comp set selection is an issue close to our hearts, so we are looking forward to a session that will reveal some interesting insights into this important subject at a leading Revenue Management conference. 

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Getting a Handle on the Impact of Search Marketing

April 26, 2011 in Journal by Hotel Compete

A few weeks ago we published a piece about Online Travel Agents (OTAs), and their search marketing habits.  As you can see, it prompted some discussion in these pages.  In that article we suggested that while search marketing strategies and their impact receive a lot of commentary, they remain under-researched by the hotel industry.  We undertook to publish research based on new industry data, which we will do, starting with this post.

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