Editor: How did it all start?
Subhransu: Hospitality has been a natural choice for me as I love to travel and interact. Started off with sales and moved to revenue management out of Curiosity as I wanted to know the rationale which drives financial decisions. Hence moved to Revenue Management after 8 years in Sales.
Editor: What do you think it takes to succeed in this industry?
Subhransu: Patience and strategic thought about one’s Career. I believe in creating a strong foundation before moving on to next level and a supporting foundation comes with time and experience of a particular job role. I see many impatient people around me who often take wrong career decisions just in a bid to move really fast but eventually square up. It is important to stick on to a job for a while to understand the challenges and the joy.
Editor: Tell us a little about your average day.
Subhransu: My average day starts and ends with Check, Check and Check! It is important to be on top of things and that comes with constantly checking my systems, interacting with people to guide and also to understand the other side of business and the market. Being a number person, I do not want to base my decisions only on numbers but a combined scenario of Numbers + Market Information + Colleagues.
Editor: How do you keep abreast of all that is happening in hospitality?
Subhransu: I read a lot of industry publications and also interact with industry peers. Being in Singapore is also of advantage as this is the hub of hospitality in South East Asia with several industry centric events. I interact with my colleagues a lot which also helps me understand the market movements and trends.
Editor: What trends do you see in revenue management going forward?
Subhransu:
1) So far in most of the cases I have seen Revenue Management is being more focused on Rooms rather than F&B and Other anciliary streams. RM needs to span out to other revenue streams along with rooms. I have heard many seminars talking about the same but organized approach to it is missing. Basic challenges like credible data on F&B, Spa and Other spend, softwares to capture information in actionable form, compliance from target departments is still a long way. Hotels are now gradually warming up to the potential and are making investments both monetary and personnel. This trend is expected to continue towards a more organized approach.
2) Date based approach : Lot of large chains do appropriate return on investment study on all sales and marketing activities, no matter how small it is . This helps in setting a goal and also to analyse impact and moreover forms a reference document for the next such promotions. Data based approach would be key to successful hotel management decisions .