research by Cetin, Demirciftci, and Bilgihan

The purpose of the study

The purpose of Cetin, Demirciftci, and Bilgihan’s (2016) study was to assess how the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) required for the management of prices and inventories may be used to address the issues faced by hotel revenue managers.

Integration of revenue management in the hospitality sector

In the hospitality sector, the integration of revenue management into operations is becoming more and more important. The advantages that hotels and restaurants can obtain when their staffs use integration in all of their activities are starting to be recognized. However, revenue managers face significant internal and external difficulties. Therefore, the revenue staffs require a set of fundamental competencies that will enable them to efficiently handle obstacles. The researchers wanted to know the exactly required capabilities especially in the management of inventory and prices and to evaluate the extent to which they are needed.

Methodology

The study was exploratory. Cetin, Demirciftci, and Bilgihan (2016) did a two-step qualitative research in which they first interviewed 14 revenue managers in Istanbul one-on-one and then conducted a focus group constituting eight participants. The focus group was arranged to collectively discuss the challenges to come up with KSAs and resources that are needful for battling the issues and improving the effectiveness of revenue management.

Findings and Implications

The researchers categorized the results into different categories including personal, organizational, internal, external, and industrial challenges. Some of the own problems that were identified related to anxiety, stress, and the pressure from the demanding profession. The revenue managers expressed their concerns that they are expected to remain on the alert all the time throughout the week. As one of the internal challenges, most of the research participants reported that they are usually prevented from conducting their duties by issues such as e-commerce and marketing. The primary organizational problems identified doing the study was inter-departmental conflicts. The main industrial problems were price wars and assessing the amount of competition to benchmark.

Research Article Critique

The research article is adequate as a study material. It adequately used the right methodology to reach the desired objectives. The researchers made valid and significant discoveries from the study, and the results are sufficiently reported. The results, however, are stand-alone, as any tables or figures do not illustrate them. The sample size was also too small to be representative of the total resource manager population. A large sample size, at least higher than 30 participants could have been a Research better way of representing and the entire community.

RESULTS

Findings are categorized as challenges related to revenue management whereby out of the nine male interviewees only one revenue analyst was found not directly responsible for RM. They also identified problems that affected RM success, and this includes personal issues which are stress and anxiety related. Those singled out are work-life balance and very few opportunities for career growth. The results showed that some of the staff could not calculate RevPar since it is already inculcated in the system and is quickly done at the click of a machine. There are also challenges that are internally faced, and these include being accountable for work that may not be related directly to revenue management. The staff made several complaints including an overload of information, lack of skilled personnel to be employed at RM and difficulties in displacement analysis. Organizational challenges were among those frequently mentioned according to results, and they include overdependence on specific markets, the authority that is not balanced, product positioning and branding. It is suggested that there should be a target for sales, spa, and parking. The results further showed that most owners of franchise hotels had very high expectations of sales volume since most are not familiar with hotel operations. Challenges related to the industry include the structure of the market, demands which are not stable and price wars. Results showed emphasis on discounts, and it is argued that reductions could be meaningless at times. There are also KSAs required for revenue management which was discussed. Among the eight interviewees who were directly accountable for the operations of the hotel RM, all confirmed that the competency of staff is a significant factor in determining the success of RM.

CONCLUSIONS

In conclusion, the profitability of hospitality industry is depended on the effectiveness of RM. Revenue can be improved if the challenges listed above are taken into consideration. The literature has not covered the characteristics of the qualified revenue staff extensively. Problems related to the advancement of technology, market structure, and RM culture was so much emphasized.