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EVENT DETAIL

HSMAI Revenue Management & Internet Marketing Strategy Conference
Date: June 21, 2010 - June 21, 2010
Location: Orlando, FL, Orange County Convention Center

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Why Others Are Attending | Why YOU Should Attend | Register Today!

HSMAI’s Revenue Management & Internet Marketing Strategy Conference, held just prior to HITEC, is brought to you by the thought leaders at the forefront of the increasing convergence of the revenue management and internet marketing fields within the hospitality industry. 

You’ll learn about the latest trends and best practices in these two important disciplines – and what they can mean to you and your company – from the industry experts behind resources such as the Top 10 Revenue Management Opportunities for 2010, and the Travel Internet Marketing White Paper Series.

It is a not-to-miss event especially if you are a senior or regional hospitality professional with direct responsibility for Revenue Optimization and Pricing and/or Online Marketing, or are a management leader with an interest in staying ahead of the curve.

The conference will address the issues and challenges that you are facing, summarize the implications, and provide solutions and strategies for 2010 and beyond.

The latest publication from the HSMAI Revenue Management Special Interest Group and the HSMAI Foundation will also be released at the conference: "The Evolving Dynamics of Revenue Management: A comprehensive roadmap for hotel owners, operators & practitioners". Hear from the co-author and conference speaker Kathleen Cullen.

 

 

Revenue Management & Internet Marketing Strategy Conference
June 21, 2010
Orange County Convention Center -- South Building
Orlando, Florida

95% of attendees at the 2009 Revenue Management & Internet Marketing Strategy Conference rated their overall experience as “Excellent” or “Good.”  Attendees said:

The conference is organized by HSMAI’s Revenue Management Advisory Board and HSMAI’s Travel Internet Marketing Advisory Board.  Learn more about them and the Special Interest Groups they lead at www.revmanagement.org and www.travelinternetmarketing.org.

Agenda*

7:00 am:  Registration Opens

7:00 – 8:00 am:  Breakfast with Exhibitors

8:00 – 8:15 am:  Welcome and Preview of the Day
Conference Emcee:  Bill Carroll, Senior Lecturer, Cornell University

8:15 – 9:15 am:  How Successful Companies Use Price to Profit & Grow
Keynote presented by Rafi Mohammed

Rafi will be discussing the premise of his latest book, The 1% Windfall which illustrates how even a 1 percent increase in price can significantly boost operating profits. Far from recommending price hikes, Rafi’s book (and speech) focuses on offering “win for the customer/win for the company” pricing strategies which can reap a financial windfall for firms that concentrate on their pricing strategy. Booklist calls The 1% Windfall “an excellent book.”

His debut pricing book, The Art of Pricing, has been translated into seven foreign languages and earned rave reviews from The New York Times, BusinessWeek SmallBiz, Entrepreneur Magazine, and Forbes.com.

9:30 – 10:20 am:  Concurrent Sessions

1. Building Your Own Revenue Management Roadmap

Presented by Kathleen Cullen, Partner, Inspire Resources, and co-author of the HSMAI Foundation's new book The Evolving Dynamics of Revenue Management:  A comprehensive roadmap for hotel owners, operators & practitioners. (Publication date:  June 21, 2010)

Hotel executives and owners have come to realize the importance of revenue management and its overall impact within an organization. However, many need a better understanding of how the revenue management discipline touches and impacts all areas within an organization and what needs to be done internally at their organization to prepare them for the next level of revenue generation. Revenue management professionals manage the day-to-day tasks but lack the time or struggle to elevate the focus to be more strategic, progressive and profit oriented. Ecommerce professionals desire a better understanding of revenue management and its role in their world and what they can do to build a better partnership with the revenue professional.

If you are an owner, hotel operator, revenue or ecommerce professional and desire to learn more about creating a revenue roadmap for your organization, this is the session to attend! This session provides a sneak peak of the roadmap contents from the “Evolving Dynamics of Revenue Management: A Comprehensive Roadmap for Hotel Owners, Operators and Practitioners”. The goal of this session is to provide the attendees with the knowledge of how to create or elevate a revenue management program for each organization. Regardless of your role, there is something in it for everyone at all levels.

2. Market Aware Pricing: Pricing Decisions with Advanced Market Intelligence

Presented by Steve Swope, President & CEO, Rubicon

How are hotels using market aware pricing in their daily operations and shaping pricing decisions moving forward?

The forecast and pricing models used by hotels generally depend exclusively on the hotel's own demand and competitive rates.  These sparse inputs have limited the design, flexibility and ultimately the effectiveness of the models.  The availability of complete, forward-looking demand data at the competitive set and market level is driving a quantum leap in price modeling through Market Aware Pricing.  These new inputs support pricing models that are highly responsive to market conditions, competitive actions and most importantly, consumer response.  Learn more about Market Aware Pricing, and how hotels are using it now.  This will do more to enhance hotel revenues than any other innovation since the introduction of hotel revenue management twenty five years ago.

3. Mobile Marketing for Today and Tomorrow

Panel discussion moderated by Loren Gray, Director of E-commerce, Ocean Properties and HSMAI Travel Internet Marketing Advisory Board member

When it comes to informing, updating, reminding, promoting and selling to new and existing customers, mobile marketing is the most targeted, immediate and relevant medium.

Mobile is included in the overall marketing mix to create brand awareness, convert prospects, enhance customer relationships, generate viral marketing and drive the bottom line.  While it shouldn’t be approached as a standalone activity or just another channel, mobile can be a vital platform in a brand’s integrated marketing mix that allows personal interactions that are location and context sensitive.

This session will help you make sense of all the technologies and platforms out there, and help you determine a strategy and tactics you can put to work for your business in one of the fastest growing e-commerce environments today.

4. Social Media Strategy

Panel discussion moderated by Jess Petit, Director of Marketing Communication, HEI Hotels & Resorts and HSMAI Travel Internet Marketing Advisory Board member

A social media strategy is an essential part of many hotels’ marketing efforts and must address allocation of resources, reputation management, objectives and benchmarks for success, and more.  The panel will discuss how their social media strategies and lessons learned in the implementation of those strategies, including how to weigh both the pros and cons of leveraging this communication channel for the success of their brand.  Expect a compelling discussion dedicated to applying, or not applying, social media to your organization with a roundtable of practitioners who understand the current and future state of the social media marketplace.

You’ll leave this session:

  • Understanding both the pros and the cons of social media for your organization.
  • With clear objectives and metrics you can/should have as part of your own strategy.
  • Recognizing the effect on your brand if this communication mechanism.
  • Knowing whether achieving a real ROI is a real possibility.

10:30 – 11:20 am:  Concurrent Sessions

5. Segmentation:  Is it really what you think it is?

Panel discussion moderated by Jon Eliot, CRME, CHA, Director, Revenue Optimization, Carlson Hotels Worldwide and HSMAI Revenue Management Advisory Board member

Segmentation means different things to different people.  Whether rate segmentation, customer segmentation, or source of business segmentation, understanding where your business comes from is critical to success.  In this interactive session you will learn about different perspectives on segmentation, how they are used for different purposes, and how you can determine the impact of individual segments…and what it would take to replace their expected revenue. 

Following this session, you will:

  • Be prepared to apply proven best practices in determining the right segments to track for your property.
  • Better understand different types of segmentation and how to develop strategies around segmentation.
  • Know how to use simple tools to determine what is needed to replace an existing or lost segment.
  • Optimize segmentation data to make better decisions and drive revenue.

6. I Won't See You at the Water Cooler:  The Plusses and Minuses of Centralizing, Clustering, and Outsourcing Your Revenue Management

Panel discussion moderated by Bernard Ellis, CRME, Managing Director-Americas, IDeaS - A SAS COMPANY and HSMAI Revenue Management Advisory Board member

The major brands who enjoy full inventory in their central reservation systems have been practicing centralized revenue management for years, but advances in technology and broadband have made remote revenue management feasible for smaller hotel groups and independents too.  But – now that everyone has the option to centralize, cluster, or outsource their revenue management – is it the right decision?  Is it possible to champion revenue management culture from afar?  How important is on-property “water cooler” communication?  What about local market knowledge?  What kind of person is up to the job?  And is it really less expensive?  This interactive session will feature a panel of experts who will review their past and current practices in centralized, clustered, and outsourced revenue management, and discuss the benefits and pitfalls of each.  Audience participation is strongly encouraged.

Attendees of this session will leave with the following questions answered:

  • What are the base requirements needed to centralize, cluster, or outsource your revenue management?  Can I even consider it?
  • What kinds of hotels lend themselves better to which practice?
  • What pitfalls should be avoided?
    What benefits, both financial and organizational, can I expect?

7. A Revenue Managers Guide to a World of Opportunities Online

Presented by Sue Heilbronner, President, North America & Carribbean, SwiftRank

As the roles of Revenue Managers are changing and often taking on the responsibility of the Internet, there is not always enough time to focus on this fast paced world.  This presentation will address all your questions about how to maximize revenue opportunities through this channel in the most efficient and effective manner.  Strategies like search engine optimization; search engine marketing, email marketing and social media will all be touched upon to allow a Revenue Manager to walk away with a tactical approach to their own online presence.

Following this presentation, participants will:

  • Be able to Identify which internet marketing strategies will work for their property.
  • Understand what in the online world will drive the most revenue for their organization.
  • Be able to implement innovative ways to leverage the internet to increase revenue.

8. The Future of Search

Presented by Michael Hayward, CEO, ROI Labs, and HSMAI Travel Internet Marketing Advisory Board member

Hoteliers and all travel marketers know that search is one of the most important drivers of business through web sites.  Understanding the evolution and future direction of search will help us all stay in view in search results and design better cross-channel web platforms and experiences.  Better for search engines to ensure we get to the top of the long-tail list, and better for customers as we put useful information into the places they spend time thinking about and planning travel.

From this session, you'll take away:

  • A clearer view of the relationship of mobile and social channels to search.
  • Background on observed changes in Google's algorithms that affect how we plan SEO.
  • Specific examples of how to put together your interactive channels to drive search traffic in new ways.

11:30 – 12:00 pm
Networking Break

12:00 – 1:30 pm
Networking Lunch

1:30 – 2:20 pm:  Concurrent Sessions

9. Online Travel and Revenue Management – Quantifying the Billboard Effect

Presented by Dr. Chris Anderson, Professor, Cornell University

Online travel agencies continue to be a major part of the hotel distribution and revenue management ecosystem, and hotels are constantly under pressure to maximize opportunities across all online channels.  Understanding the value of placement and content on various channels is paramount to any sound revenue management strategy.  Attendees will leave this session with a solid understanding of recent studies on the “Billboard Effect” in order to help you determine strategies to maximize your online exposure and revenue.

10. Who is your Chief Competition Officer?

Moderated by Dr. Bill Carroll, Senior Lecturer, Cornell University, and conference emcee

This interactive session will take an in-depth, hands-on look at a hotel’s approach to understanding and mastering the competitive landscape.  With new technologies constantly emerging, we can now compare our hotels to the competitive set on a variety of metrics-not just pricing and booking pace, but also user reviews and social network chatter.  What are the available tools?  What works and what doesn’t?  What should we monitor and why?  What is the ROI?  Whose job is it to monitor your competitive position in all of these areas and how do you align the organization to respond?   Join us in this discussion of sharing best practices and formulating an ideal approach to identifying the next steps in this evolving part of our business.

After this session, you will be able to:

  • Identify what and how you can better monitor the competitive landscape
  • Have the tools to lead your team through an exercise to identify your true key points of differentiation
  • Integrate the monitoring of the competitive landscape into your organization

11. Social Media in 30 Minutes a Day

Presented by Kimberly Ercius, Director of Business Development (East), Milestone Internet Marketing

In today’s world of hotel sales, the incorporation of social media into the traditional marketing and revenue management mix is one of the hottest topics. Hoteliers are looking for ways to generate revenue and track success as they begin to participate on the top social media channels. The new reality of hospitality sales is upon us, so we need to learn how to monitor, manage and engage our audience, associates and customers to build successful and profitable campaigns. 

The goal of this session is to introduce you to proven social media tools and best practices which will help you to devise a plan for managing social media if only given 30 minutes per day. We will focus on how to manage the most important social media channels in the hospitality industry. Presented with real case studies, this program will review some of the most successful and proven tactics for engaging your customers on the channels where they spend time and perform travel research.

The following are among the topics we will cover:

  • Major drivers of social media
  • Critical social media sites for hotels
  • Best practices of social media implementation
  • Tips for managing several of the most relevant social media sites
  • Incorporating social media elements onto your hotel’s official website
  • Most critical metrics and tools for measuring the success of your social media efforts

12. Internet Marketing Think Tank

Moderated by David Atkins, Principal, Digital DNA Infusion - Your Digital Experts Network and Chair, HSMAI Americas Board of Directors

This open dialog session is geared towards discussion relative to what’s on your mind, such as "what does the future of ecommerce in hospitality look like?"

There will not be a speaker or panel -- those in attendance will frame the agenda and lead the discussion.  What pearls of wisdom have you learned from the current economic environment? How do you manage and balance the new expectations from your “owners” such as Finance, Operations, Asset Teams, Condo Owners, and Employees? This is the session to ask the hard questions of your industry peers and see what they have to say.

At the end of the session, you will have new insights into our business.  It will be a great way to shake up your thinking, especially for regional & corporate folks.

2:30 – 3:20 pm:  Concurrent Sessions

13. Total Hotel Revenue Management

Panel discussion moderated by Fred Heintz, CRME, Director of Group Strategy, Marriott & Renaissance Hotels of New York City and HSMAI Revenue Management Advisory Board member

Revenue management of hotel room inventory has become a widely accepted practice for hoteliers worldwide, both large and small, chain and independent. Hotel operators understand and accept the need to forecast customer demand at some level of detail and recommend product availability conditions that will deliver the maximum revenue based on that demand. However, for the most part, traditional hotel revenue management is focused purely on maximizing sleeping room revenue.

Many companies are now realizing that there is a strong need to adopt a more holistic approach to revenue management. There is a need to capture and track revenue beyond sleeping rooms associated with hotel guests in order to better segment customers based on their total value and level of profitability — this can come from group, food and beverage, spa, event venues, and gaming.

Following this presentation, you will have a framework to:

  • Ensure you have the right data to determine customer value.
  • Measure ancillary revenues.
  • Focus on total profit optimization.

14. Strategic Online Testing as Revenue Multiplier: How to maximize marketing revenue without increasing spend

Presented by Jimmy Ellis, Director of Optimization, MarketingExperiments

Perhaps more than any other industry, hospitality companies have become adept at using technology to efficiently maximize revenue from a fixed asset. Yet, when it comes to marketing, the answer is often to simply throw additional marketing dollars at the problem with ever-decreasing ROIs. In many cases the answer is not more spend, it’s being more effective with your current campaigns. Too often, companies direct potential customers to landing pages and order processes that are less than optimal and leak substantial profits without even knowing it. A systematic online testing regimen can help identify problem areas and result in double and even triple-digit gains from the same media spend.

To help maximize your marketing ROI, you will be introduced to a methodology that helps marketing departments determine what to test and a process that outlines how to conduct effective and valid tests.

15. Distribution Challenges:  2010 and Beyond

Panel discussion moderated by Cindy Estis Green, Managing Partner, The Estis Group, and author of Demystifying Distribution 2.0

Launching a website, connecting to the GDS and offering net rates to the Online Travel Agencies was the easy part… Now hotels are dealing with changing look-to-book ratios, content aggregation, channel convergence, connectivity and mobile platforms.  The issues of the coming decade are much more complex than the industry has previously experienced.
 
There are challenges posed by technology, bandwidth, data integration, the implications of rate parity policies and the impact of the dozens of emerging promotional and booking channels. In many cases, a primary challenge is creating a strategy to address the rapidly changing environment. The panel will raise many of the current hot topics, discuss the direction the industry appears to be taking and ask the audience for their feedback and to share their experiences in managing in this exciting environment.

3:30 – 4:00 pm
Networking Break

4:00 – 4:45 pm:  Closing Panel Discussion – Revenue Management & Internet Marketing: Convergence or Collision?
Moderated by Bonnie Buckhiester, President & CEO, Buckhiester Management USA Inc.

5:00 - 6:00 pm:  Research in Action – Applied Research You Can Use
Sponsored by HSMAI’s Sales & Marketing Faculty Special Interest Group, three faculty members were selected, via double blind peer review, to present current research.   They will provide you insights that offer applications and solutions to hospitality marketing challenges of driving measurable short-term results while simultaneously keeping an eye on the future developments and opportunities.

Each presentation is 20 minutes in length.

4:45 – 5:45 pm
Reception with Exhibitors

*Detailed information on each session, including speaker information, is being updated almost every day.  Check back often for the latest details.

Speakers

KEYNOTE SPEAKER:  Rafi Mohammed has been working on pricing issues for the last 20 years. Rafi is the founder of Culture of Profit, LLC, a business consulting company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts that works with companies on their pricing strategy. He also holds the title of Batten Fellow at the University of Virginia's Darden Graduate School of Business. A frequent commentator on pricing issues to the print media, Rafi has also made prime time appearances on CNBC as an expert pricing commentator. 

Speakers, panelists & moderators include:

Housing and Travel Information

If you are attending HITEC, please stay at an official HITEC 2010 hotel. 

If you are not attending HITEC, The Peabody Orlando, located right next to the Orange County Convention Center, is offering Strategy Conference attendees the HITEC rate of $179 which includes internet and healthclub.  To access this rate, call 1-800-PEABODY and ask for the "HSMAI Revenue Management/Internet Marketing Conference."  Or, book online using the following link:  https://resweb.passkey.com/go/hsmairev.

PLEASE NOTE THAT AS OF JUNE 16th, THE PEABODY IS FULLY COMMITTED FOR THE NIGHTS OF JUNE 21, 22 AND 23.

Other convenient recommendations include: 

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Why Others Are Attending

» Read a recap of the 2009 HSMAI Revenue Management & Internet Marketing Strategy Conference

» See photos from the 2009 HSMAI Revenue Management & Internet Marketing Strategy Strategy Conference

Why YOU Should Attend

FREE registration to the HITEC tradeshow – Qualified strategy conference attendees (hotel buyers) are eligible for free registration to the HITEC show, the world’s largest hospitality technology exposition.  Download and complete the Complimentary Exhibits Pass form and bring it with you onsite to HITEC's registration desk.

15 breakout sessions covering 2 of the hottest disciplines in the hospitality industry – You don’t have to choose between all Internet marketing topics or all revenue management topics.  You’ll be free to choose the sessions most important to you, no matter the subject area.

Practical, applicable, concrete take-aways – The conference is being designed so that for every session you attend, you’ll leave with knowledge, tools and resource  you can take home and start implementing immediately.

Learning from others – Past attendees have highly rated the networking opportunities at HSMAI strategy conferences, so we’ve built into the program time for informal discussions, and robust dialogue between speakers and attendees.

HSMAI is the host – As the industry’s leading nonprofit resource and foremost advocate for revenue growth, HSMAI provides hospitality professionals with the tools, insights and expertise that fuel sales, inspire marketing and optimize revenues.

Register Today!

Payment & Cancellation Policies: Cancellations received three weeks prior to the conference will receive a full refund less a $75 administrative fee. Cancellations received between three and one week out are entitled to a 50% refund. Cancellations received within one week will not be refunded, except in the case of a medical emergency. All cancellations must be received in writing.

HSMAI Member Registration

Non-Member Registration

Online registration is now closed (as of 10:00 am Eastern on June 18).  You may register onsite starting at 7:00 am on Monday, June 21st.  Go to Room S330 - South Concourse - South Building of the Orange County Convention Center.



 

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Silver Conference Partners

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Exhibitors

 

Amadeus

Cendyn

Datavision Technologies

Hospitality eBusiness Strategies

MarketingExperiments

Movitas

Pegasus Solutions

PROS

Quality Track International

TIG Global

Travelzoo

TripAdvisor

 

Media Partner

Hospitality Upgrade

 Click Here for information on becoming a conference partner or contact Tara Miller at tmiller@hsmai.org

 

IDeaS networking event is once again being held on Monday night following the HSMAI Revenue Management & Internet Marketing Strategy Conference and HITEC Reception.  Registration is required so please RSVP by clicking on the following link and join us for an evening of Networking, hors d’oeuvers and drinks at the Cuba Libre on International Drive. 

IDeaS Networking Event Invite