Chris Anderson is a professor at the Cornell Nolan School of Hotel Administration. Prior to his appointment in 2006, he was on the faculty at the Ivey School of Business in London, Ontario, Canada. Professor Anderson’s main research focus is on revenue management and service pricing. He actively works in the application and development of revenue management across numerous industry types, including hotels, airlines, and rental car and tour companies, as well as numerous consumer packaged goods and financial services firms. Professor Anderson’s research has been funded by numerous governmental agencies and industrial partners. He serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management and is the regional editor for the International Journal of Revenue Management. At the Nolan School of Hotel Administration, Professor Anderson teaches courses in revenue management and service operations management.
On‑Campus Capstone – Advanced Hotel Revenue
ManagementImmersion Program
Management ()
Course Overview
This session takes place June 13-16, 2022 on campus at the Cornell Hotel School in Ithaca, NY. Sessions run from 8:00am-5:00pm ET each day.
Days 1 and 2: Strategic and Competitive Pricing
Revenue management has historically been focused inward; you've used historical transaction data to generate a forecast and manage prices and inventory. As information has become more readily available, you need the ability to more directly model and take into account the pricing and inventory actions of your competitors when contemplating revenue management decisions. In this intensive session, you'll take a strategic and competitive look at revenue management and pricing decisions with a focus on both understanding the reactions of others as well as how to use today's tools to make pricing and inventory decisions to drive profitable revenue. Using a strategic pricing simulation, you'll develop an understanding of the interplay between pricing and digital marketing in competitive markets and refocus your efforts on profit versus revenue.
Days 3 and 4: Driving Profit Through Performance and Demand Management
Defining the “revenue performance” of a hotel has traditionally involved a series of benchmarking approaches like comparisons to last year; budget; forecast; and, of course, the competitive set. As the discipline evolves, performance metrics need to evolve as well. Metrics such as RevPAR Index will likely remain crucial for the foreseeable future. That said, the role of revenue management is to make tactical and strategic decisions to further the goals of a hotel or set of hotels, and these goals extend far beyond revenue maximization; in fact, some of these goals are actually counter to revenue maximization. In this session, you'll examine the often-competing goals of customer acquisition, customer retention, engagement and loyalty, and channel choice, along with the corresponding revenue management approaches. You'll also examine a “balanced scorecard” approach, which presents a much more comprehensive assessment of revenue performance. You'll leave equipped with the tools to excel in today's more active revenue management environment.
Key Course Takeaways
- Develop a fundamental understanding of competitive pricing
- Examine the role of segmentation in an effective revenue management and distribution strategy
- Explore the dynamics of revenue versus profit optimization
- Analyze the moderating role of digital marketing in low-demand environments
- Review the importance as well as the limitations of “traditional” revenue metrics
- Utilize today's forward-looking demand signals
- Practice balancing competing priorities and their associated metrics
Course Authors
Dave Roberts retired from Marriott in 2019, after 23 years with the company. Most recently, he was the Senior Vice President of Revenue Strategy and Solutions; in this role, he was responsible for revenue management strategy and execution for around 7,000 hotels worldwide. He also led revenue analytics, providing top-line analysis for the company, as well as sales systems, providing strategy, development, and deployment of technology to manage meeting and event business. Prior to this role, he led consumer insights, providing consumer research and analytics for regional and corporate stakeholders. Mr. Roberts has also been Regional Vice President of Market Strategy for Marriott’s Eastern Region as well as Vice President of Global Pricing, in addition to several other roles in the company.
Prior to Marriott, Mr. Roberts was a manager in the Finance Department at American Airlines, working on airplane purchases and route economics. He was also a technical consultant on missile defense for the U.S. Department of Defense, as part of the “Star Wars” initiative. Mr. Roberts has a B.S. and an M.S. in Operations Research from Cornell University, as well as an MBA with majors in Finance and Economics from Northwestern’s Kellogg School. He holds a U.S. patent on a software product (a “data matching” algorithm) and has published several academic papers on such topics as forecasting, options pricing, and customer choice modeling. Mr. Roberts was on IBM’s Business Analytics Advisory Board for six years and on Cornell’s Center for Hospitality Research Advisory Board for five years. He has been a frequent speaker at industry events as well as several top universities. In his spare time, Mr. Roberts enjoys martial arts and astronomy.
Who Should Enroll
- General managers
- Revenue managers
- Marketing managers
- Hospitality professionals who are responsible for the financial performance of their organization
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