Informative sessions? Insightful speakers? Unparalleled networking opportunities? That’s what is on the schedule for the next few days at the inaugural Apartment Revenue Management Conference. Kickoff is Monday, September 12 at 5:30 with our Welcome Networking Reception.

Monday also happens to be the kickoff of the 42^nd season of Monday Night Football—a doubleheader with New England at Miami (7:00) and Oakland at Denver (10:30).

So, football and revenue management. Interesting combination and it got me to thinking: We’ll have the top revenue management minds in the country gathered in Scottsdale at the conference. I wonder if they could show us how to employ yield optimization strategies in online betting to maximize our earnings? Hmmm, I wonder….

No, seriously, there is a great example of how revenue management works in the sports world, particularly in regard a certain product’s value in different market segments. That product? Super Bowl tickets.

Consider this: The average price for Super Bowl XXX tickets was $250 if purchased from the National Football League. However, the going rate for tickets in the secondary market was $1,450. That meant people who were able to purchase tickets directly enjoyed an average consumer surplus of $1,200. Talk about revenue.

What it boiled down to was perceived value; that is, certain customers valued the Super Bowl tickets more than others and happily paid more for them.

Revenue management techniques are extremely useful in dealing with opportunities presented by the variance to values that a product represents to different customer segments. In fact, the survival of your business may depend on your ability to identify such opportunities and capture that consumer surplus.

At the conference, you’ll learn more about RM tactics—market-based pricing, segment pricing and forecasting on the micromarket level—that will help you best deal with the differences in how market segments value your products.

I look forward to seeing you there.

P.S. Even though I don’t really know much about football – my picks: Pats over the Dolphins and Broncos over the Raiders.

A few weeks ago I was a guest blogger for Mark Juleen’s website. In my blog I discussed the importance of implementing revenue management strategies from a holistic business approach, yield optimization should be used in conjunction with marketing and operations to deliver the right unit, to the right resident at the right time. A recent article posted on www.hotelsnewsnow.com provides yet another business practice that needs to be part of your revenue management strategy.

More and more prospective residents are turning to such sites as ApartmentRatings.com, community Facebook pages and Twitter feeds to research a community as well as rant or rave about their experience. The article “Reputation Management is Revenue Management” on HotelNewsNow.com examines how closely revenue management and reputation management are connected.

The article discusses how Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego realized the importance of consistently monitoring your online reputation and leveraging that information to help drive revenue management practices. Manchester customers were using online forums to rate the hotel and express displeasure with pricing for amenities they felt should be included in the price. After consistently seeing these comments, Kristen Spitz, Electronic Sales and Marketing Manager for the hotel, took this feedback to a management meeting. By communicating how the hotel’s reputation was suffering online, Spitz and the revenue manager were able to develop a new package offering customers the amenities they assumed were free. 

Spitz goes on to say reputation management teams and revenue management teams working together is the way of the future. “There will be the revenue manager and the reputation manager,” she said. “Those two positions really go hand in hand. Take advantage of the people who are doing the marketing for you online.”

As a revenue manager are you working hand in hand with your marketing team and more importantly your social media manager?

To learn more about how to leverage revenue management practices from other industry, don’t miss the first annual Apartment Revenue Management Conference at the Westin Kierland Resort in Scottsdale, AZ. September 12-14, 2011.

The referenced article is the third installment of a 4-part series entitled “Building a Reputation” by Jason Q. Freed.