The "dark art" of Revenue Management

Really interesting to read the report from the recent Hospace Conference, hearing the industry luminaries' view on the growing need for Revenue Management knowledge, or even better, real life experience.

http://www.caterersearch.com/Articles/22/11/2012/346309/revenue-managers-are-the-hospitality-leaders-of-tomorrow-hospace-delegates-hear.htm

I have always maintained that the best and the most frustrating 12 months of my career were those during my sojourn in to Revenue Management.  It was a "pressure cooker" learning experience for me, in a role that had a huge impact on the business that I was employed in at the time.  The skills that I learnt have stayed with me, influencing every strategic decision that I now take with respect to both rooms optimisation and hotel wide promotional activity. 

As a General manager, you can apply the core principles of Revenue Management right across the business, targeting resources and spend appropriately; from taking a view on factors that drive additional demand, be they engaging existing clients to encourage loyalty, or price lead initiatives to bolster slower nights in the calendar, through to the value of packaging the business into inclusive products to drive on-spend and of course the obvious setting of room rates to achieve optimum Revpar.  In this respect, I get to really enjoy the application of my lessons learnt from "the dark side," whilst still engaging with guests, bookers and associates every day, which was the part of being bunkered down in the revenue office that frustrated me.

So, I wholeheartedly agree with the panel.  All aspiring General Manager's should aim to get some exposure to revenue management as part of their career plan.  You never know, you might actually enjoy it! :)

Restaurant Of The Year

We are on a terrific journey with the Highcliff Grill and although there is still some way to go, we are really pleased with our progress and believe that we are cooking some of the very best food in the region.

So too it would seem, do the ladies and gentlemen at the Bournemouth Tourism Awards, who picked out the Highcliff Grill as the Restaurant Of The Year at this years gala dinner award ceremony..

A very happy team!

Winter menu Taste Panel

Some great new dishes will be appearing on the Highcliff Grill menu from next week as we migrate across to our Winter Seasonal ingredients.

Just a few phone camera snaps from our taste panel yesterday....

There is nothing fishy about our rating....

A fantastic 4 blue fish rating has been awarded

to the Highcliff Grill

by the Fish2fork organisation

This award recognises the hotel and in particular the Highcliff Grill for our responsible and sustainable approach to the fish and shellfish that we source and serve.

This rating places the Highcliff Grill as the highest scoring restaurant

in the Bournemouth area, just pipped to second place across the whole of Dorset

by Mark Hix's fantastic Oyster & Fish House in Lyme Regis

You can read our review by fish2fork here:

http://www.fish2fork.com/en-GB/fish-restaurant/Highcliff-Grill-Marriott%20Bournemouth%202012.aspx

World's tallest hotel is officially open

Huge congratulations and very best wishes to all of our colleagues at the JW Marriott Marquis Dubai - now officially open!

Officially recognised as the world’s tallest hotel at a height of 355 metres, only 26 metres short of the Empire State Building, New York, the JW Marriott Marquis is Dubai’s first world-class convention and business destination hotel.

You can't see the Isle of Wight from their bedrooms - but the views must be awesome all the same...

Eco Beach Meetings

Back in the Summer (already, that seems like a long time ago), we discovered a genuine gem of an alternative meeting space. 

A real "off piste" kind of environment to shake off the coporate mindset and help with some free thinking and action planning.

Set right on one of Dorset's most beautiful beaches within a National Trust managed environemnt, the Eco Lodge is great place to take your team and we can give it that profesional edge to ensure it is a truly conducive and productive part of your team meeting or conference here at the Highcliff.

The Highcliff Conference & Events team will set up the lodge with all of our own AV kit, serve coffee breaks and a great picnic or BBQ lunch for you and run the day in the Highcliff Style.

If the weather is great, the beach cafe is perfect to start the day with an al fresco breakfast.  If it is not so good, the wood burner in the lodge is a great place to muster around to get some team spirit flowing.