Revenue Management Courses

Revenue management is the process of maximizing business revenues by using data to set optimal pricing and product offerings for specific customers at a specific time. This field was pioneered by airlines in the 1970s to set ticket prices based on demand forecasting, and was subsequently adopted by hotels, car rental companies, television advertising sales, and many other industries. Revenue management has proven to be a particularly important and effective strategy for businesses with fixed costs and capacity selling a disposable or perishable product in a competitive marketplace.

The wealth of data available in today’s digital era has created more opportunities than ever to harness the power of revenue management. With in-depth data on consumer online shopping behavior, competitor pricing, and other customer analytics and marketing analytics, companies can use sophisticated market segmentation analysis techniques to identify which types of consumers should be targeted with which products and prices. Similarly, data for demand forecasting and operations research have become more granular than ever, allowing for more accurate predictive analytics to further optimize pricing and inventory management.‎

An understanding of revenue management can be an asset for careers in many competitive industries sharing the characteristics of fixed costs and capacity and disposable or perishable products. It has long been particularly important in the hospitality and travel industries, making expertise in this field particularly relevant for careers in hotel management or airline business analysis. Expertise in this field is even more valuable today given the challenges stemming from COVID-19, which has increased the importance of running these businesses efficiently and maximizing revenues.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, lodging and hotel managers earned a median annual salary of $54,430 per year as of 2019. While much of this work is concerned with managing guest services, staffing, cleaning, and facilities operations, hotel management professionals are also responsible for setting room rates. Although careers in this field can begin with only a high school degree, degrees in hotel management - often including skills in revenue management - are often required for full-service hotel chains.‎

Yes, absolutely. Online courses and Specializations offered by Coursera can help you learn about revenue management as well as related topics such as operations management and customer analytics. These courses are offered by top-ranked universities such as Rutgers the State University of New Jersey and University of Pennsylvania, ensuring you won’t sacrifice the quality of your education to learn remotely. You can even take courses or a full Specialization in hotel management from ESSEC Business School, giving you the opportunity to maximize your prospects in this industry.‎

Learning revenue management requires someone to already have a core understanding of financial principles, cloud-based technology, and supply and demand in economics. You should have analytical decision-making capabilities too. If you have experience in the hotel industry, revenue management will make more sense for you, as small and large hotel companies use revenue management techniques to help segment, forecast, and price rooms across hotel properties. Understanding how to book the right guest at the right time at the right price lies at the core of learning revenue management.‎

The people who work in revenue management are often senior hospitality company or travel company professionals. These people have either graduated with hospitality or business degrees and may have already worked in business administration and transferred over to the hotel industry. Techniques of revenue management are used in time-sensitive purchasing decisions, such as when consumers are paying for hotels, airplane tickets, and rental cars, for instance. These revenue management professionals are focused, detail-oriented, computer literate, and help to provide a baseline for travel companies to optimize rates. So having a good grasp of finance, operations, and management principles is important in this role.‎

You might know if learning revenue management is right for you if you enjoy using data analysis and computer software to pinpoint certain price points for valuable hotel rooms, travel flights, and rental cars. If you enjoy the basics of algebra, calculus, and statistical modeling, you may have the right set of skills that would work well in revenue management. Finally, revenue management might be right for you if you are the type of person who can see the big picture and make adjustments along the way when obstacles and challenges come up.‎