Pearson New International Edition International pcl tp indd 1

REVENUE MANAGEMENT
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rooms with king-size beds; the rooms are outfitted with a complimentary office sup-
ply kit (e.g., pens, pencils, paper, stapler, paper clips and Post-it notes) placed on the
room’s work desk. In addition, a late check-out of 5:00 p.m. is granted automatically
at time of registration, and an in-room continental breakfast is delivered between
6:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. as an additional complimentary amenity. These special rooms
are upsold for an additional $20 per night. Consider the conversation that might
ensue as Ms. Swanson, a guest with a reservation for a standard room on a weekday
night (Sunday through Thursday) checks into Loni’s hotel.
Desk Agent: Good evening Ms. Swanson, your reservation is for one room
with a king size bed, at a rate of $125. Is that correct?
Ms. Swanson: Yes, that’s right.
Desk Agent: Your room is ready now; however, since I see you are staying with
us for one night, I would like to make you aware of a room special
that I think you might really appreciate.
Ms. Swanson: What is it?
Desk Agent: We’ve selected exceptional rooms in the hotel that include all the
office supplies you are likely to need during your trip, a compli-
mentary in-room continental breakfast, and an automatic late
check-out of 5:00 p.m. It’s called an executive class room. It’s a spe-
cial upgrade, and the cost is only $20 more than our standard room.
Ms. Swanson: That could be really helpful. I’ve got a 2:30 p.m. meeting near the
hotel tomorrow, and the late check-out would give me a chance to
return to the hotel after lunch and finish polishing my sales pres-
entation. Thanks. I’ll take the upgrade.
Loni’s PMS will likely enable her to create an additional room type by simply
adding an “E” to the prefix (or suffix) of her existing room types. For example, the
NSK (nonsmoking, king-size bed) rooms would, under the new program, be sepa-
rated into regular NSK (the standard room type) and ENSK (executive class, non-
smoking, king-size bed). Because of this change, Loni’s staff will be able to upsell
selected hotel products and services.
Resourceful revenue managers know that creating room types with amenities
guests truly desire (1) allows them to offer their guests additional choices and 
(2) creates an upselling potential even when the physical differences between
rooms are negligible. The key to success involves offering true value to guests.
Guests must be able to easily understand and appreciate the differences between
the room types offered if front desk agents are to successfully market these addi-
tional room types.
Actual room characteristics desired by guests vary by hotel. Figure 5 lists some of
the most common features that can differentiate rooms and allow the creation of
alternative room types. Some features can be helpful even when the differences in
actual room configuration are slight or nonexistent.
Market Codes
Nearly all hotels sell group or other discounted rooms; as a result, market codes can be
used to determine the proportion of total rooms sold that were allocated to these and
other market segments. Note that the term market actually has a variety of meanings
in the hotel industry. It can refer to the selling process, a specific target audience or,
in the case of market codes, a specific sales source or channel.