Mastering revenue management is no easy task. But with newly introduced, app-enabled technology, hoteliers can literally hold a wealth of information in the palm of their hands, optimizing their properties’ revenue and profitability from their mobile devices.
LodgIQ, a New York-based startup, has developed one such app-enabled revenue management system that allows hoteliers to optimize their properties’ performance using real-time market data. LodgIQ use internally-developed algorithms that take into account a wide breadth of data and perform a deep analysis, which maximizes a property’s price optimization.
“We are planning the forecast from the outside in. So rather than start at the hotel, we start with the forecast of the market, then the neighborhood that the hotel sits in, and then the hotel,” explains Ravneet Bhandari, chief executive officer of LodgIQ. “In order to do that, we look at a tremendous amount of data, not just the hotel’s data but the market data.”
Bhandari says hoteliers can use the LodgIQ application to drill down pertinent information, such as industry price indicators, the latest market news, and competitor price information.
“We pick up all of the demand signals as we narrow down to the hotel, and then we feed all of that into the optimization algorithm, so we are making a more optimal decision from a pricing perspective,” Bhandari says.
Funded by Highgate Ventures and Trilantic Capital Partners, LodgIQ currently services roughly 100 hotels, with another 300 hotels signed across Europe, Asia, and the United States.
The LodgIQ team’s global aspirations are apparent in the way the company is structured. The team is made up of a mix of professionals and experts with lodging, technology, and engineering backgrounds. The company’s technologists are based in a small Silicon Valley satellite office, marketing, operations, and sales sit in the company’s New York headquarters, and there are outpost offices in London and Singapore to make LodgIQ a more attractive option for hoteliers all over the world. Additionally, the company hosts a development center in India. Together, the employees work to track how customers use data in order to provide the best user experience.
Having so many experts on deck helps the software evolve as needed. “The technology morphs. Over time we track our users’ click streams, so we know how they engage with the system,” Bhandari says. “If a user isn’t using certain features, they will be asked if they want to keep them or not.”
One of the features in the system is a color-coded calendar that indicates which days rates should be raised or lowered. If a hotelier clicks on a specific day, the program will provide information about that date, and why it’s recommending a specific price. Other unique features include a dynamic comp set and a work hive that allows for real-time collaboration with colleagues.
Hoteliers can also ask LodgIQ questions about property statistics. The system is set to recognize 50 questions, such as an occupancy rate request. As the company grows, Bhandari says it will continue to adjust the program to meet users’ needs.
“We are solving very specific real-world problems that come from personal experience, and we will continue to add more data and features in the future,” Bhandari says.
