The Event for Stakeholders in Russian & CIS Hotel Investment 25 - 27 October 2010 Renaissance Moscow Monarch Centre Hotel Moscow , Russian Federation The 6th Russia & CIS Hotel Investment Conference (RHIC) will take place 25 - 27 October 2010 at the new Renaissance Moscow Monarch Centre Hotel. The hotel will be opening its doors in February 2010 and is the newest and largest single area conference and convention centre with luxury accommodation near Moscow city centre.

By attending RHIC 2010 you will meet potential business partners and get the inside track on new developments and how hoteliers are driving profits in these challenging times at the largest gathering of hotel investors, operators and developers from Russia and the CIS.

Last year's event was a huge success, with over 350 attendees from 30 countries. The compelling programme saw more than 65 speakers and panellists discussing the current challenges facing the hotel industry whilst exploring growth opportunities in the future.

Hotels are Poised to Reboot
By Michel Monticone HRCI Executive Search Founder

I've read several articles lately which discuss rate building post recession. At least one of those articles, provided suggestions which are completely opposite of acceptable revenue management principles. So, before you blindly follow some of those suggestions, consider committing to revenue management. My sense is that there is still considerable confusion, among independent hotels and some sales advisors, about the actual implementation of RM.
For hoteliers, who reduced their rates during the recession, revenue management should play a significant role in their rate recovery. These hotels are in for a real struggle in their effort to recapture profitable rates. This effort will be greatly enhanced if they adopt basic rate development principles and use revenue management.
Revenue management is based upon the general doctrine of supply and demand. Applied to our industry; available rates should increase, as room demand increases. I believe that this concept is misunderstood by some people; it refers only to rates which are made available for sale and should not be confused with actually "raising" rates. Setting rates should be a matter of setting a range of rates, high to low. As demand increases, lower rates are closed for sale.

Setting Rates Is an Art... Not Science

With revenue management, we are using past history, reservations on-hand, local area demand generators, and anticipated new reservation pick-up to calculate room demand for specific dates in the future. It is this analysis process which helps us to determine the proper range of rates to be set.
But, rates should never be set in a vacuum; they should only be set after considering the market factors above and after you determine your hotel's ranking in the marketplace. Please note that the quality of your hotel's facilities and services should only be considered in relationship to your competition set. You'll be quickly disappointed if your rates are much too high or too low for your hotel's position in the marketplace.
Don't be left behind in this process. People who don't know your hotel will judge its value by your rates; rates that are too low or too high, as compared to your competition, will have a negative impact on sales. If travelers selected hotels by rate alone, the hotel with the lowest rates would be full all the time and we know that's not happening.
Your hotel's recovery will depend upon your ability to re-brand your hotel in the marketplace. A great tool, to begin this process, is a detailed SWOT competition analysis. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. This tool will help you to define your hotel's ranking as compared to your competition set.
This SWOT analysis is not simply a "brick and mortar" comparison. Some factors to consider are, management and sales ability, services offered, location, TripAdvisor comments, etc.

Determine Your Competition Set

Determining your hotel's competition can be a tricky proposition. It is best to do this by market segment. Some hotels may be very competitive for transient business, but are not competitive for leisure business and so on.
One market segment, which is often neglected, is online travel. This requires some time and dedication. Analyze what your competition is offering as far as location, facilities, services, and amenities and, just as important, how they present them online. Does your website compete with your selected online competition?
I can't think of a better tool to help analyze your competition set than the STR Report by Smith Travel Research. If you are fortunate enough to have a report for your area, it's a great tool since the numbers are "real". There is no better way to determine progress than to compare it against your competition and not simply your budget.

5 creative steps hotels are taking to beat the recession

The recession has stimulated many hoteliers to use some creative ways to drive sales. Their focal point is to create ways to capture sales in the most cost-effective means possible, with the quickest results possible. Let's face it, few hotels are flush with money right now.
I think we can all agree that a well-designed website is the most cost-effective hotel marketing tool, ever conceived. Hotels that don't take full advantage of this marketing tool are way behind the curve. Every hotel, motor Inn, lodge, bed 'n breakfast, resort, or Inn; franchised or independent, benefits from having a presence on the world-wide web; every lodging facility needs a functioning website, but that's only the first step.
Many hoteliers have learned to use their proprietary, individually-owned, websites as a promotional tool and not just an online brochure. Because of this, they will continue to out-pace and dominate their competition. Not just because they care enough to have a good functional site, but because they understand that the information on a hotel website needs to be continually managed, promoted, and enhanced to get the most out of it.
With the potential of having a few thousand monthly site visitors, smart hoteliers are using that opportunity to, not only display their hotel features, but also to give visitors reasons to stay in their market area and thus, their hotel.

You May Need To Change Your Website Paradigm

If you are not already a believer, you may have to change the way you view your hotel's website. Too many hoteliers consider mission accomplished when their site is published, but this should only be the beginning of your Internet marketing effort. A website that just sits there, without a consistently strong promotional effort, will continue to underperform.
The real winners in Internet marketing understand that a well-designed hotel site is only the palette on which to build their promotional efforts. You've done everything necessary to get visitors to visit your site, but what is your site's sales message? Why do travelers visit your hotel's location? Do you really think that all you need do is to tell visitors about your facilities, amenities, and service? Not in this competitive marketplace.
Years ago, a very wise general manager once told me that "everyone wants a deal" and that sure holds true today. The location of your hotel as compared to where visitors want or need to be is one's first value-based decision. Your website provides an opportunity to promote packages and "special offers" to people visiting your site.

Promote Reasons To Visit Your Destination

Travelers visit a destination and stay in a hotel; not the opposite. Connect your hotel to the reasons why people visit your area. Some hotels have found this formula and are benefitting in two ways; first, from increased traffic to their site through search and second, from increased online reservations by providing promotions and packages as a value-added solution.
There are some good examples of this on the Internet. One example, a major brand hotel in the Northwest, is among those leading the way. They have a search and content optimized website on which they are promoting room packages, banquets, weddings, and restaurant promotions.
Everyone, including the general manager, food and beverage director, sales, revenue manager, and even the property controller contributes ideas to optimize website sales content. They collaborate with their website developer on a regular and consistent basis to keep their hotel in a dominant position in their market.
Another example of hotel creativity is a small limited-service hotel in Belize. This hotel uses local attractions and social events to package their rooms and location into a powerful sales message.

Collaboration - Two Minds Are Better Than One

Create a collaborative relationship with your hotel website developer. Any website designer, worth his/her fee, should be eager to help you develop your website into a productive site which optimizes search, maximizes links, promotes packages, and generates reservations.
Just about any site designer can create an attractive website; the true measure of their work is how well they support your promotional efforts with timely updates and additions to your site. Collaborate with your site developer for ideas and to add some additional insight into what is happening in an ever-changing marketplace. A good site developer knows what people are searching for so you can take advantage of those searches.

Using Revenue Management Techniques To Keep Your Site Current

Be aware of what is going on in your marketplace. Any hotel which is using revenue management techniques knows that the key to managing rates and inventory is to know what's happening in your market, now and into the future Revenue managers routinely look for opportunities; your website is the perfect vehicle to reflect market changes in the form of packages and promotions.
Revenue management "best practices" includes the collection and analysis of market data and allows hotels to anticipate fluctuations in the market; your website should reflect these opportunities.

Take the "Mystery" Out of Internet Marketing

Consider the Internet as a living, breathing advertising medium, not too unlike that full page ad in the New York Times that you've always dreamed of affording. A prime difference is that, if your site is properly developed, your site will have a much bigger relevant audience with a much lower cost per capture. Internet marketing is much more than simply posting a website.
These are some of the simple, but essential, steps to maximize the results from your online promotional efforts..

Moscow Lotte Hotel brings focus on luxury

The Lotte Hotel Moscow on Novinsky Boulevard, which recently opened its doors in the heart of the city, is likely to be a successful project that highlights, yet again, how construction of luxurious hotels remains more attractive to developers than that of mid-range hotels.

Earlier this month, Lotte Hotel Moscow, built by South Korea's Lotte Hotels & Resorts as part of a plan to launch between five and six hotels in Russia, had its "soft opening". The hotel is set to enter full operation mode in the autumn of 2010.
"It is not just that we offer merely a luxurious hotel, which is nothing extraordinary for Moscow. We introduce a completely new product aged on European traditions but based on Eastern hospitality principles," Arie Aizenshtat, General Manager of Lotte Hotel Moscow, said in a statement. "We have tried to take best from both of the worlds and route a new hospitality niche, superior to the custom five-star level."

Experts are mostly enthusiastic about Lotte Hotel Moscow's prospects.

"The new hotel is to be a good addition to the existing upper segment hotels, like Ararat Park Hyatt or Ritz Carlton," Alexei Mogila, director of the commercial property department at Penny Lane Realty, told The Moscow News. "Lotte Hotel is managed by one of Asia's leading transnational corporations, Lotte Group, which guarantees quality of construction and high standards of service."

"This project is probably going to be fairly successful given the fact that the Moscow hotel market is still undersupplied," Maxim Mokeyev, executive director of Evans Property Services, told The Moscow News. "Even taking into account the global economic problems of the last couple of years, Moscow has some of the lowest vacancy rates in the world."

According to Mogila, the hotel segment remains attractive to developers both in Moscow and in Russia's other cities. "The arrival of new projects is going to boost competition in the segment", he said, adding that in a situation when supply is limited, there is high demand for quality hotels.

"The main target demographic of Moscow's five star hotels are Russian entrepreneurs from the country's other regions," he said.

Mid-range hotels have little appeal to developers, as construction and maintenance costs are comparable, while return on investment is lower and the recoup period longer.

"Building a hotel in Moscow is expensive, not in the least due to rather large amounts of 'unofficial' payments that are required to receive all the necessary documents and permissions," explained Mokeyev. "Therefore, most developers opt for building high-range hotels to ensure that their investment is recouped within a reasonable time frame."

"Maintenance costs of a three-star hotel and a five-star one are comparable, while the price of a room at a five-star hotel is substantially higher, so profits are to be higher," Mogila added.