“ Revenue management is FUN , it ’ s like a game . That ’ s the draw for me .”
It ’ s understanding your busy and your non-busy periods . That could be a start to your revenue strategy , learning where your opportunity periods are .
— ADAM HAYASHI
Pulse : What kind of skills are a match for a position like this ? AH : I want someone with a Ph . D . in economics , statistical analysis and philosophy , hahaha .
No , revenue management is an art as much as a science . The people who do really well have a mix of personality traits . They ’ re analytical , math focused , trend focused . Puzzles , games , chess really excite their mind . But they ’ re also able to communicate and are good at the soft skills , because to be a good commercial leader you need to be able to sell what you ’ re doing . We coined the phrase “ geeks that speak .” If you ’ re just a numbers guy , sit in the dark and you scare people , you ’ re never going to be able to get the point across . You can have the best strategic mind in the world , you might see the trends and understand where we need to be , but if you can ’ t sell your strategy , you aren ’ t gonna go anywhere . of revenue management and focusing on the revenue strategy , in terms of how they ’ re addressing their business to make sure it ’ s part of their day-to-day operations . The most important thing you could focus on is having your spa leadership make sure they ’ re doing some sort of analysis as a part of their daily task list looking at the demand trends — which days and hours book most and least — and the pricing opportunities that creates . And then disseminate that down to the rest of the team and make sure everyone ’ s on board with pricing strategies .
Pulse : What are some key concepts that spa leaders who may not be “ numbers people ” want to keep track of or understand better to help with revenue management ? AH : The basis of revenue management is simple . Applying the key concepts can be the challenge .
When I think of people in other disciplines , it ’ s about changing their mindset a little bit , not to take focus away from what their primary role is but to add the element of thinking about the revenue strategy as they go forward . So , for someone in a spa who ’ s come up through the ranks and has worked their way up , a great area to start is something that they know well , which is their scheduling .
Pulse : Do you have a favorite interview question you ask to get at some of those skills ? AH : Someone who has become a good friend and mentor asked me this years ago : If I gave you $ 50,000 , what would you do with the money ? I think it reveals a lot about personality . And , you know , people can answer the way you think they want you to answer , or they can answer selfishly , or they can prioritize family . What I like about the question is you can see when they ’ re lying to you . Like : “ I would give $ 49,000 to charity .” Listen , that ’ s wonderful . It ’ s selfless . But what would you really do ? I like to ask that question because of the psychology behind the answer as well as how they answer .
Pulse : If you were invited to a career day at your local high school , what would you say to that audience to help them get excited about careers in hospitality ? AH : One of the first things that excited me about the industry was a movie called For Love or Money with Michael J . Fox , who was a New York concierge . He was wheeling and dealing and trading tickets in the park . There was this great line : “ Nothing ’ s impossible , impossible just takes an extra few phone calls .” I loved the idea that in a luxury property ,
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