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On this very special episode the tables are turned and the interviewer, IDeaS’ chief evangelist Klaus Kohlmayr, becomes the interviewee. Kristi White, vice president of product management at Knowland interviews Klaus on her Bring it On webcast series, and we are sharing their insight-packed discussion with you here. Questions addressed include:What to do now that demand has possibly changed forever?How can hotels take advantage of dramatically changed booking windows to impact pricing?What should hotels be doing now in terms of strategy, marketing and pricing to prepare for pent-up demand?How should hotels be rethinking their demand for 2021 and beyond? Is 2019 the benchmark? If not, which year will it be?Thanks for listening! Please subscribe to our podcast on your favorite podcast network and share with colleagues in the travel and hospitality space who may find this episode useful.

Happy New Year and welcome back to the Unconstrained Conversations podcast! This week IDeaS’ chief evangelist Klaus Kohlmayr speaks with Charles Wang, IDeaS’ assistant vice president responsible for our regional offices in Beijing and Shanghai. It’s been a full calendar year since the COVID-19 outbreak began in Wuhan, China, delivering a crushing blow to the regional—and soon worldwide—hospitality industry. With the country’s ability to keep the pandemic under control, Charles shares how China’s hotel industry has recovered, what changes occurred and the implications this may have for the rest of the world.Thanks for listening! Please subscribe to our podcast on your favorite podcast network and share with colleagues in the travel and hospitality space who may find this episode useful.

Welcome back to the Unconstrained Conversations podcast! We will return with brand new episodes in January after a brief holiday break. In the meantime, here are the Top 5 most popular recent episodes to help you prepare your hotel revenue and commercial strategies for 2021.Thanks for listening! Please subscribe to our podcast on your favorite podcast network and share with colleagues in the travel and hospitality space who may find this episode useful.Episode 18: Rise of the Commercial StrategistHyatts’ former head of revenue & distribution strategy Sharad Kapur has helped hotels and resorts develop and grow their revenue management and distribution capabilities around the world. In this episode Sharad shares his views on how the COVID-19 crisis is leading to a fundamental shift in how the industry will generate and optimize revenues, which in turn will lead to the rise of the commercial strategist, an analytically minded leader whose responsibility is to integrate and optimize all revenue streams and maximize total revenue and profitability.Episode 23: The Future of Corporate Travel & Customer RelationshipsLennert De Jong, chief commercial officer at citizenM, talks the launch of citizenM’s new subscription models as well as the changing purpose of corporate travel, the value of moving away from transactional relationships to customer relationships, and revenue management needing to shift focus to customer lifetime value for long-term impact.Episode 22: Becoming an Insights & Profit HunterDavid Warman, former SVP experience & enablement marketing at Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts shares significant insights on the changing roles of revenue leaders. He believes revenue managers have a unique set of skills necessary to optimize the performance of their business in these uncertain times.Episode 25: Getting Dirty with Data – A Chat with Isaac Collazo—a True Data GuyIsaac Collazo, former VP of competitive intelligence at IHG, unpacks what makes a great data story and how to get dirty with data.Episode 31: Proactive Tactics & Survival Strategies for 2021Stephen Hambleton, senior manager of product management at IDeaS and a critical member of IDeaS’ COVID response team, shares some of the key guidance we’ve provided our hotel clients worldwide. Klaus and Stephen also discuss short-term tactics and long-term strategies hotel revenue managers should undertake now to be ready for a potential upswing in demand next year.

Welcome back to the Unconstrained Conversations podcast. This week IDeaS’ chief evangelist Klaus Kohlmayr answers listener-submitted questions for a special “Ask Me Anything” episode of the podcast. Klaus also provides his year-end 2021 hospitality industry outlook.Thanks for listening! Please subscribe to our podcast on your favorite podcast network and share with colleagues in the travel and hospitality space who may find this episode useful.

This week IDeaS’ chief evangelist Klaus Kohlmayr speaks with Cindy Estis Green, founder of Kalibri Labs. Cindy has spent most of her professional lifetime uncovering and surfacing data, demystifying the cost of distribution and getting the hotel industry to think differently. In this episode Cindy shares her insights into the state of the industry, how hotels can make sense of the rapidly shifting economic landscape and her view on direct versus indirect distribution opportunities. Topics discussed include:The importance of being mindful of the cost of acquisition and continuing to be selective about the types of business your hotel should acceptKalibri Labs’ launch of predictive forecasting to help hotel organizations with the changes in the budgeting process and changing comp setsThe importance of understanding how your organization’s whole business has changed and realigning resources accordinglyThanks for listening! Please subscribe to our podcast on your favorite podcast network and share with colleagues in the travel and hospitality space who may find this episode useful.

This week IDeaS’ chief evangelist Klaus Kohlmayr speaks with Stephen Hambleton, senior manager of product management at IDeaS. As a critical member of our COVID response team, Stephen shares some of the key guidance we’ve provided our hotel clients worldwide. Klaus and Stephen also discuss short-term tactics and long-term strategies hotel revenue managers should undertake now to be ready for a potential upswing in demand next year.Reminder, send your hospitality and revenue management related questions for Klaus to answer in an upcoming podcast episode to unconstrained@ideas.com by December 10th.Thanks for listening! Please subscribe to our podcast on your favorite podcast network and share with colleagues in the travel and hospitality space who may find this episode useful.

This week IDeaS’ chief evangelist Klaus Kohlmayr speaks with Claudia Infante, VP of revenue strategy at Margaritaville. Claudia shares how her resort-and-leisure focused organization is coping with travel-related uncertainty and the new opportunities that have presented themselves.Claudia also introduces Women in Travel Thrive, a new initiative she co-launched with industry colleagues to help reduce the impact of COVID-19 on women’s career progressions. Claudia invites anyone interested in participating to check out the website and reach out to her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/claudiainfante/.Other topics discussed in this episode include:Tactics for boosting customer ratings and the importance of increasing net promoter scoreChanging consumer priorities, market segments and seasonalityThe importance of taking risks in order to find new opportunitiesAdvice for revenue managers starting out in their careers or those needing to pivotThanks for listening! Please subscribe to our podcast on your favorite podcast network and share with colleagues in the travel and hospitality space who may find this episode useful.

This week IDeaS’ chief evangelist Klaus Kohlmayr speaks with Philip Wolf, founder of Phocuswright. As the founder of a travel industry research company and serial board member for start-ups around the world, Philip has a truly unique perspective on what types of businesses will succeed in the future. Listen to this episode to learn about:The current state of travelThe high value of having a “millennial strategy”Why being customer focused is not enough—you need to be customer obsessed The importance of quality, rapid decision-makingHere is the link to the referenced article: https://www.takemobi.com/article-collected-but-neglectedThanks for listening! Please subscribe to our podcast on your favorite podcast network and share with colleagues in the travel and hospitality space who may find this episode useful.

This week IDeaS’ chief evangelist Klaus Kohlmayr speaks with Calvin Anderson, chief commercial officer at Domio. Demand is constantly shifting, consumers are behaving differently, and historical reference points are no longer valid. How does a commercial leader operate within this heightened level of uncertainty? Calvin outlines how his focus on agility—combined with good-old data crunching and a Wall Street trading approach to marketing—is resulting in his properties running at 60 to 90% occupancy throughout the pandemic. Thanks for listening! Please subscribe to our podcast on your favorite podcast network and share with colleagues in the travel and hospitality space who may find this episode useful.

This week IDeaS’ chief evangelist Klaus Kohlmayr hosts a panel discussion with several members of Australia’s hotel investment community. Together they offer a view into Australia’s current hotel market as well as various strategies and outlooks. The hospitality leaders sharing their expertise in this episode are:Lucia Grambalova, General Manager of Hotel Investments for Mulpha AustraliaNigel Greenaway, National Director Hotels at Colliers International Australia (previous head of two of Australia’s leading wholesale hotel investment funds)Glen Boultwood, CEO and Co-Founder at Serene Capital, a funds management company with a focus on core property classes (including hotels) and commercial real estate debtHoward Kemball, Owner of Kcom Hotel Asset ManagementThanks for listening! Please subscribe to our podcast on your favorite podcast network and share with colleagues in the travel and hospitality space who may find this episode useful.

This week IDeaS’ chief evangelist Klaus Kohlmayr speaks with Digna Kolar and Blake Madril. As members of IDeaS’ Advisory Services team, Digna and Blake spend their days helping hotel companies around the world overcome their revenue optimization challenges. In this episode they share their insider knowledge on the current state of the industry as well as advice they give to their hospitality clients about planning for 2021.Thanks for listening! Please subscribe to our podcast on your favorite podcast network and share with colleagues in the travel and hospitality space who may find this episode useful.

IDeaS’ chief evangelist Klaus Kohlmayr speaks with Isaac Collazo, former VP of competitive intelligence at IHG. Throughout his career, Isaac has helped key stakeholders analyze competitive performance and interpret the macro-economic environment. While the value of data to form insights and strategy has greatly appreciated, many people struggle with telling a story utilizing the data. In this episode, Isaac unpacks what makes a great data story and how to get dirty with data. Thanks for listening! Please subscribe to our podcast on your favorite podcast network and share with colleagues in the travel and hospitality space who may find this episode useful.

IDeaS’ chief evangelist Klaus Kohlmayr speaks with Dave Roberts. After 23 years of developing and leading the global revenue management and pricing function at Marriott, Dave now teaches the next generation of revenue leaders at the Cornell School of Business. In this episode, Dave and Klaus discuss:The current state of the industry and projections for the near futureThe high cost of pricing mistakes during a downturn and how taking the emotion out of your forecast is criticalThe importance of finding balance between relying on technology and revenue leaders to drive the best outcomesAdvice for revenue managers dealing with the current industry downturnAdvice for future revenue leaders nervous about their industry debut during a downturnThanks for listening! Please subscribe to our podcast on your favorite podcast network and share with colleagues in the travel and hospitality space who may find this episode useful.

IDeaS’ chief evangelist Klaus Kohlmayr speaks with Sloan Dean, CEO of Remington Hotels. The duo originally spoke in Episode 3: Today is Day Zero where Sloan talked about the importance of approaching recovery from the perspective of building a new business versus focusing on how business can get back to pre-COVID levels. In this episode, Klaus checks in with Sloan to see how Remington Hotels is building their “new business.” Sloan shares his perspectives on maintaining endurance during the recovery marathon as well as the importance of clear and honest communication.

IDeaS’ chief evangelist Klaus Kohlmayr speaks with Iain Ganner, head of sales at Accor New Zealand, Fiji and French Polynesia. The duo originally spoke in Episode 5: For the Greater Good – Accor New Zealand where Iain shared how Accor became a key partner to the New Zealand government in their successful fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. With New Zealand borders still shut, Klaus and Iain discuss how the hotel industry is coping with a lack of international travelers and how business has recovered in the last few months. *At the time of the episode recording, New Zealand was free of community related COVID cases

IDeaS’ chief evangelist Klaus Kohlmayr speaks with Hyatts’ former head of revenue & distribution strategy Sharad Kapur who has helped hotels and resorts develop and grow their revenue management and distribution capabilities around the world. In this episode Sharad shares his views on how the COVID-19 crisis is leading to a fundamental shift in how the industry generates and optimizes revenue, which in turn will lead to the rise of the commercial strategist, an analytically minded leader whose responsibility is to integrate and optimize all revenue streams and maximize total revenue and profitability.

IDeaS’ chief evangelist Klaus Kohlmayr speaks with Derek Brewster, director of revenue management at the Lotte New York Palace. The duo originally spoke in Episode 2: In a Holding Pattern – Is it a time for Spring Cleaning? With the Lotte New York Palace finally reopening its doors to guests this week, Derek shares his latest learnings and strategies.

IDeaS’ chief evangelist Klaus Kohlmayr speaks with Chinmai Sharma, president of the Americas for RateGain. The two hospitality thought leaders originally spoke in Episode 4: Aftermath – How Revenue Management Must Adapt. Since plenty has changed in the industry, and RateGain processes a plethora of global booking data, Klaus thought it would be a great time to check back in on the state of global hospitality now that lockdowns and some travel restrictions are easing up around the world.