The Revenue Management Team of the Year Award saw a high number of strong applications from all over Europe and is a positive sign on how the revenue management industry continues to grow from strength to strength.
Many of the nominees outlined the challenges that Covid had presented to their businesses but also how this had offered a significant opportunity for change, growth and development of their functions.
What really stood out was not how they had improved just one significant area of their team but how they had improved all the different elements of their revenue management function to maximise performance – Technology, Process improvement, breaking down internal silos, movement towards Total Revenue Management, and underlying it all, people development.
Our winner this evening did all these – restructured and created a new revenue management function, implemented new systems and BI Tools focusing on total revenue management and, underlying all this was people development through new initiatives and support for learning and development.

Sometimes it is necessary to recognize an organization for their achievements outside any given year or single branding activity. This year it is a hotel brand standing out year after year has been at it for under 20 years, no age in an industry where brands older than people can still be flying high. The brand has – more or less – singlehandedly and boldly pointed to the future by focusing on the few things modern travellers appreciate, stripping away everything else and adding a bold, confident and cheeky personality that is just their own.

The strategist Roger Martin states that strategy is the act of making an integrated set of choices which positions the organization to win. That is exactly what this organization has done, for its business as for its brand. Not many companies choose and then manage to be brand led and stay consistent and consistently fresh through all touchpoints in the customer experience. Whether it is in the physical spaces, people, services, innovations, or communications, this company does.

This year’s winner is a fairly new build and had the opportunity to integrate sustainable solutions from the very start – solar park that provides them with 10% of their energy need, the rest comes purely from renewable energy sources from national suppliers; groundwater heating and cooling, intelligent light control, indoor forest, recycled concrete floors and window frames, felt ceiling from recycles plastic tableware, and pathways from recycled rubber tires and tubes. In operation they collect food waste for production of bio gas, produce menus from local and organic food wherever possible – other activities include furniture from recycled materials and inclusive hiring strategy, providing opportunities for those who may have otherwise difficulties entering the job market.

The hospitality industry faces a number of challenges when it comes to attracting skilled sales candidates and especially from outside the  sector. The impact of 2 years with lockdown and resulting business closures has led to increased labour challenges. 

Our winner has chosen to meet these challenges with a new employer branding perspective and by broadening their talent pool beyond hospitality. Through their brand efforts and through improving their hiring process and revisiting their “employee value proposition”, the  winner has been able to increase the number of applicants per vacancy in the sales team and has been able to reduce the time to hire significantly. Their aligned approach to find the best possible talent in the market has allowed them to build high performance teams and create a strong internal talent pipeline to support future growth. This will be further supported by the implementation of a new career programme in 2023.

This award is very special. Because it is rewarding not only a great hospitality professional, but a professional with a great future in front of him. Someone we can rely upon to carry the torch of our beautiful industry in the coming years. The future of our industry. Our winner has been doing an incredible job during the Covid-period and afterwards: not only in terms of business performance, but also as an innovator, coach, leader… People love working with him and for him. He has achieved one of the highest employee satisfaction score. Definitely an inspiring figure for his colleagues, key stakeholders and even his local community to which he gives a lot. Our winner is making a real impact, a true difference. No wonder he has been appointed as the youngest General manager in his company, and has already won several awards as a young hotelier.

The winner of the Sales Talent of the Year has had extensive experience, a classic from rags to hospitality career, starting with Pan-European operational functions before setting the path to guest and customer facing roles all supported by additional foundations in accomplishing academic credentials in Tourism and Hospitality.
The winner gained not only operational accolades but extended the wealth of knowledge within the mighty world of sales through many different segments and widening the skillset by excelling in the MICE & Events segment and gaining a clear focus on what has become a crucial segment for the hotels in scope, in primary and secondary cities.
The winner’s versatility and resilience especially in the segment this person manages has become key, supporting colleagues as part of a crisis team – for example with the sensitive Operation “London Bridge”.

This individual had the challenging job of managing the marketing of 25 hotels with different brands across different European countries; and in very different markets, some hotels are located downtown in European capitals, others at major airports.

So a few of their achievements. They have made a significant success of a London hotel launch in a trendy neighborhood, using online and offline channels creating website for maximum reach and local promotion for neighborhood grasp.
They also had to manage the launch of a dual brand property at a not so trendy neighborhood (Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport); facing an existing hotel on site with the same brand, so they had to create differentiation.

The hotel in London is a Hyatt and the 2 hotels in Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport are Residence Inn and Courtyard by Marriott.

The winner of the Sales Professional of the Year Award 2022 is a loyal, dynamic, confident and enthusiastic Sales Leader, who manages to excel in all aspects of the role and scope of this award.
The winner is not only there to “ride the wave of success” but has a clear focus in giving and sharing the success. This individual does go the extra mile but is clearly focusing on enabling others to outperform as well, professionally as well as personally.
The winner creates an atmosphere as a trusted advisor showcasing resilience, reliability, creativity and dedication to all customers, colleagues, and partners.
This individual works in and fosters a true cross-functional environment with commercial and revenue teams alike.
The winner is not only an outstanding sales talent for many colleagues but has understood how to work better together, leverage brands and gain market share through authentic partnerships especially in project business and in the Government Sector.

To win the Fabian Specht Revenue Optimization Professional of the Year award tonight, and knowing how talented and exceptional was Fabian Specht, our winner tonight must be an exceptionally talented professional!

Of course, it has to be someone who has the capacity to be supremely good at optimizing revenues, managing distribution channels, generating profits in a complex and international ecosystem.
Someone that has made a true difference for his/her company. Someone who had made an impact, who is doing magic with data and figures.

But also someone who has a high pedigree in terms of leadership, coaching and communication skills.

Someone trustworthy that colleagues and hoteliers can rely upon.
A professional who is highly committed to boosting revenues and profits, yet not forgetting to embark everyone in his/her inspiring journey.

This is a perfect description of the winner of the Fabian Specht Revenue Optimization Professional of the Year award tonight: