Pricing a Hotel When a Government Agency Approves Your Rates With Jennifer Miller

Jennifer Miller is Director of Revenue Management at Guest Services, Inc., a hospitality company more than 100 years old. She has been in hospitality for almost 35 years, starting at the front desk of a Radisson on Marco Island, Florida, and has spent 21 years with Guest Services. She served as General Manager from 2013 to 2015, overseeing several communities and a condo-style hotel in the Orlando market, then as Revenue Manager for the Hospitality Division through 2020, and moved into her current role in February 2020. She holds the CRME designation from HSMAI and a BA in English from Marietta College. Here's a glimpse of what you'll learn: [1:20] Jennifer's path from front desk to yield management to revenue leadership at Guest Services, Inc. [5:28] How dynamic pricing was received differently in national and state park lodging versus branded hotels [7:59] Why national park lodging requires rate approval from federal or state agencies, and what that means for a revenue manager [12:58] How Jennifer builds a comp set for Flamingo Lodge when there is nothing to compare it to inside the park [14:41] The role of AI and tech in Jennifer's call center, and why she believes human agents aren't going away [20:52] The challenge of connecting hotel, activity, dining, and retail revenue into a single guest picture [26:51] Why independent hotels should start small with ancillary revenue and what Jennifer would steal from the park model In this episode... What does revenue management look like when a government agency has the final say on your rates? Jennifer Miller, Director of Revenue Management at Guest Services, Inc., joins Kin Sio live on the floor at the Independent Hotel Show Miami to answer exactly that question. With more than twenty years at Guest Services and a portfolio that spans national and state park lodging, camping, glamping, houseboats, and boat tours, Jennifer brings a perspective that very few revenue managers can offer. The conversation covers what it really means to price a property like Flamingo Lodge, the lodge at Flamingo in Everglades National Park, when your comp set has to stretch to Homestead, Florida City, and the Upper Keys just to find a reference point. Jennifer is candid about the tension between leaving money on the table and honoring the parks' mandate to keep lodging accessible and fairly priced for the public. She also digs into the technology challenge behind it all: how her call center agents juggle a hotel PMS, activity software, call software, a knowledge base, chat, and email simultaneously, and why connecting all of that into a single guest picture remains the hardest unsolved problem in her operation. Resources mentioned in this episode: • Kin Sio on LinkedIn -   / kinsio   • Lights On - https://www.lightson.co/ • Jennifer Miller on LinkedIn -   / jennifer-miller-082508a   • Guest Services, Inc. - https://www.guestservices.com/ • Adventures Unbound - https://www.adventuresunbound.com/ • Flamingo Lodge - https://www.adventuresunbound.com/pro... • Everglades National Park - https://www.nps.gov/ever/index.htm • Flamingo Adventures - https://www.adventuresunbound.com/pro... • National Park Service - https://www.nps.gov/ Sponsor for this episode... This episode is sponsored by Lights On. Lights On helps hotels grow revenue more consistently by managing pricing, distribution, and digital marketing together. We help hotels identify new revenue opportunities, so they don’t leave money on the table. We also manage the full revenue and marketing operation, enabling the on-the-ground team to focus on the guest experience. If your hotel needs stronger revenue growth, visit lightson.co to learn more.