Yield management

Yield management means reactive pricing based on current booking position. When occupancy is high, prices rise. When it is low, they fall. It is an approach -- but not a complete revenue management system.

The difference isn't in the principle, but in the data base: yield thinking reacts. Revenue management anticipates.

What we see in practice: A 50-room resort hotel adjusts room rates manually every Monday -- based on current booking position, by feel, with no system support. That is yield thinking: reactive, not forward-looking. A revenue management approach would also pull pickup curves, segment analysis, and market data into the picture. The pricing difference between a property that reacts to bookings and one that anticipates demand averages seven to twelve percent in RevPAR. That is not a theoretical number. It is the gap between two properties of similar size in the same region -- with different levels of steering maturity.