A familiar frustration in hotel leadership
It’s a scenario we’ve seen play out time and again.
You’ve invested in a cutting-edge Revenue Management System.
You’re paying monthly for competitive data feeds, market intelligence, and algorithm-driven rate suggestions.
Your team attends vendor trainings, updates the forecast, and keeps the strategy “optimised.”
You’ve checked every box.
But then reality sets in.
📉 Your RevPAR hasn’t moved in six months.
📉 Your ADR is trailing the comp set.
📉 Your market share index is inching in the wrong direction.
It’s frustrating. And not because the tools aren’t working, but because it feels like you’re doing everything right and still losing ground.
At Catala Consulting, we hear this from hotel leaders all the time:
“We have the right system. We’re following the rules. But nothing’s changing.”
The truth? You’re not alone. And more importantly, you’re definitely not crazy.
What most hotels discover, eventually, is this: Technology rarely fails. People do.
Not from lack of effort. But from lack of alignment.
Not from incompetence. But from inconsistent urgency.
The real problem isn’t the tool. It’s the team around it
Here’s what often goes unspoken:
- The General Manager is focused on operational flow and guest experience. Pricing is “someone else’s job.”
- The Director of Sales is protecting group business and corporate agreements at all costs, wary of pushing rates too high (too low?).
- The Revenue Manager is trying to implement RMS recommendations, but lacks real support or authority.
Everyone’s doing their job. But no one’s working from the same premise: that revenue performance is lagging, and that fixing it is urgent.
Until your core leadership (GM, DoS, RM, DoF) not only understands the revenue problem but agrees it’s the organisation’s problem to solve now, no tool, strategy, or pricing model will move the needle.
That’s the real story behind stagnant performance:
Not a bad system but a team that doesn’t see the same fire.
I. The illusion of progress: when tools mask deeper problems
The hospitality industry has made huge leaps in pricing technology over the past decade. Today’s RMS platforms can:
- Analyse historical trends and on-the-books data
- Incorporate competitor rates and event calendars
- Recommend optimised prices by room type and date
- Support rules-based or automated decision-making
The tech is smarter than ever, but smart tools can’t fix broken team dynamics.
Case in point: A leading RMS, a lagging property
One urban hotel (which we wont mention the name here) had all the right tools, top-tier RMS and PMS, accurate data feeds, and even support from the vendor’s customer success team. But nothing changed.
Why?
- The GM didn’t attend revenue meetings, seeing them as “operations adjacent.”
- The DoS refused to alter legacy group, corporate and wholesaler pricing structures.
- The DoRM was left implementing changes no one understood or endorsed.
Result: Tools were being used, but no decisions were being made. And the hotel’s performance? Stuck.
II. Misdiagnosis: why hotels keep blaming the tool
When performance stalls, the default assumption is often:
- 👉 “Our pricing strategy must be off.”
- 👉 “There must be something wrong with our revenue manager.
- 👉 “The system isn’t learning correctly.”
- 👉 “Maybe it’s time to try a different vendor.”
These assumptions are easy to make, because they’re tactical, not personal. They avoid conflict. But they also avoid the real problem: organisational misalignment.
In reality, the RMS is often doing its job. The data is there. The insights are valid. But no one is empowered or actually aligned enough to act on them.
💬 “We see hotels with the best tools in the market… but no progress. Why? Because no one agrees there’s a real issue.”
— Catala Consulting
When there’s no agreement that something must change, nothing will.
III. What’s actually missing? A shared sense of urgency
This brings us to the most overlooked element of effective revenue transformation: urgency.
In his acclaimed framework on organizational change, John Kotter identified the first step as creating a sense of urgency. Not panic. Not fear. Urgency.
What does urgency look like in hotels?
- Leadership teams acknowledge underperformance and feel accountable.
- There’s a shared belief that “business as usual” is no longer acceptable.
- Leaders across departments view revenue as a shared responsibility, not a siloed metric.
- Conversations become proactive. And not reactive.
- Win and Lose as a team. Not pointing fingers.
When urgency is present, change accelerates. When it’s absent, no tool or consultant can help.
IV. How misalignment shows up (even in well-intentioned teams)
Misalignment isn’t always obvious. Often, it shows up in subtle, culturally embedded behaviours.
Common warning signs:
| Symptom | Root Cause |
|---|---|
| GMs skip revenue meetings | Revenue isn’t seen as a core operational KPI |
| Sales pushes back on dynamic pricing | Lack of understanding or incentives tied to revenue |
| DoRM works alone | Other departments don’t understand or trust RM/RMS outputs |
| New RMS tools gather dust | Lack of onboarding across the org or unclear ownership |
| Revenue reports circulate but aren’t discussed | Insight without accountability |
When everyone’s rowing in a different direction, you’re not navigating, you’re drifting.
V. From theatre to transformation: why RMS without buy-in is just performance
We’ve seen this play out repeatedly. A hotel implements a new RMS. Everyone’s excited. There’s a kick-off meeting. Then slowly…
- Pricing calls become routine.
- Strategy decks are shared but not acted upon.
- Daily RMS recommendations are downloaded, but not followed and overriden most of the time.
This is revenue management theatre: a well-choreographed illusion of progress, masking a lack of decision-making power or shared belief in the strategy.
Behind the curtain: what’s really happening?
- The DoRM may want to be more aggressive but lacks executive support.
- The DoS is measured on volume (accounts performance), not profitability or hotel RevPAR, so resists price ceilings.
- The GM is focused on labour costs and guest experience scores, not on RevPAR or RGI.
Without urgency, there’s no risk appetite. Without risk, there’s no innovation. And without innovation, revenue strategy becomes status quo, just dressed up with dashboards.
VI. Practical steps to build urgency in your hotel
So how do you actually build a sense of urgency?
1. Conduct an alignment audit
Hold a facilitated session to explore:
- Who owns revenue success?
- Does every leader understand the revenue goals?
- Are current performance levels acceptable or just familiar?
2. Bring real data to the table
Abstract ideas rarely move people. But concrete data creates conversation:
- Show how the comp set is gaining share and why.
- Visualise the revenue leakage from pricing delays.
- Run “what if” scenarios on missed opportunity dates.
Use your RMS not just to optimise prices, but to tell stories that prompt discussion.
3. Shift the narrative: revenue is a team sport
Host cross-departmental revenue strategy meetings, not just pricing calls. Involve:
- Front office and Reservations managers (they see demand trends first)
- Sales leaders (they know group pressure points)
- Marketing leads (they can influence demand pacing)
Revenue isn’t a task. It’s a lens through which every department should view performance.
4. Rebuild incentives around shared outcomes
Ensure that bonuses and evaluations reflect total revenue contribution:
- Tie sales goals to net revenue after discounts and commissions (and/or hotel RevPAR)
- Include RevPAR and RGI growth in GM scorecards
- Recognise team members who enable pricing wins (e.g., front desk upsells)
When everyone has skin in the game, urgency becomes instinctive.
5. Make change Safe and strategic
Change feels risky when the culture punishes experimentation. Foster a mindset where:
- Testing a new strategy is applauded, even if results vary
- “Failure” becomes feedback, not blame
- Cross-functional pilots are encouraged
Urgency should be energising, not paralysing.
VII. The Catala Consulting advantage: we don’t just implement tools, we build cultures
At Catala, we’ve helped hundreds of hotels navigate the complexity of revenue transformation. Our belief is simple:
“Tools don’t fix broken cultures. But aligned cultures can turn even basic tools into competitive advantages.”
We begin every engagement not with system training, but with strategic alignment. Our process includes:
- Stakeholder interviews: Understand where resistance and confusion live
- Revenue readiness assessments: Score your hotel’s strategic maturity
- Facilitated revenue planning: Create shared goals, then build toward them
- Ongoing coaching: Help teams practice accountability, not just analysis, and help develop a full revenue culture.
When hotels align urgency, strategy, and execution, the results follow. We’ve seen:
- 12–15% increases in RevPAR in under a year
- Group revenue efficiency gains of 20–25%
- Improved morale and communication across departments
VIII. Looking ahead: RMS as a catalyst, not a crutch
The future of hotel performance isn’t necessarily about more automation. It’s about more human alignment.
Yes, RMS tools will get smarter. Machine learning will improve. Competitive data will be richer. But none of that will matter if:
- Your teams don’t agree there’s a problem
- No one is empowered to act on insights
- Decisions are delayed due to fear or confusion
- You don’t keep experimenting on different strategies and tactics
Revenue technology doesn’t create urgency. People do.
So before your next RMS upgrade or strategy shift, ask:
❓“Do we all agree that something needs to change?”
❓“Are we willing to change how we lead, not just how we price?”
❓“Is our revenue culture helping… or holding us back?”
Conclusion: start with the first step: urgency
When revenue performance stalls, it’s tempting to focus on tools and tactics. But that skips the foundational question: Does your leadership team feel urgency to improve?
Without urgency:
- Strategies don’t stick
- Tools don’t get used
- Change doesn’t happen
The best RMS in the world won’t fix a team that doesn’t think anything is broken.
So before you optimise your rates or switch platforms. Look inward. Start the hard, honest conversation.
Because urgency isn’t a dashboard metric. It’s a mindset. And it’s the first step in every real transformation.
Let’s talk
If you’re ready to stop blaming the tools and start building alignment, Catala can help.
We work with hotels and resorts across the globe to:
- Diagnose misalignment
- Facilitate revenue transformation
- Maximise your existing tech investment
- Help you increase your revenue performance
📩 Schedule a strategy session with our team and take the first step toward revenue that reflects your hotel’s true potential.
