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Rubén Sánchez, CEO of BEONx, talks about his vision for the future of hotel technology and the company’s new positioning.
Since its inception in 2012, Beonprice, recently rebranded as BEONx, has grown to become one of the world’s leading providers of revenue management for the hotel industry, with more than 2,000 clients in over 30 countries. It currently works with international hotel brands such as Leading Hotels of the World, Iberostar, Hotelatelier, Barceló, Catalonia Hotels, and RIU, among others.
“In its ten years of life, Beonprice has managed to position itself in the market as one of the most competitive Revenue Management System (RMS) internationally, with hotel chain clients all over the world. During this time, our technology has evolved, and we can now offer more powerful tools that go beyond what people call an RMS.
“The hotel industry has also changed and now demands more advanced technology. This is especially true after the pandemic, which made it clear that companies need to digitize and look for ways to explore new revenue streams other than rooms.”
In this new scenario, Ruben believes the time has come for the industry to focus on new metrics, such as RevPag (revenue per available guest), and on the profitability of the total hotel asset, not just revenue per room.
To reflect this evolution in the company’s mission, Beonprice has decided to evolve to BEONx, a new brand that reflects a transformed vision: that of reaching the next level of digitalisation and data intelligence and automation needed to optimise hotel profitability.
Talking about the big challenges facing the hotel industry in relation to technology, Ruben explains his vision:
“One of the main problems is that different hotel departments work in isolation and handle data sources that are usually not connected to each other. There are a lot of software solutions on the market that can analyse and extract knowledge from data, but systems integration is still the big challenge for the industry.”
“In addition, technology must assist in automating operational processes so that professionals can focus on strategic decision-making.”
“Hotels are missing out on revenue-generating opportunities. Traditionally, the industry has focused solely on revenue per room, but the challenge now is how to make every square metre of the hotel profitable.”
“To increase hotel profitability, technology should help present a holistic view of the profitability of the business beyond revenue per room. To make this happen, a technology that can discover prospective income streams across the client lifetime, from booking to check-out, is required.”
“An artificial intelligence engine and its integration with industry-leading applications are critical for getting relevant insights to improve decision-making. Only a platform capable of connecting the information from all customer contact points will make areas such as the spa, the car park, the restaurant, coworking areas, etc. more profitable. All in all, the objective is to move from a strategy based on RevPar to one based on RevPag.”
BeonX’s CEO also explains why RevPag is a good indicator and why they suggest to the industry that it move to be more customer-centric:
“RevPag is no longer just about revenue per room (RevPar); it is much more about the guest than about filling rooms. Guests pay for a unique experience at the hotel along with a room.”
“RevPag brings all departments of the hotel together to showcase the value of hospitality and encourage teamwork across the hotel. Marketing should work closely with catering, spa, and concierge to promote the hotel’s services and products once a room booking is confirmed. This is a proactive rather than reactive approach, which should be used to engage guests prior to arrival. By improving the guest experience, the hotel can increase sales opportunities prior to arrival.”
“The professional revenue manager must evolve into a cross-functional position in the organisation that allows them to manage not only revenue but the overall profitability of the hotel. At BEONx, we see these professionals no longer as revenue managers but as profitability managers. This means that the revenue culture must be present in all areas of the hotel.”
In this new scenario, BEONx is evolving towards a proprietary Total Profitability Platform that applies artificial intelligence, machine learning, and automation techniques to assist hoteliers in achieving total profitability:
“We maintain our value proposition by relying on HQi, the only index in the hotel market that measures a hotel’s overall quality to know its competitive position and price elasticity of demand, and by a double segmentation by channel and market,” Ruben explains.
“In addition, we are working with the main players in the industry to incorporate destination demand data into our forecast and thus maximise profitability.”
“On the one hand, our objective is to empower revenue managers and help them in their transformation into profitability managers; on the other, we want to accompany hoteliers in their digitalization jouney and provide them with a technological tool that will allow them to squeeze profitability per square metre out of their hotel.”
“There are several opportunities for income generation, and our technology is the instrument that will enable the hotel to identify them and maximize them to boost profitability.”
Finally, Ruben describes what BeonX is currently working on and how it is investing in technology: “We are going to incorporate intelligence into the HQI about the level of sustainability of the hotel and information on how to improve it by boosting profitability. On the other hand, we are developing a super API that eliminates the problem of integration between applications that all hotel chains face, where we will operate as a bridge between the PMS and the rest of the solutions on the market.”
Tatiana is the news coordinator for TravelDailyNews Media Network (traveldailynews.gr, traveldailynews.com and traveldailynews.asia). Her role includes monitoring the hundreds of news sources of TravelDailyNews Media Network and skimming the most important according to our strategy.
She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Communication & Mass Media from Panteion University of Political & Social Studies of Athens and she has been editor and editor-in-chief in various economic magazines and newspapers.