Kronen Hotels: How The Norwegian Hotel Group Increased Its ADR By 20%

REVENUE MANAGEMENT

Nobody will argue that the pandemic was a difficult time for hoteliers the world over. But those who made it through successfully and have thrived since then, have a few things in common. One of them is their desire to innovate. Another is the foresight and courage to use this crisis as a chance to reset and reimagine their internal processes. That’s exactly what Chris Pedersen, CEO of Kronen Hotels did, and it has paid off massively. We recently spoke to him about how he and his team used the lockdown to transform their workflows and their business overall. In this conversation, he highlighted the critical role Atomize plays for Kronen Hotels since travel restrictions eased and demand returned. On top of that, Chris shared how modern hotel tech makes it easier and more fun to face post-pandemic challenges.

Why it matters: Like many other hospitality businesses, Kronen Hotels used to rely on cumbersome legacy systems. They were locked into an old digital infrastructure. It was costly, inefficient and rigid. They couldn’t tailor it to their needs and knew change was necessary. When everything came to a standstill during the pandemic, they decided this was the time to get rid of their old systems and start over with a blank slate. The goal was to lower their costs and create smoother processes. And that’s exactly what they did.

In the past, revenue analysts at Kronen Hotels would manually track market developments and create extensive reports. Then, together with the hotels’ general managers and the head office, they discussed pricing changes and revenue tactics. While this brought results, Chris wanted a more efficient process. His goal was to automate repetitive tasks like data collection and free up time to fine-tune the group’s revenue management strategies.

Top 3 Core Objectives: Implementing modern technology, improving revenue management processes and automate tasks.

Implementing modern technology: The first thing Kronen Hotels did was to work with Innovation Norway, the national development bank, to create and implement a plan for the company’s complete digital transformation. The first step was to build a digital platform with an open API as a basis for the group’s tech stack. Here, the aim was to allow each of the hotels to connect the systems needed for their operations.
Improving revenue management processes: Kronen Hotels rolled out Atomize in April 2022, just as travel restrictions were ending for good. An automated RMS that offers real-time rate suggestions proved to be an invaluable tool during this phase of skyrocketing demand.
Automating manual tasks: The pandemic made it hard for hospitality businesses to offer stable and secure jobs that attract great people. But even here, technology can be part of the solution. Kronen Hotels used new systems to automate boring manual tasks and lighten the load on the team’s shoulders. That makes work more fun, less stressful and leaves more time for the most important task – looking after the guests.

Innovators Mentioned

Kronen Hotels

Atomize

Chris Pedersen

CEO

Kronen Hotels

"Atomize turned out to be exactly the system we needed. It automatically collects and analyzes live internal and market data 24/7 for the next 365 days. This saves us about ten hours a week per hotel, which comes to fifty hours per week in total. It also allows us to plan our pricing much further in advance than we could in the past. Atomize detects search patterns or market shifts much faster than we can. It uses these insights to give us new data-driven rate recommendations whenever demand changes. That has allowed us to go from updating prices a few times a week to changing them daily in real time. As a result, we’re much more proactive and better able to capture demand and optimize our revenue strategy."

Chris Pedersen

CEO

👍 CEO Chris Pedersen said that 50 hours of saved time per week and faster pricing updates.:

"Atomize turned out to be exactly the system we needed. It automatically collects and analyzes live internal and market data 24/7 for the next 365 days. This saves us about ten hours a week per hotel, which comes to fifty hours per week in total. It also allows us to plan our pricing much further in advance than we could in the past. Atomize detects search patterns or market shifts much faster than we can. It uses these insights to give us new data-driven rate recommendations whenever demand changes. That has allowed us to go from updating prices a few times a week to changing them daily in real time. As a result, we’re much more proactive and better able to capture demand and optimize our revenue strategy."

⚖️ The selection process: During their research process, Chris Pedersen evaluated Atomize's product differentiators, customer support, and holistic value as a strategic partner and ultimately decided that Atomize was the best fit solution:

CEO Chris Pedersen said, about their decision: "Without Atomize, we would have missed out on a lot of revenue when demand came roaring back in early 2022. We simply wouldn’t have been able to keep up with the quickly shifting booking patterns. But since we let the system set the rates, we increased our ADR by 20% compared to pre-pandemic days. It was fantastic how Atomize helped us make the most of the recovery phase and generate revenue from the get-go."

📈 The results: 20% increase in ADR and many hours of saved time per week.