Embracing Technology At Makkah Hotels To Optimize Revenue Management And Save Time

REVENUE MANAGEMENT

Makkah Hotels, a prominent hospitality group in the heart of Makkah, Saudi Arabia, stands as a beacon of excellence and comfort for their guests. Strategically located just a five-minute walk from the sacred Al-Masjid al-Haram, the group boasts two impressive properties with 1437 contemporary rooms and suites and a prime location. Makkah Hotels has proactively integrated advanced technologies to enhance its operations and guest experiences. They utilize Opera Cloud for their Property Management System (PMS), TravelClick for channel management, Lighthouse (previously OTA Insight) for competitive market analysis, and Atomize for revenue management. These tools collectively ensure seamless management of the hotel’s extensive operations, enabling staff to focus more on guest satisfaction and less on administrative burdens.

Why it matters: Before adopting Atomize, revenue management at Makkah Hotels was a manual, time-consuming process. The Yield and E-commerce Manager Mr Alaa Beshir described the laborious task of manually checking competitor rates, updating availability, and setting room prices, which could take up to 20 minutes per room type. This traditional approach consumed a lot of valuable time that could be allocated to other initiatives.

The introduction of Atomize has been exceptional. Atomize uses advanced algorithms and real-time data analysis to optimize room pricing dynamically. This automation has reduced the time required to update rates which normally took 15-30 minutes every morning to just 2-3 minutes, allowing Mr Beshir to focus on strategic decisions.

Top 3 Core Objectives: Makkah Hotel & Towers were looking to embrace technology and transform their revenue management process to increase efficiency, revenue and occupancy.

Efficiency and Time-savings: Efficiency is crucial for Makkah, especially in a market where booking windows have shortened dramatically due to changes in travel behaviour post-pandemic. Guests now tend to book their trip on very short notice and close to a month of travel dates, necessitating agile and responsive pricing strategies.
Revenue and Occupancy Rates: The ability to swiftly adjust rates ensures that Makkah Hotels remains competitive and maximizes revenue opportunities, especially during high-demand periods like Ramadan and Hajj. In addition, the dynamic pricing model helps balance occupancy and room rates, ensuring optimal revenue generation without compromising guest satisfaction.

Innovators Mentioned

Makkah Hotel and Towers

Atomize

Alaa Beshir

Yield and E-commerce Manager

Makkah Hotel and Towers

"Before Atomize, updating our rates was a labor-intensive and manual process that could take a very long time. Now, with Atomize, we can adjust rates in 2-3 minutes, allowing us to focus on strategic initiatives rather than repetitive tasks. During peak seasons, Atomize saves us between 15 and 40 minutes per day. This is very important to us given the shortened booking windows we see today, where guests book within a month of their travel dates"

Alaa Beshir

Yield and E-commerce Manager

👍 Yield and E-commerce Manager Alaa Beshir said that they increased their efficiency and time-savings after implementing Atomize:

"Before Atomize, updating our rates was a labor-intensive and manual process that could take a very long time. Now, with Atomize, we can adjust rates in 2-3 minutes, allowing us to focus on strategic initiatives rather than repetitive tasks. During peak seasons, Atomize saves us between 15 and 40 minutes per day. This is very important to us given the shortened booking windows we see today, where guests book within a month of their travel dates"

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

Yield and E-commerce Manager Alaa Beshir said, about their decision: "Real-time data analysis provided by Atomize has given us a strategic advantage. We can monitor market trends and competitor rates instantly, ensuring that our pricing remains competitive and reflects current market conditions."

📈 The results: The integration of Atomize has led to significant time savings at Makkah Hotels. During peak seasons, when rate adjustments are frequent, the system saves between 15 and 40 minutes per update session. In addition, Mr Alaa Beshir confirms that Atomize has positively impacted the hotel’s revenue per available room (RevPAR) and average daily rate (ADR).

Time-savings of between 15 and 40 minutes per day.
A strategic advantage by real-time price optimization, ensuring that their pricing remains competitive and reflects current market conditions.
An increase in both ADR and RevPar since implementation.