How Six Senses Douro Valley Uses Business Intelligence and Rate Shopping Tools to Save Time, Streamline Data Analysis, and Make Data-Driven Pricing and Distribution Decisions

REVENUE MANAGEMENT

Six Senses Douro Valley offers 60 rooms and suites in a beautifully renovated 19th-century manor house overlooking the Douro river. Set amidst the expansive vineyards of the World Heritage-listed Douro Valley, the property invites guests to dive into the region’s rich heritage of viticulture. To round out their experience, travellers can get a taste of the regional cuisine at the resort’s four dining venues and enjoy locally inspired wellness treatments at the signature Six Senses Spa. In a recent chat with Dora Major, Revenue and Reservations Manager at Six Senses Douro Valley, we learned how she has been benefiting from OTA Insight’s Rate and Revenue Insight tools. She described how she uses business intelligence and rate shopping tools to save time, streamline data analysis and make data-driven pricing and distribution decisions.

Why it matters: Using Rate and Revenue Insight eliminated many manual tasks and allowed us to focus on what mattered most – getting through the crisis and preparing for recovery.

“OTA Insight’s BI tools save valuable time every day because they provide immediate access to internal, market and competitor data. This allows you to focus on the in-depth analysis needed to make well-informed pricing and distribution decisions and maximise your revenue.”

Top 3 Core Objectives: Save time, streamline data analysis and make data-driven pricing and distribution decisions.

Real-time, data-driven decisions: Before implementing Rate and Revenue Insight I had to collect and collate all internal, market and competitor data manually. Often that took up half my day and left me with less time for other important tasks. Since gathering the data took so long, it was frequently obsolete by the time we were able to analyse it. That meant we repeatedly had to base our pricing and distribution decisions on old information which caused us to miss revenue opportunities.
Adjusting to market shifts: Rate and Revenue Insight proved to be extremely valuable resources during the pandemic for two reasons. First, things were developing quickly and unpredictably, so we constantly had to adjust to new and often surprising market shifts. OTA Insight’s BI tools helped us monitor our market, the competition and our performance in real-time. This allowed us to adapt our strategies appropriately and avoid rash decisions.
Efficiency throughout: Second, we had a smaller team during large parts of the pandemic. That meant efficiency was even more important than usual. Rate and Revenue Insight were especially important at this time. They eliminated many manual tasks and allowed us to focus on what mattered most – getting through the crisis and preparing for recovery.

Innovators Mentioned

Six Senses Douro Valley

Lighthouse

Dora Major

Revenue and Reservations Manager

Six Senses Douro Valley

"You can tell that the product development team bases updates and new features on client feedback. This has helped them make the tools even more user-friendly and comprehensive over the years. I’m already looking forward to seeing what else they have in store for us."

Dora Major

Revenue and Reservations Manager

👍 Revenue and Reservations Manager Dora Major said that Since we started working with OTA Insight in 2019, they’ve continued to improve and upgrade their BI solutions. One thing that stands out is that the platform keeps getting faster. Where I had to wait several moments for it to pull data in the past, it’s almost instantaneous now:

"You can tell that the product development team bases updates and new features on client feedback. This has helped them make the tools even more user-friendly and comprehensive over the years. I’m already looking forward to seeing what else they have in store for us."

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

Revenue and Reservations Manager Dora Major said, about their decision: "Since OTA Insight’s tools are so easy to use, I’ve rarely needed assistance from customer support. However, the team was always helpful and responded promptly the few times I had questions or needed assistance. For example, recently I asked about changing how some data is displayed. They immediately got back to me with the information and guidance I needed. This shows that they want users to get the most out of the tool and they’re ready to help anytime to make that happen."

📈 The results: Having all this information at my fingertips whenever I need it allows me to make well-informed decisions in a fraction of the time it used to take me. As a result, it’s much easier to realise our full revenue potential.

Rate and Revenue Insight immediately made my life much easier. The tools were easy to implement and from day one they provided all the information I needed in a few clicks. This saves me immense amounts of time because I no longer have to gather data and create reports manually. Instead, I select the data points I want to explore, and the BI tools provide it in a visually appealing format. Now, I even get access to information that was hard to extract from my PMS such as our guests’ country of origin.
Revenue Insight allows me to prepare for my weekly meetings better and faster. Pulling and finalising the reports has become a matter of minutes. Getting live and well-presented OTB and performance data helps our operations and commercial teams better plan ahead and work more efficiently.
Rate Insight provides all the competitor data I need to keep current on what’s happening in our market. Revenue Insight completes the picture with internal data. This provides me with a big picture of our performance and reveals where we have room for improvement. If I want to get more granular, I can pick the exact dates and metrics I want to analyse and compare them to other time periods. For example, I can check how our booking pace is developing, what the most popular length of stay is during certain seasons or where our guests are travelling from. This shows what worked in the past, where we’re doing well now and what we need to focus on more.