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In this paper we describe a database of online airline prices collected from a major online travel agent and a low-cost carrier. The database provides detailed pricing data for all nonstop flights offered in a market. Data are provided for 42 domestic U.S. markets across a 28-day booking horizon for 21 departure dates. Each of the 42 markets is served by one or more low-cost carriers. These data can be used to investigate the evolution of prices and price dispersion for monopoly, duopoly, and oligopoly markets. The data can be used to create simulated data sets for benchmarking the performance of revenue management algorithms that consider competitors' prices. Analysis of the data may enable researchers to observe general patterns that would be useful to motivate research and/or teaching in revenue management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On 14-15 October 2010, the sixth annual Revenue Management (RM) and Price Optimization conference was held at the Georgia Institute of Technology. This article summarizes key discussions that emerged from the conference and highlights the experiences of two companies portrayed in keynote addresses given by Tom Seddon, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of the InterContinental Hotels Group and Brian Rice, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study uses booking data from 28 US hotels to investigate the validity of two key assumptions in hotel revenue management: (1) customers who book later are willing to pay higher rates than customers who book earlier; and (2) demand is stronger during the week than on the weekend. Empirical results based on an analysis of booking curves, average paid rates and occupancy rates for group, restricted retail, unrestricted retail and negotiated demand segments challenge the validity of these assumptions. Based on these findings, new recommendations for segmenting transient demand and setting weekday versus weekend pricing are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On 6–7 October 2009, the fifth annual Revenue Management and Price Optimization conference was held at the Georgia Institute of Technology. The conference explored ways that firms are using to survive the current economic downturn and to position themselves to quickly recover as the economy rebounds. Several strategies for building a strong business case to secure funding for projects emerged from the discussions. In addition, the critical role of communication across divisions was emphasized. Strong communication helps create support for new projects, enables different divisions to focus on a common set of objectives and understand how their decisions affect key performance metrics, and facilitates the transfer of ideas and best practices. This article summarizes key discussions that emerged from the conference and highlights the experiences of three companies portrayed in keynote addresses given by Robert Cross, Chairman and CEO of Revenue Analytics; John Peyton, Senior Vice President of North American Operations at Starwood Hotels and Resorts; and Doug Bippert, Vice President of Business Acceleration at the Coca-Cola Company. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper summarizes the author's opinions as to how the Internet will influence the next decade of business and research directions in the airline industry. Potential impacts on the Internet on revenue management, pricing, itinerary choice, and new product development are reviewed.Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management (2009) 8, 247–254. doi:10.1057/rpm.2008.55; published online 16 January 2009 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On 11–12 November 2008, the Fourth Annual Revenue Management and Price Optimisation Conference was held at the Georgia Institute of Technology. The conference explored different business strategies that a wide cross-section of companies are using to manage the current economic downturn. Several common messages emerged from the discussions including: the increased importance of revenue management forecasts and monitoring activity; the increased need for open dialog among revenue managers with their sales and marketing colleagues and the critical role of targeted discounts to help avoid prices from spiralling downward. This paper summarises key discussions that emerged from the conference and highlights the experiences of three companies portrayed in keynote addresses given by Mark Shafer, Senior Vice President of Revenue and Profit Management at Disney; Dave Roberts, Senior Vice President of Global Revenue Management at Marriott and Brad Thompson, Chief Pricing Leader at GE Corporate.Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management (2009) 8, 279–286. doi:10.1057/rpm.2008.61; published online 16 January 2009 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper summarizes the author's opinions as to how the Internet will influence the next decade of business and research directions in the airline industry. Potential impacts on the Internet on revenue management, pricing, itinerary choice, and new product development are reviewed.Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management (2009) 8, 247–254. doi:10.1057/rpm.2008.55; published online 16 January 2009 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On 11–12 November 2008, the Fourth Annual Revenue Management and Price Optimisation Conference was held at the Georgia Institute of Technology. The conference explored different business strategies that a wide cross-section of companies are using to manage the current economic downturn. Several common messages emerged from the discussions including: the increased importance of revenue management forecasts and monitoring activity; the increased need for open dialog among revenue managers with their sales and marketing colleagues and the critical role of targeted discounts to help avoid prices from spiralling downward. This paper summarises key discussions that emerged from the conference and highlights the experiences of three companies portrayed in keynote addresses given by Mark Shafer, Senior Vice President of Revenue and Profit Management at Disney; Dave Roberts, Senior Vice President of Global Revenue Management at Marriott and Brad Thompson, Chief Pricing Leader at GE Corporate.Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management (2009) 8, 279–286. doi:10.1057/rpm.2008.61; published online 16 January 2009 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On 2nd–3rd October, 2007, the third annual Revenue Management and Price Optimization conference was held at the Georgia Institute of Technology. The conference explored how multiple factors, including fragmentation of customer markets, transparency in markets, and globalisation, have spurred a transformation from intuition-based to analytical-based decision making across many industries. Panellists included representatives from industries spanning airline, hotel, gaming, grocery, jewellery, package delivery, consumer goods, manufacturing, and consulting. This paper summarises key discussions that emerged from the conference and highlights success stories portrayed in keynote addresses given by James Whitehurst, former chief operating officer of Delta Air Lines; Rick Campana, vice president of Corporate Marketing of the United Parcel Service; and Chuck Neville, executive director of Finance of General Motors Service and Parts Operations.Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management (2008) 7, 219–229. doi:10.1057/rpm.2008.3 Published online 22 February 2008 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On May 18, 2006, the second annual Revenue Management and Price Optimization conference was held at the Georgia Institute of Technology. The theme of the conference was on how the Internet is changing traditional revenue management and pricing practices. The conference brought together experts and thought leaders from more than 30 companies spanning airlines, hotels, car rentals, cruise lines, apartment rentals, aircraft manufacturing, retailing, distribution, e-mail marketing, on-line travel, logistics, sports, performing arts, software providers, and others. This paper summarises the key discussions from this conference and synthesises experts' perspectives on near-term opportunities and challenges facing their industries.Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management (2006) 5, 237–247. doi:10.1057/palgrave.rpm.5160042 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Revenue management (RM) has received considerable attention from both academic and business professionals. It encompasses several techniques regarding capacity allocation, pricing, and resource management of fixed, time-sensitive capacity. RM can be roughly divided into two categories defined by the control mechanism that increases revenue: capacity allocation or price optimization. Our work falls in the latter category. In our model, we allow for partial substitutability among products (e.g., a customer making a purchase decision may consider multiple alternatives—different departure dates, different destinations, different cabin types). We also include marketing expense in addition to prices as a lever for increasing revenue. These features are relevant to dynamic pricing in practice. The method is illustrated with booking data from a cruise company, yielding optimal advertising and prices for 300 products. The application of the model results in an increase in revenue in the range of 8%–20%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Price bundling is one of the most prevalent marketing practices in many industries, including hospitality and travel. Virtually all types of firms in the hospitality and travel industry, from suppliers such as hotels and airlines to intermediaries such as travel agents, are encouraging customers to purchase travel "packages" rather than a single component of travel to save money and streamline the purchasing process. The purpose of this research is to determine whether the practice of price bundling by online travel agents results in actual monetary savings for consumers (i.e., lower prices) relative to the prices charged by individual service providers (i.e., hotels and airlines) through their own online Web sites. The results indicate that there are monetary savings in the form of lower prices realized by consumers who purchase bundled offerings from online travel agents, and there is an interaction effect between channel and hotel class. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]