Ira Vouk, MBA

Participated as a contributor to this engaging panel discussion along with a number of other industry leaders.

Ira Vouk joined Duetto in August 2020 as Senior Director of Product Management Data & Analytics. She has nearly two decades of experience working in hospitality, predominantly championing the role of revenue management and the use of technology to provide hoteliers with insight to improve how they lead their business strategy.
A published author and educator on revenue management, Vouk is looking forward to showing owners and operators the role technology can play in all aspects of hotel… Show more

Ira Vouk joined Duetto in August 2020 as Senior Director of Product Management Data & Analytics. She has nearly two decades of experience working in hospitality, predominantly championing the role of revenue management and the use of technology to provide hoteliers with insight to improve how they lead their business strategy.
A published author and educator on revenue management, Vouk is looking forward to showing owners and operators the role technology can play in all aspects of hotel operations. Show less

2020 has shown all businesses how important it is to not just recognize changes in the environment but to be able to quickly and efficiently adapt to those changes. And just like after previous disruptions, the most adaptable and innovative hotels will thrive, leaving others staring at the horizon.
How do you make the right decision when selecting a Revenue Management system for your hotel or your portfolio of properties?

AHT Inc. commemorated the leading-edge achievements of professionals who have dedicated their careers to innovate hospitality. Their recent 2020 countdown celebrated 17 hospitality leaders who are leading the evolution of technology in the industry. Ira Vouk is one of their most honored innovators, a professional with almost 20 years of hospitality experience. AHT had the opportunity to engage Ms. Vouk for an exclusive interview. Ira discussed with AHT some brilliant insights on hospitality… Show more

AHT Inc. commemorated the leading-edge achievements of professionals who have dedicated their careers to innovate hospitality. Their recent 2020 countdown celebrated 17 hospitality leaders who are leading the evolution of technology in the industry. Ira Vouk is one of their most honored innovators, a professional with almost 20 years of hospitality experience. AHT had the opportunity to engage Ms. Vouk for an exclusive interview. Ira discussed with AHT some brilliant insights on hospitality technology, revenue management, the future of the industry, her personal journey as an influencer of the industry, and a bit from the heart. Show less

AHT Inc. commemorated the leading-edge achievements of professionals who have dedicated their careers to innovate hospitality. Their recent 2020 countdown celebrated 17 hospitality leaders who are leading the evolution of technology in the industry. Ira Vouk is one of their most honored innovators, a professional with almost 20 years of hospitality experience. AHT had the opportunity to engage Ms. Vouk for an exclusive interview. Ira discussed with AHT some brilliant insights on hospitality… Show more

AHT Inc. commemorated the leading-edge achievements of professionals who have dedicated their careers to innovate hospitality. Their recent 2020 countdown celebrated 17 hospitality leaders who are leading the evolution of technology in the industry. Ira Vouk is one of their most honored innovators, a professional with almost 20 years of hospitality experience. AHT had the opportunity to engage Ms. Vouk for an exclusive interview. Ira discussed with AHT some brilliant insights on hospitality technology, revenue management, the future of the industry, her personal journey as an influencer of the industry, and a bit from the heart. Show less

Sophisticated technology surrounds us in our everyday live, AI algorithms predict our shopping behavior, social media ads are tailored to our needs based on vast amounts of data gathered and analyzed through the web. Yet at the same time, most hoteliers are still adopting old-school generic marketing approach without investing in any (even basic) technology.

A series of articles uncovering revenue management startegies that are designed to help hospitality operators realize optimal revenues and profits for capacity-constrained and perishable assets (hotel rooms).

Softening demand is naturally followed by a desire to lower rates in order to offset the loss in occupancy. Are we in danger of starting another rate to the bottom?

A podcast that I was featured in, along with other industry leaders, where we discussed what strategies hoteliers should follow in a downturn in order to avoid falling victim to mindless discounting.

Interviewed along with other hospitality tech executives for a research that was aimed to investigate the current landscape of Revenue Management systems, highlighting the opportunities for growth in the upcoming years.

Everything you need to know about Revenue Management practice in under 100 pages, in simple language, with clear and easy-to-understand examples.
From the originator of the ARPAR performance index (#ARPAR).
This books brings a fresh view on Revenue Management and describes the tools that are relevant and effective today. After you start applying these strategies – you’ll start noticing the difference in less than a month, guaranteed.

Revenue Management techniques are dictated by the type of product you're selling. This article describes the main characteristics of hotel rooms as a product and the specifics of managing this type of inventory.

The main goal of Revenue Management is to sell the right product to the right customer at the right time and for the right price, with an ultimate goal to maximize the bottom line (the final profit). "The right price" is found through Dynamic Pricing. The next question is: how to properly track Demand? There are various data points that can be collected to assess demand fluctuations for any given day in the future. But in general, they can be grouped into 2 main categories.

Why revenue needs to be managed? The answer is obvious: to increase profits. Unfortunately, not all hotel operators understand the importance of managing revenue and paying enough attention to this activity.
Times of "set it and forget it" are long gone. In order to be able to respond to this challenge and not get lost in constantly changing market conditions, every single hotel needs to understand the value of adequate proactive daily Revenue Management.

The slogan of the successful Revenue Management is to sell the right product to the right customer at the right time and for the right price. It sounds relatively simple but is not easy to accomplish. How do we know when the right time comes, what the right price is and what types of customers we should target?

As we know, overselling (or overbooking) is a technique used in Revenue Management to offset anticipated cancellations and no-shows (wiki has an article on this subject). In other words, if you expect 2 cancellations and 1 no-show - you oversell by 3. That's the optimal behavior that maximizes revenue. Pretty simple, right?

But nonetheless, not very many hoteliers embrace this practice. It's still very common for most managers (especially in the middle tier segment) to close out… Show more

As we know, overselling (or overbooking) is a technique used in Revenue Management to offset anticipated cancellations and no-shows (wiki has an article on this subject). In other words, if you expect 2 cancellations and 1 no-show - you oversell by 3. That's the optimal behavior that maximizes revenue. Pretty simple, right?

But nonetheless, not very many hoteliers embrace this practice. It's still very common for most managers (especially in the middle tier segment) to close out availability on all channels before they reach 100% occupancy mark for a certain day. Show less

RevPAR is also not the most perfect index for measuring a hotel's actual productivity (or, the Revenue Management and pricing strategy, to be exact), regardless of the widely spread opinion in the hotel industry. This statistic does not objectively reflect the performance (and profitability) of your hotel, due to the following:

- It does not take CPOR into account (costs per occupied room). You can't tell what optimal occupancy you need to reach by only looking at your RevPAR.
- It… Show more

RevPAR is also not the most perfect index for measuring a hotel's actual productivity (or, the Revenue Management and pricing strategy, to be exact), regardless of the widely spread opinion in the hotel industry. This statistic does not objectively reflect the performance (and profitability) of your hotel, due to the following:

- It does not take CPOR into account (costs per occupied room). You can't tell what optimal occupancy you need to reach by only looking at your RevPAR.
- It does not take into consideration any additional income a hotel may have from other revenue-generating departments (restaurants, meeting space, banquet rooms, casinos, parking, spa, etc.) Show less

Another misconception that is still prevalent among hotels of all sizes and star ratings is that in order to be priced accurately, one needs to follow their competitors' rates. Unfortunately, this point of view is also shared by large hotel management companies, hotel chains and even some Revenue Management companies. This is a habit that has been very heavily ingrained in the Hospitality industry, and breaking this norm is going to take a lot of reinforcement.

Occupancy is one of the three main indexes used in the science of Revenue Management (along with ADR and RevPAR).
The three main misconceptions about occupancy that are still prevailing in the hotel industry are:

- Occupancy should be the target for maximization
- Occupancy should be forecasted
- Occupancy should be the indicator and trigger for price adjustments
Let's review these misconceptions.

Revenue Management has been playing an increasingly important role in hotel operations in the last decade. While the hospitality industry traditionally has been considered relatively conservative in adopting new strategies and technologies, things are looking better than they did just a few years ago. This article highlights major trends that we're noticing in the Revenue Management world today, as we conclude the current decade of innovations.