The owner of a 68-room, limited service hotel was new to the hotel industry. He had a full-time sales manager, and he was also paying a consultant a monthly retainer plus commission to boost sales. The hotel was barely profitable. Once MacMillan & Richler was engaged, we gave the entire operation a total rehaul. We introduced policies and accountability in Housekeeping, streamlined the rate structure and monitored expenses closely. Since Front Desk personnel in a small hotel generally handles reservation calls, we trained everyone on sales and yield management principles. Within 18 months, MacMillan & Richler brought a complete turnaround to this property. Average rate improved by almost 25%, occupancy by 15 percentage points, and most importantly, GOP improved by 35.4 percentage points (from 15.1% to 60.5%).

A 200-room branded hotel was trailing behind its competitive set in ADR and RevPAR. Just 6 months into the year, it was already $150,000 behind in budgeted GOP. MacMillan & Richler reviewed the hotel's historical statistics and saw that occupancy was already at its maximum during the summer months. There were only 3 months left to the current peak season so our immediate action was to maximize on the remaining inventory, managing selling rates and strategies on Transient and OTA bookings on a daily basis. Simultaneously we worked with the sales team, realigned focus and introduced new, higher rate structure for the subsequent year while maintaining and solidifying existing client relationships. As a result, the hotel not only recaptured the GOP deficit, it ended the year more than $55,000 over the budgeted GOP. That's an incremental $200,000+ in GOP in just 6 months under MacMillan & Richler management. In the subsequent year, by following a new revenue management approach that MacMillan & Richler had put in place, the hotel increased ADR and RevPAR substantially, finishing ahead of its competitive set.

A large 5-star independent hotel had consistently trailed behind its competitive set in occupancy, ADR, and RevPAR. MacMillan & Richler discovered that the sales team was undervaluing the hotel, often winning contracts by lowering room rates. The team simply believed the branded competitors were superior, had better name-recognition and more resources. We retrained the entire sales team to overcome their mental block, changed their attitude, and enforced strict pricing guidelines. The hotel started to compete effectively and even led the competitive set in room rate on group business won. In addition, we introduced revenue management techniques and created a yield management team (with existing personnel) that met on a weekly basis to set transient and OTA rates. The hotel's ADR and RevPAR increased more than 20% in 18 months.

The owner of this 50-room independent, unbranded hotel did not have hotel background - he had employees operating the hotel, and a trusted family member worked on site part-time looking after the accounting. MacMillan & Richler was engaged to improve its revenue. During the review process, it was discovered that the hotel was not using its Property Management System (PMS) correctly - room rate was recorded as money was received instead of posted nightly. This created a situation where historical data did not reflect the true occupancy or ADR of the hotel, and there was no accurate tracking of guest type or market segment. With the lack of accurate historical data, it was near impossible to forecast and budget properly into the future. While working with the hotel on marketing ideas and yield management, we restructured the PMS, redefined front office procedures, and retrained all personnel. Based on both capabilities and individual personalities, we also recommended - and received agreement from all parties - to interchange the general manager and front desk manager.

Guest incidents and natural disasters happen. MacMillan & Richler helps our hotel clients navigate challenging events and, where possible, leverage the situation. In a natural event where the hotel had to be evacuated and suffered damages, MacMillan & Richler directed the hotel team, liaised with the franchisor/brand manager, worked with the insurance company and designated forensics accountant, and coordinated with the restoration company. More importantly, MacMillan & Richler organized for the City's Mayor, the President of the franchisor, and loyal repeat guests to attend the hotel's reopening three months later, and leveraged free media coverage on cable TV and online streaming services. As a result, the hotel's occupancy and revenue was back on track in less than 30 days after opening. Key team members of MacMillan & Richler are media-trained to deliver the appropriate message and sound-bytes.

MacMillan & Richler was engaged by a hotel owner hoping to improve the hotel's financial picture to fetch a higher selling price. This 88-room, midscale branded hotel was significantly underperforming against its competitive set. Paying the franchisor US$1,500 a month in revenue management did not help. Right at the onset, we found financial anomalies. While the hotel's non-industry-standard accounting practices did report the net profit accurately, the revenue and operational picture was distorted and less than flattering. Immediately, we converted the hotel's financial reporting to USALI format, and made some changes to data allocation. Concurrently, we unsubscribed from the brand's revenue management service, made changes to the hotel's rate structure, trained the staff on call-handling and rate quoting, closely monitor selling rates and directed the hotel team to make room rate changes as needed, sometimes several times a day. In addition, we improved Housekeeping efficiency and controlled expenses. In the subsequent full calendar year, the hotel saw a topline improvement of 25%, and a GOP gain of 40%. The hotel also cut RevPAR gap with its competitive set by 50%.