COMMERCIAL STRATEGY CONFERENCE: 30th MAY, 2025
AGENDA MASTERCLASSES and PARTNER INSIGHTS WORKSHOPS
HSMAI will conduct a day of Masterclasses to help hoteliers get ahead of their competitors. Find out the new best practices & get started before your Comp Set. From a framework to set your pricing vs your Comp Set to AI tools to reduce your workload to the best way to improve your total revenue. Don’t miss this great day of learning!
PARTNER INSIGHTS SESSIONS - HIBISCUS ROOM 3704
MASTERCLASSES - HIBISCUS ROOM 3604
9:00AM
WELCOME ADDRESS
9:10AM
The Role of AI & Smart Technology in Shaping Tomorrow’s Events by CVENT
“In this session, Navodit will provide some practical examples of using SmartTech and AI for your events. Don’t miss this.
9:35AM FINISH
9:40AM
Amadeus Product Cases
Want to drive more direct bookings? Dominate Google’s first page? Perhaps it’s loyalty you’re after?
Or gaining the visibility needed to succeed in today’s crowded online marketplace. Introducing Amadeus’s newest and most powerful ‘build-your-own’ set of capabilities that allows you to address your most pressing challenges, while focusing on your grandest goals of tomorrow.
• Attract and drive more demand from the most profitable channels
• Create more efficiencies across teams, especially given the current labor shortage
• Deliver exceptional experiences that differentiate organizations, encouraging guests to return for future stays.
10:05AM FINISH
10:05AM
Beyond Rooms Optimization by IDeaS
Welcome to Beyond Rooms Optimization, where we explore the next frontier of revenue growth across the entire hotel ecosystem. As guest expectations evolve and business dynamics shift, optimizing only room revenue is no longer enough. Today’s leading hotels are expanding their focus to total revenue management — and it starts with smarter forecasting, better planning, and strategic decision-making across all revenue streams.
In this session, we’ll dive into three key areas to help you unlock greater profitability:
• Automated Total Revenue Forecasting & Planning – Using automation to forecast and plan across all revenue streams.
• Setting Up Meetings & Events KPIs and Strategies – Building the right metrics and strategies for Meetings & Events success.
• Intelligent Meetings & Events Optimization – Leveraging AI to optimize group and event revenue.
10:30AM FINISH
9:00AM
WELCOME ADDRESS
9:10AM
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PRICING: WHAT DO YOUR CUSTOMERS THINK?
We are proud to start the day with the amazing, Professor Sherri Kimes, Professor Emeritus, Cornell University and all-round Revenue guru will kickstart the education day with a little reminder about your potential customers and how they see your pricing! Don’t miss this.
9:30AM
PRICE TO VALUE ASSESSMENTS
HOW TO PRICE YOUR ROOMS/ MENU ITEMS/ EVENTS SPACE
Setting the right price is crucial for maximizing revenue and staying competitive. This session will equip you with the tools to assess your rooms or products against competitors, identify your competitor set, and gather key data for pricing analysis. Learn how to use review scores as a pricing indicator and apply practical techniques to refine your rate strategy. The session includes a hands-on activity where you’ll work with a pricing analysis tool, giving you actionable insights to optimize your pricing approach. By the end, you’ll have a strong foundation for building a competitive pricing strategy and a head start on a SWOT analysis for your restaurant or hotel.
10:30AM FINISH
10:30 to 11:00AM
MORNING TEA & PARTNER SHOWCASE
11:00AM
Personalization That Pays: The Upsell Strategies Hotels Need Now by PlusGrade
Personalization is already reshaping hotel revenue—guests expect smarter offers, better timing, and flexible ways to pay. This session breaks down the latest data on traveler behavior and what it means for your upsell strategy right now. We’ll cut through the noise and give you practical, proven tactics—AI-driven upselling, perfectly timed offers, and Pay with Points strategies—so you can start capturing more revenue today.
11:25AM FINISH
11:25AM
Outpace the Competition
Leveraging Technology to Win in a Crowded Market by ProfitRoom
In a market where hotels are not only competing with each other but also with powerful OTAs and fast-moving travel intermediaries, the right technology can be the difference between simply surviving and truly thriving. This session will explore how innovative, integrated tech solutions can empower hoteliers to take control of their distribution, boost direct bookings, and elevate the guest experience—all while improving operational efficiency.
We’ll cover practical examples of how tools like booking engines, marketing automation, loyalty programs, and real-time B2B portals are helping independent hotels and groups outperform competitors. Whether or not you joined the roundtable on the first day, this session will offer actionable insights into how technology can create a measurable competitive edge. Expect a focused, informative presentation—with a few thought-provoking questions to consider for your own property.
11:50AM FINISH
11:00AM
MASTERCLASS: MANAGING UP
“Managing Up” is a concise guide for professionals seeking to improve their relationships with their bosses and navigate the complexities inherent in these critical professional dynamics.
This workshop provides key insights and strategies into understanding your manager’s priorities and pressures, setting a constructive tone for your interactions, effectively managing expectations, and earning trust and respect.
It delivers actionable advice that can be rapidly understood and implemented by ambitious individuals aiming to enhance their management skills without compromising their integrity. Whether you’re looking for a quick refresher or foundational knowledge in this area, “Managing Up” offers expert tips for fostering strong professional bonds and advancing your career.
Dr Ranjan currently leads a soft-skills program for MBA and Executive-MBA candidates at SP Jain Business School, crafting global business leaders equipped to lead in the new economy. She holds a PhD in emotional Intelligence and Leadership Effectiveness and has over 23 years’ experience helping individuals and teams with crisis management, negotiation, conflict resolution, management communication, personal branding, presentation skills, and emotional intelligence in the workplace.
11:45AM FINISH
11:50AM
SHARPEN YOUR PRICING SKILLS
BALANCING AUTOMATION WITH HUMAN SMARTS
This masterclass explores the cognitive shortcuts and hidden biases that influence pricing decisions when revenue executives interact with revenue management systems (RMS). Rather than framing humans or systems as inherently right or wrong, the session focuses on the decision-making dynamics that emerge at the intersection of data, intuition, and technology. Drawing from behavioural economics and real-world industry examples, it highlights how heuristics—such as anchoring, overconfidence, and loss aversion—can shape outcomes in subtle but powerful ways. Participants will gain insights into recognizing these patterns, understanding their impact on pricing strategy, and applying practical techniques to elevate decision-making. This session is designed for commercial leaders who want to sharpen their pricing instincts and navigate system interactions more effectively.
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Basak Denizci Guillet, PhD, CHE Professor Department of Tourism and Marketing, Griffith University and HSMAI Commercial Advisory Board
12:30PM
LUNCH & PARTNER SHOWCASE
1:30PM
Beyond RevPAR - Hidden metrics that drive Hotel Profitability
RevPAR is often the primary focus in hospitality, but it fails to capture the bigger picture of a hotel’s financial performance. True profitability comes from integrating revenue management, sales, and marketing into a unified commercial strategy. Hotels must move beyond occupancy-driven tactics and embrace Total Revenue Optimization (TRO). In this collaborative approach, all commercial departments work toward maximizing Total Revenue Per Available Room (TRevPAR), Revenue Per Guest (RPG), and Guest Lifetime Value (GLV). This session shows how aligning sales, marketing, and revenue management leads to higher conversion rates, better pricing decisions, and increased long-term profitability.
Takeaways:
Breaking Silos: How to integrate revenue management, sales, and marketing into a single, data-driven commercial strategy.
The Guest Journey Approach: Using revenue intelligence and guest behavior to optimize pricing, upsell at the right moments, make the guest satisfied, and get them to recommend the hotel and return.
Total Profitability Mindset: Practical steps to shift from a room-centric model to a cross-departmental revenue optimization strategy.
2:15PM
TECH STACK MASTERCLASS: DESIGN YOUR OWN BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS
This hands-on, practical session will guide attendees through a framework to design or refine their own commercial tech stack. Focused on actionable insights, this workshop is ideal for those looking to optimise their technology for commercial growth without the complexity of large-chain requirements.
This interactive session will cover:
Map the Customer Journey
Identify gaps in your current setup
Tools to Evaluate Tech Partners
Integration Planning
Tools & Templates provided
3:15PM FINISH
1:30PM
Commercial Clarity: Turning Strategy into Daily Focus
How to Align Your Commercial Team Around the Right Priorities in a Noisy World
In today’s fast-paced hospitality landscape, commercial teams are overwhelmed with data, meetings, and shifting priorities. The result? Teams stay busy but lose sight of what really drives performance. In this hands-on masterclass, Executive Coach and Commercial Strategy Mentor Heidi Gempel shares a proven framework for turning strategic intent into focused daily action—without adding complexity.
Drawing from over two decades of industry experience and her coaching work with hotel leaders across the region, Heidi will walk participants through how to clarify direction, drive alignment across sales, revenue, and marketing, and build the confidence to lead smarter commercial conversations.
You will learn:
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- Why strategic clarity is the missing link in many high-performing hotels
- The 3 common traps commercial leaders fall into—and how to avoid them
- A simple decision-making filter to help your team prioritize what matters most
- How to lead conversations that connect the big picture to daily tasks
- Tools to align meetings, metrics, and mindset for commercial focus
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Heidi Gempel Managing Partner & Founder at HGE International & Facilitator HSMAI Commercial Advisory Board
3:00PM FINISH
3:00PM - 3:45PM
AFTERNOON TEA & LAST CHANCE TO VISIT THE PARTNER SHOWCASE