星级饭店自助餐厅收益管理策略研究——基于富力君悦凯菲厅的案例分析

Revenue Management Strategies of a Star-rated Hotel s Self-service Restaurant:Case from Guangzhou Grand Hyatt

过去10年中,收益管理已经成为航空公司和酒店集团增加收益的重要手段。尽管餐厅是实施收益管理的可行场所,然而国内餐厅收益管理的研究才刚刚起步,特别是国内对餐厅收益管理的时间控制、容量控制、差别定价以及菜单管理等相关策略知之甚少。文章以广州富力君悦酒店凯菲自助餐厅为例,通过问卷调查法、参与观察法获取研究数据,研究时间控制、容量控制、差别定价和菜单管理策略在餐厅收益管理中的应用。研究发现:第一,市场细分是餐厅收益管理策略实施的基础;第二,餐厅实施差别定价策略时,需立足于顾客公平感知之上;第三,餐厅实施容量控制策略时,需建立动态模型以优化餐桌结构;第四,定期更新的菜单能显著增加顾客的重复购买意向。文章对酒店餐厅收益管理策略进行了系统的研究,深入剖析了各策略的内容,为餐厅实施收益管理提供了理论基础。

In many industries with limited resources revenue management is a strategy or tactic to help maximize profits. Over the past decade,revenue management has,for instance,become an important means of increasing airlines＇ income,and it has gradually become more evident as a practice in the hotel industry. Application of revenue management has been more effective when applied to operations with certain unique characteristics. The restaurant industry＇s attributes form the basis for revenue management： perishable products or services,relatively fixed capacity,appropriately matched cost and pricing structure,segment market,time-based demand,and a product that can be reserved in advance.While applying revenue management to the restaurant industry is feasible,research on the topic in China has just begun. There is especially little research about time control,capacity control,pricing management,and menu management strategies. Based on a theoretical and practical background,the present study examines The Market Café,a well- reputed café- style restaurant with no notable low season for business,located within the Guangzhou（China） Grand Hyatt Hotel. Application of four strategies was studied.The case study method is used,with both qualitative and quantitative methods. In the process of data collection are two stages to acquire firsthand information. First,the study discusses the research topic with in-depth e-mail and face-to-face interviews,then,practical on-site observation is applied to obtain assorted information indicated on bills,collected over a 2-week span. The study establishes a database with the bill information and performs time- based analysis. Additionally,using the TSM method we identify expected dining and waiting times of customers. Second,a questionnaire is used to acquire data on price discrimination. We explore perceived fairness of demand- based pricing in The Market Café by using a seven- point Likert scale,and determine the optimal table arrangement using Restaurant Table Simulator,version 2012 software（Cornell University,Ithaca,NY,USA）,and analyze the process using a service blueprint. In the data processing phase,Excel（Microsoft Corporation,Redmond,WA,USA） and SPSS 16.0（IBM Corporation,Armonk,NY,USA） are used for analysis. In a survey,we obtain secondary information,text,and data from various media including newspapers,magazines,statistical yearbooks,advertising,online media,micro-blogs,and literature.The study finds that,first,market segmentation and source classification are the basis for implementation of restaurant revenue management strategies; second,implementation of pricing management strategies needs to be based on customers＇ perception of fairness; third,a dynamic model needs to be established to optimize the table structure when implementing capacity control strategy and,finally,updating menus regularly can increase consumers＇ intent to return to the establishment. The four restaurant revenue management strategies were analyzed deeply and systematically so that the study provides a theoretical basis for implementing specific strategies.There are some limitations for this research. First,the study is limited to just one restaurant in one hotel. Second,as the data from billing information do not include customers who are also hotel guests,there may be some inaccuracies. The study uses the data to identify customers＇ varying perceptions on fairness. The dynamic model of pricing and inventory management also needs to be subject to deeper research in the future.