Mercure Nice Centre Notre-Dame

Agile Revenue Management for the Mercure Nice Centre Notre-Dame hotel

Could you please introduce yourself?

I’m Thierry Douet, manager of the Mercure hotel in Nice Centre Notre-Dame. It’s a 200-room hotel in the center of Nice, which I’ve been running for almost two years now.

How did you come to work with Revbell?

I called on Revbell’s services at the very beginning of 2023, following the maternity leave of our Revenue Manager. The assignment was initially scheduled to run until September, but we extended it to January 2024.

We turned to Revbell because, at the time, Turenne Capital, our owner, was talking to Revbell about installing the Revenue Management System (RMS) in their non-franchised hotels.

What were your expectations when recruiting the consultant?

We needed someone to manage Revenue Management on a day-to-day basis, with the team here on site. We had a lot of expectations on the technical side – because there are more and more of them in this role. This involves managing distribution channels, the Accor platform, setting up all the technical details, the various offers made throughout the year…

In short, we wanted a consultant to work with me to define the strategy, and to coordinate with the team here on site (in particular with the reservations team). The aim was to know what we could open, close or even what pricing we could have, so as to anticipate as much as possible.

How did the integration of our consultant go?

We quickly began to work well with our Revbell consultant. At first, he came on site for a quick handover with our Revenue Manager, before she went on maternity leave.

In terms of interpersonal relations, our Revbell consultant was immediately integrated into the team. He has a real facility for responding quickly to queries. Today, we organize ourselves around two weekly meetings. Mondays with me, and Thursdays by videoconference with the whole team, to explain our strategy.

What was the added value of your collaboration with Revbell?

Our processes were already well in place, and the Revbell consultant brought his own approach and way of communicating to the table. His role, however, was to continue to manage what already existed, and he wasn’t there to change everything.

We had high expectations of the hotel’s performance, as 2022 had gone well. As usual, when things go well, we had a bit of pressure for the following year!

What’s more, for the first six months of the year, we had a period of hotel renovation that involved 75 of our 200 rooms – as well as the restaurant and rooftop. Until the middle of July, we had to manage floors that were closed, and we had to adapt as the work progressed. It was quite a delicate juggling act!

The months of April (with the Easter period), May, June and early July – which are starting to be high season for us – were complex, with periods of closure, opening… We reopened the entire hotel in mid-July.

We needed someone who, like our consultant, had this kind of mental gymnastics, and it was greatly appreciated. I insist because I think our consultant was great, and it was very important for us that he understood the context well, and constantly adapted to the situation.

We got through this period of renovation without any impact on the bottom line, even though our budget had been planned without this work. In the end, we even exceeded our forecasts! And I think everyone played their part in this success.

Now our consultant is working on the budget, and I hope he’ll come up with a budget that’s voluntary but achievable!

What did you enjoy most about working with Revbell?

In this type of relationship, I think a lot depends on the company’s know-how, but also on the person you’re dealing with.

If I’d had someone with less listening skills and less experience, it might have been harder to get into the swing of things and be effective right away.

The good thing about our consultant, who is a senior member of your team, is that he knows what it’s like to manage pricing, knows all the OTAs, and is perfectly aware of the RM environment. That worked right away. What’s more, he’s been very open with the team, and that’s really appreciated!