Hospitality Professionals Association

Feb 15, 2023

UK: HOSPA, the Hospitality Professionals Association, has partnered with European vacation rental and holiday resorts company , Awaze, in launching a “first-of-its-kind” training programme to develop revenue management talent for the short-term rental sector. In line with  HOSPA ’s continued commitment to professional development, Awaze, whose UK brands include Hoseasons and  cottages.com , has agreed a two-year sponsorship of the trailblazing programme, which it hopes will provide a strong pipeline of revenue managers with skills tailored specifically for the vacation rental market. Three qualifications are being offered as part of the programme, including the Foundation Certificate in revenue management, the Professional Certificate in operational revenue management, and the Professional Diploma in strategic revenue management. The Foundation course is an entry-level introduction to revenue management principles and practices, and is ideal for holiday park owners, on-site teams or operators’ corporate office staff — whilst the Professional Certificate and Diploma will be suited more to those with some revenue management skills. Commenting on the partnership, Michael Heyward, head of professional development at HOSPA, said: “We have been delighted to partner with Awaze’s industry-leading revenue management team to develop this exciting new programme. We have been inspired by their commitment to co-creating a development programme for an emerging profession and for the benefit of the wider vacation rental sector.” HOSPA is a leading authority for the hospitality industry on financial management, revenue management and asset management. Since collaborating with six members of the Awaze team, the association says it is confident that the new programme will provide an insightful framework that nurtures emerging talent in the sector. David Groves, director of trading at Awaze, said: “Good revenue management can make all the difference when it comes to meeting [or even better, exceeding] a holiday let owner’s expectations regarding the earning potential of their property, but until now there’s been no one course dedicated to developing the specific skills needed to maximise ROI in our sector. “We are delighted to be partnering with HOSPA to make this happen and hope these industry-standard qualifications help to attract the revenue management talent we need to help sustain our fast-growing vacation rentals sector,” he added. Research from  SkyQuest  highlights that the global vacation rental market was valued at $75 billion in 2021 and is projected to grow to over $107 billion by 2028 – a statistic that reinforces why vacation rentals are such an attractive option for those starting out on their revenue management career journey — and why the training programme is needed. Groves continued: “Self-catering has never been more popular as a holiday option, and our market-leading position with a portfolio of more than 100,000 accommodation units across Europe means we are ideally placed to lead the way in developing these courses.” Awaze’s 30-strong revenue management team were shortlisted for the HSMAI Europe region, Revenue Management Team of Year in 2022, while Catherine T Smith, revenue director at Awaze, was shortlisted for HOSPA’s Inspirational Revenue Leader of the Year. The company, which currently serves eight million holidaymakers annually across 36 countries, was rumoured in September to have been put up for sale  for up to £2 billion by US-based private equity firm Platinum Equity. Awaze appointed global banks Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to oversee a strategic review and potential sale of the group, which it acquired four years ago, within the next 12 months, and it could also explore the possibility of a public listing. Those wanting more information about the revenue management programme are asked to visit this link .