Revenue management endured a strange year in 2020. Last March, the terabytes of historical demand data that drove many revenue management system (RMS) algorithms became useless overnight. Someday it will return, but hotels can’t wait. In the meantime, many hotels have rethought their approach to revenue management in ways that will result in permanent as well as temporary changes.

In early 2020 in celebration of Aspire's 25th Anniversary, I wrote a book called Sh*t I Wish I Knew, 25 Lessons over 25 Years. When we decided to make it a "limited edition," we had no idea how profound that decision would be!

What a difference a year makes. After hotel occupancy peaked at 62.2 percent last January, the onset of COVID-19 led to seven months of consecutive drops, bottoming out at 24.5 percent in April before stabilizing around 48 percent in October. Hotels have largely remained in operation during this bumpy ride thanks in part to investments made in new technology such as contactless communications, data analytics, and automated systems. Hotels are increasingly embracing innovation like never before as they search for new ways to operate, shedding outdated strategies in favor of what works.

In the chaos of an epidemic, we have never longed more for peace. Peace of mind. Peace between each other. Peace on earth.

2020 is now thankfully almost behind us. With the arrival of vaccines, the hospitality industry is starting to regain some optimism about the future. The pandemic facilitated technology adoption, as hotel managers were forced to implement technologies that they previously rejected – and often found some of them very effective. This experience should reduce the resistance to adopting new technologies in hotels in coming years, at least a bit.