European holiday giant Awaze is teaming up with the Hospitality Professionals Association (HOSPA) to launch a first-of-its-kind training programme to develop Revenue Management talent for the ever-growing short-term rental sector.
The company, 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 (such as reception or reservations managers) or operators’ corporate office staff.
The Professional Certificate and Diploma – whilst open to everyone – will be mainly suited to those with some revenue management skills, including those with hotel sector experience and those seeking a career in revenue management.
David Groves, Director of Trading at Awaze, says: “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.”
Research from SkyQuest shows that The global vacation rentals market was valued at $75 billion in 2021 and is projected to grow to over $107 billion by 2028 – a statistic Groves points to when explaining why Vacation Rentals is such an attractive option for those starting out on their Revenue Management career journey.*1
“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.”
Six Awaze staff have collaborated with the HOSPA Professional Development Team to shape the content for the three courses.
HOSPA is the hospitality industry’s leading authority on financial management, revenue management and asset management.
Michael Heyward, Head of Professional Development at HOSPA, says “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.”
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.
For more information about the Revenue Management Programme and to apply, visit https://www.hospa.org/professional-development.
