Please note as a first comment that the forecast in Blent is a separate module, not activated by default. To enable this module, please contact Blent team at support@blent.io!
What is a forecast?
Some may be confused between the budget and the forecast approach, so here is the difference:
- A budget details the financial goals to be achieved (it may be with a daily, monthly, yearly pace) during a specific period.
- A forecast predicts how close the property is to achieving the budget.
While a budget should not change during the period it covers (as soon as it is approved), a forecast is regularly reassessed to provide the most accurate landing.
Revenue Management
By forecasting demand, a hotel can adjust pricing and availability to maximize revenue.
Operational Efficiency
Anticipating guest numbers helps plan staffing, housekeeping, and inventory effectively. This prevents over or understaffing and reduces costs while maintaining service quality.
Strategic Planning
Accurate predictions guide future investments and marketing strategies.
Cost Control
Identifying potential gaps between supply and demand or seasonal variations is crucial to adjust costs.
Customer Experience
By predicting the number of guests and their preferences, hotels can tailor the guest experience better, whether it's offering personalized services or avoiding overcrowding during peak times.Overall, it helps the hotel stay competitive, efficient, and financially healthy.
Blent is super valuable for building and tracking forecasts.
Data Collection, Integration and Analysis
Blent aggregates information from diverse sources ; PMS, POS, finance system, HR planning, and even external factors like local events or weather forecasts. By bringing all this data together in one place, you get a clear and comprehensive view of the factors influencing demand and costs. You can identify trends such as peak seasons, booking lead times, and fluctuations due to holidays or special events.
Real-time Insights
Blent provides real-time analytics, to adjust projections based on current booking trends. You can get a daily view of the current and future pickup and forecast the coming periods to adapt the sales and marketing and revenue management strategies. You can also follow real-time planning and anticipate a lower level of activity by adapting your payroll (extra staff or holidays).
Scenario Planning
Blent allows you to model different scenarios, both for revenue and costs. You can assess how different strategies might impact overall revenue and profitability.
Projections automation
Blent minimizes the level of manual data you need to input. Do you want to stick to what was planned in the budget, to what was achieved last year, or to have the costs follow the same pattern as revenue? No need to do it yourself, Blent automatically adapts forecasts when one assumption evolves.
Performance Tracking
Blent monitors actual performance against the forecast. This is essential for identifying any discrepancies early on, so the property can adjust the strategy to facts that were not expected. For instance, if the actual bookings are lower than predicted, the hotel might ramp up marketing efforts or offer special deals.
Visualization
Blent provides visualization of data through dashboards and charts, even for forecasts, which facilitate the decision-making process. You can see booking trends, revenue projections, occupancy rates, and other key metrics at a glance. This makes it simpler to make decisions quickly and communicate insights to your teams.
Blent helps you not only build accurate forecasts but also track performance, adjust strategies in real-time, and ultimately make more data-driven decisions.
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Personalized views
Define your strategy based on revenue and cost projections. Choose between daily or monthly forecasting. Select specific reports and data for projections.
For instance, projecting pickup and on-the-books values, corresponding direct costs on a daily basis and overhead costs on a monthly basis and consolidate all information together.
Daily forecast with two forecast versions for revenue calculation by segment
Monthly view at P&L level -
Automatic calculations
You know that some of your costs are linear during the year and already know the total amount? Then you can just import the data and it automatically impacts the forecast.
You want some expense to be attached to a revenue with a certain ratio? Just indicate the corresponding ratio in the report and expense will be updated as soon as the revenue changes.
The less you input manually, the better it is.
Calculation from other lines
In this printscreen, the line "Turnover accommodation" is projected as the number of Rooms Sold (line 310091) multiplied by the ADR (line 310095), both information being determined individually (potentially also via formulas). When the number of Rooms Sold or the ADR change, the total Accommodation revenue is recalculated as well.
Trend from actual figures
In this printscreen, the breakfast capture rate is determined as equal to current year. The ratio is then used to calculate the total number of breakfast, based on the total number of guests (this latest also being the result of a calculation and so on).
Direct input
If you already know which figures you are expecting, you can directly import them from an Excel file or type them (monthly or daily figures) in the corresponding forecast element.
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Inspiration from external sources
If you are working with Duetto, we can recover their data on a daily basis and you see them directly in Blent platform in your forecast report.