Groups need revenue management too

Traditionally many airlines have viewed groups as less desirable, price–conscious travellers who simply displace higher–paying passengers. On the contrary, with the proper processes and systems in place to manage group negotiations, airlines can move groups to the right flights at the right times and the right price and substantially enhance their bottom line profits. One airline saw this opportunity and implemented a group negotiation system as a part of their revenue management system implementation. The results were tremendous. This paper focuses on the challenges groups can present for revenue management and how they can be addressed from a process and automation perspective.