Demand Forecast

Demand Forecast Is Part of Strategy Setting

Creating your Demand ForecastClosed Your estimated business volume for meetings and events and for future dates. Usually, your forecast is updated regularly and therefore differs from your budget, which is static. is the first step in setting the selling strategy for your sales team. The forecast provides your sales team with a 12-month calendar of expected daily demand. Each day is colour coded to show if the expected demandClosed The amount of business that wants to book your function rooms. It equals the number of enquiries for a time period and includes all statuses. You define four demand levels, from High to Distressed, in the Daily Demand pages. is High, Medium, Low, or Distressed. Based on the demand level, the sales team selects the matching Pricing Strategy. The pricing strategy sets guidelines, such as the minimum Delegate Package or Minimum Room Rental that a team member can quote for a High demand level date.

View this video for an overview of Demand Forecast:

Create Demand Forecast in Three Steps

  1. In the Events tab, add EventsClosed Dates when local or national events or holidays impact the demand for your function rooms. For example, major sporting events or public holidays. that might influence your demand, either positively or negatively. For example, a Monday in 11 months has no business on the books and had low demand in prior years. But this year, a big convention occurs in the city over that date and creates demand for meetings. Adding this date as an event helps you forecast better.
  2. Enter the forecasted demand levels in the Monthly Input tab. To do so, use your knowledge of the demand patterns and the on-screen information: current on books, the demand level, past demand, and any events.
  3. The Year View tab shows a rolling 12-month calendar of expected daily demand. Review it to make sure your inputs are correct, then print or export it to share with your sales team. Use the Last Updated date to help you determine when you need to review the Demand Strategy. You can click on a date to switch to the Pricing Strategy page for that date.

Creating the Demand Forecast

Creating the Demand Forecast consists of three steps:

Step 1: Create Events

  1. On theStrategy Setting menu , click Demand Forecast.
    The Forecasted Demand Strategy page is displayed.
  2. Click the Events tab.
  3. Click Add new record to add a new event.
    An entry row appears in the table.
  4. Click the calendars to select the Start Date and End Date for the event.
  5. Enter a Description for the event, like the name of the conference or holiday.
  6. Click Save.A black triangle displays on event dates on the Year View and Monthly Input tabs.
  7. Click Edit on the row for an event you want to update. Edit the dates or description for the event and click Save.
  8. Click Delete on the row for an event you want to remove. Click Delete Event in the Delete Event window to remove it from the table.
  9. Click the PDF option to convert and save the current page as a PDF file.

Step 2: Enter the Demand Levels in the Monthly Input Tab

  1. On the Strategy Setting menu, click Demand Forecast.
    The Forecasted Demand Strategy page is displayed.
  2. Click the Monthly Input tab.
  3. Select the starting Month and Year for the rolling 12 months to display.
    No strategies show for months for which you never created a strategy. If you saved strategies before, the most recent one displays with its creation date.
  4. Click Show History to select a different, or add another, previously saved strategy.
  5. If you enabled Attendee Groups in Database Setup, click Attendee Groups to view or edit the strategies by event size: small, medium, or large.
  6. Decide if you want to define a New Strategy.Use your knowledge of the demand patterns, the shown demand levels of the previous and current years, and events (indicated by black triangles).
  7. Point to a cell for the date you want to adjust in the New Strategy row. The colours default to the most recent strategy, if available, or the current demand levels on the books.
  8. Click the colour that you want to set for that cell based on the legend. Continue to adjust dates for that month and year.
  9. If you create different forecasts by Attendee Groups, use the filter to switch and complete a strategy for each group, including for the property level.
  10. Click Save new strategy.
    The New Strategy row moves up and appears in the table with today’s date. Previous strategies are hidden. Click Show History to view them. If you save several new strategies in one day, only the most recent strategy is saved.
  11. Click the PDF option to convert and save the current page as a PDF file.

Step 3: Year View

  1. On the Strategy Setting, click Demand Forecast.
    The Forecasted Demand Strategy page is displayed.
  2. Select the Year View tab.
  3. Select the starting Month and Year for the rolling 12 months to display. The page defaults to the current month. Select past dates to analyse actual demand trends from previous years.
  4. Click on a date to switch to the Pricing Strategy page for that date. For example, when you click on 01-May-2023, the Pricing Strategy for 01-May-2023 displays.
  5. If you enabled Attendee Groups in Database Setup, click Attendee Groups to view strategies by event size: small, medium, or large.
  6. Blank dates indicate that no demandClosed The amount of business that wants to book your function rooms. It equals the number of enquiries for a time period and includes all statuses. You define four demand levels, from High to Distressed, in the Daily Demand pages. strategy exists for these dates. Point to black triangles to view event details for that day.
  7. If needed, click Export to Excel.
  8. Click PDF to convert and save the current page as a PDF file, for example, to share with the sales team.

Data Details

Year View

Column Description
Month and Year The months and year for the rolling 12-month calendar, starting with the current month by default.
Small, Medium, or Large If you selected Attendee Groups, these rows display the strategy for the selected group size.
Day of the Week The months are aligned by day of the week, not by date, so that you can easily see demand patterns across months.
Day The days of the month line up with their day of week.
Forecasted Expected Demand The estimated level of demand for each day. Each option is represented by a colour: High , Medium , Low and Distressed .Values are based on what you entered in the Monthly Input tab. Dates for which you haven't selected a demand level are blank. A black triangle indicates that you entered an Event for that day.

Monthly Input

Column Description
Show History Click to view and select previously saved strategies. If a current strategy exists, it is displayed in a row with the creation date.
Attendee Groups Click to view the strategy at the Property level, or, if you selected Attendee Groups, at the Small, Medium, or Large group size.
Month and Year The starting month and year for the rolling 12-month calendar, starting with the current month by default.
Years Rows show the demand level for the year and month that you selected and up to three previous years, if available. The demand shown is the total number of bookings of any status. Each day displays the on books. Click the cell to view the Booking Details. The information is the same as shown in Daily Demand by Status, Monthly Total rows.
Current strategy If you saved strategies before, the most recent one displays with its creation date, in the row above New Strategy.
New Strategy

Add or modify daily demand levels for the selected month and year. Point to a cell in this row and select the appropriate colour and demand level: High , Medium , Low and Distressed . To change the definitions of the demand levels, use the Formatting Key button on the Daily Demand by Status page.

Events

Column Description
Start Date The start date for the event. The date must be within the last year.
End Date The end date for the event.
Description The name and description of the event.

Best Practices

Add Relevant Events

Knowing about events helps you create better demand forecasts. Create events only when they impact the demand for your function rooms. Too many events clutter the display, and you might ignore them. If you are unsure if an event impacts your demand, add it. Review it later and remove it if it turns out not to have any impact.

You can also add historic events for any date in the previous 12 months. That is helpful when you assess if prior years' demand is relevant to forecast this year's demand.

Use Prior Year and On the Books to Forecast Future Demand

The Monthly Input page shows the Totals row from the Daily Demand by Status page for the selected month, for the current year and up to three previous years. Those values represent the total, or unconstrained, demand, which means they include bookings of any status, including Lost/CxlClosed Lost: the client decides not to hold a prospect or tentative event at your venue. and Turn DownClosed Also known as denials. It’s the booking status of events for which you decide not to offer availability. This can be because you don't have the space available, or because you believe it is not the right piece of business..Make sure you understand your total demand. If necessary review the Best Practices for Using Daily Demand by Status.

Use the previous years as the starting guidance for forecasting future demand. Compare their demand against the on book business for the current year. Check if events display for past years or the current year that impact demand. Based on those three data points and your knowledge of your demand patterns, set the demand levels for the future dates.

Know Your Demand Patterns

To correctly analyse the total demand information from prior years and the current on books demand, you need to understand your demand patterns.

For example, due to a high number of bookings for a date later this year, the on books demand level indicates the High demand level. But from your review of the Daily Demand by Status report, you know that a lot of the demand is in ProspectClosed The booking status of an unconfirmed event. You have no verbal or written confirmation, but you might hold space provisionally. status. And from your daily check of the Business Pickup and Critical Booking Report, you have a good understanding of how much Prospect business usually converts to DefiniteClosed The booking status of an event for which you have received the signed contract from the client..Finally, based on the Conversion Metrics by Create Date and Enquiries by Month by Lead Time reports, you know how much new business to expect. Therefore, you conclude that the demand level should be Medium, not High.

Regularly Update Your Demand Forecast

The demand forecast is the basis for your pricing strategy. To enable your sales team to provide optimal quotes, update the demand forecast regularly, and at least for the next 12 months. The frequency varies based on the size, characteristics, and booking window of your business. We recommend that you at least distribute an updated demand forecast to your sales team once a month. Many of our clients that struggle to complete all at once split the update into three sessions, completing four months in each.

Your regular review of the Business Pickup report helps you realize if you need to update the Demand Forecast. It shows if bookings have been converting to Definite at a faster or slower pace than you expected.

Finally, we recommend that you analyse the history of your demand forecasts. Use the Show History button in the Monthly Input tab to improve your forecasting capabilities. For example, do you raise the demand level each time new business is booked, then lower it later when bookings cancel, are lost, and no new business materialises? Use Enquiry Analytics to better understand your patterns, for example Enquiries by Month by Lead Time.

Work Together to Update Your Strategy

We recommend that you work with a trusted team member to update the Demand Forecast. It's more effective when one person can check the Daily Demand by Status page or the Sales and Catering system while the other updates the Demand Forecast page. In a hotel, work with the person that forecasts guest rooms. This way, you can optimise function and guest room demand together to achieve the best overall results.

If you can't work with someone else, open several SmartSpace windows at once. Browsers allow you to right click and open a page in a new tab. If you have multiple monitors, view the pages side-by-side.