Hotel Cateys 2023: Revenue Manager of the Year – Doris Woehnl, Rosewood London

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As director of revenue management and a key member of Rosewood London’s executive committee, Doris Woehnl has consistently met and exceeded revenue targets, implemented greater cross-departmental collaboration and given immense support and encouragement to colleagues.

Woehnl’s ability to drive revenue growth and profitability stems from her innovative approach to leading the business. She implemented a change in room rate strategy, where Rosewood London previously practiced a static wholesale rate model for its rooms, Woehnl employed a dynamic rate model. This resulted in a significant increase to average daily rate (ADR) over the past year.

Her efforts didn’t stop there. In March 2023, Woehnl re-categorised room types to further support ADR growth, ensuring room types were aligned with market demand and allowing for more effective revenue management. Her bold decision now generates a five-figure sum of additional room revenue per month.

Woehnl’s innovative thinking has influenced other Rosewood hotels and resorts to adopt her measures, such as working with the spa director on a flexible pricing strategy for treatments, which has resulted in further revenue increases. In addition, Woehnl restructured revenue meetings to involve finance, hotel leadership, sales and marketing, and food and beverage outlet managers, which has led to the departments discussing additional revenue opportunities and solving problems collectively.

Her commitment to a collaborative inter-departmental culture is further seen in her work with the F&B team. Woehnl established monthly one-on-one meetings with F&B outlet managers to help them review strategies, address challenges and forecast daily operations and revenues. The success of this is evidenced by the team’s improvement at accurately forecasting its targets and its significant contribution to revenue growth.

Her boundless energy and enthusiasm for improving the hotel also feeds into her commitment to developing new talent. Weohnl mentored and supported the professional growth of colleagues such as Hulan Baatar, who progressed from reservation agent to assistant revenue manager in just under five years, and Stanislav Panfili, who started in his role as reservations agent in 2019 and is now a revenue analyst.

Woehnl took on the additional responsibility as interim revenue manager at Rosewood Vienna, highlighting her willingness to take on increased responsibilities and support the organisation beyond her designated role.

What the judges said

“Such a strong shortlist and tough decision. But Doris’s holistic view and her ability to create strong external and internal relationships gave her an extra piece of sparkle.” Jane Pendlebury

“Doris has shown excellence in revenue management by making brave decisions that have had a major impact on the hotel’s revenue.” Neil Brande

The shortlist

• Pauline Clitheroe, Balmer Lawn hotel
• Sofia Konstantakopoulou, the Gantry London
• Doris Woehnl, Rosewood London