SAN DIEGO—Accurately projecting room demand based on history andlocal activity is one way hotel owners andoperators can stay ahead of the curve no matter what economicevents may transpire, RAR Hospitality's CEOBob Rauch tells GlobeSt.com. We spoke with Rauchexclusively about the hotel market and what owners and operatorscan do to ensure success in 2016.

GlobeSt.com: With the current real estate cyclelooking to end in the not-too-distant future, what can those in thehotel industry do to stay ahead of the curve?

Rauch: There are several areas wherewe can stay ahead of the curve. One is understanding revenuemanagement thoroughly. We must accurately project room demand basedon history and local activity, including, but not limited to, areabooking pace, competitive rates and type of business. With thatinformation, one can begin to move business from expensive channelslike OTAs to direct channels. Further, understanding how long ittakes to book that less-expensive business and whether or not thatbusiness might potentially be repeat business further enhances thelikelihood of successful revenue generation. Lastly, holding ratesup instead of "dropping our drawers" at the first sign of aslowdown. It has been proven by Cornell's Hotelprogram and STR that this is a badstrategy.