Kris Glabinski, Chief Business Development Officer for Lybra.Tech, will be chairing the 3rd Annual Pricing and Revenue Management Summit in April. Before the event, we had to pleasure of interviewing him.
Read Kris' interview below:
1. Can you tell us more about Lybra.Tech Intelligent Revenue Assistant and its goals within the
pricing and revenue management industry?
Lybra.Tech Intelligent Revenue Assistant is a new tech solution in the hotel revenue management
industry. Our goal is to change the perception of RM being so complex and expensive and that only the big
hotels can afford it, to help all other hotels enjoy RM even better than the big ones do.
That is why we give hoteliers an Assistant. SAAS + AI-based tools that act like a real assistant take care of all
the big & complex things, suggest what to do and make hoteliers actually apply & use Revenue
Management.
2. Why is the 50-50 balance between AI and human important for Lybra?
The problem is that Sci-Fi movies and literature made artificial intelligence perceived as a future human
enemy. Another problem is that social buzz makes artificial intelligence a threat to human jobs.
For Lybra.Tech, it is important to underline that the AI we apply is to make hotelier lives easier. To help
them be in control of revenue. Not to eliminate them.
No assistant without the boss will do better. But also no boss without a good assistant will do better.
So it’s all about the balance. In Lybra.Tech, the balance is between the intelligent revenue assistant and the
boss - the hotelier.
3. What are the main challenges for anyone working in pricing and revenue management
discipline?
The three core challenges that we are addressing are:
o Customers create their perception of value based on what they can find on OTAs.
o The Supply of hotels and hotel-related products is larger and more diverse than ever
before.
o Individual pricing becomes more & more popular in customer purchasing habits.
o Price dynamics are more and more dependent on demand centric data rather than hotel
internal results.
4. What advice do you have for companies struggling with the adoption of some of these newer
technologies?
It is interesting to observe that we all were able to adapt to AI-based apps like Netflix, Facebook or
Amazon personally, yet we are struggling with the adoption of AI-based apps for our businesses.
I think we have been able to drop local DVD rental shops for Netflix because in life we naturally seek
convenience. But in business, sometimes we do the opposite. We overcomplicate things. Especially in the
area of Revenue Management. Overcomplication in business is like a virus that spreads to all business
areas thoroughly.
So my advice for those who struggle with the adoption of new tech is: take it easy.
5. You were a speaker at our last edition. Did topics that were discussed or ideas that were shared make a visible effect on the industry?
To me, the Pricing and Revenue Management Summit is very different to other hotel oriented revenue
management conferences. It talks about RM and pricing across the industries. We have speakers from
FMCG, the Car industry, hardware, cosmetics, mobile, etc. It is a great insight for me to learn what is going
on there as opposed to what we have in our hotel industry. Widening horizons.
6. What do you expect from this year’s Pricing and Revenue management summit?
Exactly the same. To widen my horizons, to be on top of what other leading industries do in revenue
management and pricing. To network with the top level of pricing and revenue managers.
Join Kris at the 3rd Annual Pricing and Revenue Management Summit to connect with industry experts and be part of the discussion around the latest trends, challenges and technology impacting the market. Request your free brochure for more information.
