Conference Review: 4th Annual Conference of the Revenue Management and Pricing INFORMS Section, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA, 10th-11th June, 2004

With approximately 100 attendees and over 40 presentations, the 4th Annual Revenue Management and Pricing section Conference was a resounding success. For the first time, the conference hosted parallel sessions. Unfortunately, that meant having to choose which talk to attend (and which to miss!). As in years past, the two-day conference included both research and practitioner presentations. The luncheon plenary talks were given by Andy Boyd of PROS on the impact of the internet on revenue management and by Guillcrmo Gallego of Columbia University on callable revenue management. Callable revenue management focuses on providing mechanisms that allow low-fare customers to self-select and purchase products that grant the capacity provider the option to recall the capacity sold to that customer in exchange for some previously agreed upon compensation. In periods of higher than expected demand, this provides the supplier with greater flexibility to sell its products more profitably. The diversity of talks ensured that whether your interest was in the mathematics or the application of revenue management, there were sure to be at least several sessions of particular interest to every attendee.