Every hotel manager wants to increase hotel revenue. But they are often stuck with what strategies they can adopt. It isn’t complicated. You don’t necessarily have to change your hotel operations to increase your hotel sales.
Just implement 12 revenue generating ideas for hotels we will tell you about. Adding some tweaks to your existing hotel operations can make a massive difference to your bookings.
Let’s get started...
Setting benchmarks for the hotel business involves:
It becomes equally essential for a hotelier to analyze performance and growth against the set standards. Businesses should do benchmarking to know how their hotel business is doing against its competitors.
Benchmarking gives you a fair idea of what’s performing well for you, what needs to be changed, and how you can improve your hotel’s sales in the future.
Sahin Boydas (Founder and CEO of Remote Team) once said - “Leaders who operate without monitoring benchmarks must pay the price for ignoring what’s happening in the business environment.
Revenue is considered the best benchmark for the hotel business because of the following reasons -
For Instance – Hoteliers get to know that the busiest months for hotel bookings are primarily between Jan – April and September – December. So, they can focus on these months to maximize their business revenue.
Many hotels shut down because of the non-availability of funds. Research studies from Live Mint say 40% of hotels were shut down, and around 70% of hotels, small ones were on the brink of closure.
Research studies from the Economic Times say Hyatt Regency Mumbai was temporarily shut down in Mumbai. The hotel had to shut down because the hotel’s owner had no funds to run the business operations. Therefore, future reservations at the hotel were temporarily unavailable.
Do you know that Room Revenue is 30% of the total hotel revenue?
Isn’t it shocking?
Customers are ready to spend 30% more than the average daily room rate.
Room revenue is only meant for the survival of the hotel’s business. To make a hotel profitable, you need to upsell and cross-sell other services, offer packages to your guests to increase your hotel revenue, and offer F&B dining experiences to guests who want something extra.
Hence, upselling non-room items drives more revenue for the hotel business.
For Instance – Hotels can lure customers by offering additional paid services such as spa treatment, breakfast-in-bed deals, room upgradation service, etc.
Integrating a booking engine with a website is a great strategy to maximize hotel revenue. Let’s say you have a website; people are browsing it and want to make an online reservation from your website.
Having a responsive website won’t generate leads for your hotel’s business unless the website is integrated with a booking engine. Once your website is integrated with a booking engine, visitors can book a hotel directly with you.
A booking engine lets hoteliers get commission-free direct bookings.
A booking engine offers 2-fold benefits to the hotel owner –
Also Read: Tips to Increase Direct Hotel Bookings
Collaborating with local businesses is another way to increase hospitality revenue.
To partner with local businesses, you need to delve deeper into figuring out local businesses because many businesses can refer your accommodations to their customers, including tour operators, small travel agencies, schools, etc.
Here, you need to make a robust deal with them wherein you will recommend their services to your customers and will get a lucrative amount of commission in return.
You can also partner with local vendors to provide unforgettable outings and adventures. In this way, you can make a good amount of revenue.
Often customers are looking for unique experiences, so collaborating with local vendors such as handicraft mart and Paleto Shop to provide innovative experiences to them makes them feel special.
Hoteliers can collaborate with companies by making rooms available to their clients or renting your space for business events such as dinners, conferences, etc.
For Instance – BOTSHOT offers express check-in and checkout service to guests helping them to do contactless check-in and checkout by avoiding long queues at reception.
Additionally, BOTSHOT helps hoteliers to promote add-ons to their guests before they arrive at the property.
Technologies like Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things, Blockchain, etc., are booming in the industry. So, as a hotelier, you must discover innovative ways to engage with your guests.
Investing in hotel management software helps hotels to decide the exact price of hotel services they should charge from their guests.
Hotel management software uses AI and ML technologies to estimate the demand for services, helps you to adjust the offers by utilizing historical insights, comparing the prices of your services against the prices of hospitality operators, etc.
Moreover, investing in hotel management software acts as a profitable option for your hotel business, allowing you to sell the right product to the right customer at the right time for the right price.
Research studies say that more and more hotels are investing in technology products, upgrading their tech stack to increase their business efficiency and maximize their revenue.
For Instance – Freddie by BOTSHOT enhances the guest experience by providing real-time recommendations, sending automated text to the guests, and supporting them throughout their journey.
Additionally, Hotel managers can use Freddie for request management, missed call solutions to reduce revenue leaks, etc.
As a hotel manager, you can offer various packages to your guests, helping you cover the actual room rate by adding various features. Bundling your services in various packages adds value to your customer’s life.
By creating packages, you are ultimately trying to attract your customers to book a stay at your hotel and get a chance to grab exclusive services at their doors.
Here, you are not sticking to the old-fashioned approach of “selling just a room.” It proves to your guests that you also care about your customers. This leads to an increase in your hotel revenue.
If you want to sell your room to guests, consider adding supplementary services such as fitness classes, spa treatment, etc. Other packages a hotel manager can offer include a room with a balcony, late checkout for a minimal fee, etc.
For example – You can use WhatsApp marketing from BOTSHOT to promote offers such as food and beverages to your guests.
Reducing your dependency on OTA platforms and integrating your website with a booking engine increases your guest's chances of booking directly on the website.
As customers directly book from your site, you don’t have to pay a commission to OTA, thereby increasing revenue. Providing incentives to customers, such as room upgrades, loyalty points, freebies, etc., convinces them to choose you over others.
Research studies found that an increase in the retention rate of 5% can lead to a substantial increase in hotel profits between 25-95%.
If you want to turn your customers into repeated ones, it’s time to invest in loyalty programs. Here, you are providing exclusive rewards to customers who are returning to your property, which is what the loyalty program does.
Investing in loyalty programs aims to build better relationships with guests. Loyalty programs are a great way of converting existing customers into loyal subscribers.
One of the best ways is to send personalized e-mails, discounts, offers, reward points, etc.
For example – Make sure to take feedback from your guests regularly and if you get to know that XYZ guest is your old customer and they are dissatisfied with your hotel services, incentivize your customers, offer them rewards, and win their trust.
Also Read: How to Use Guest Data to Improve Hotel Sales & Revenue
Dynamic pricing and predictive pricing are considered the best revenue-generating strategies. In dynamic pricing, hoteliers decide their rates based on competitor pricing, market demand shifts, etc.
Under dynamic pricing, hoteliers can increase their prices if there is limited room availability. On the other hand, you can provide good offers to your customers during months when the demand is low.
As per dynamic pricing, prices of hotels fluctuate based on various factors such as competition, season, occupancy, market trend, flight rates, etc. Here, rates of hotels fluctuate from hour to hour, day to day, depending on real-time market data.
Dynamic pricing works so that the hotelier charges higher rates from customers when the demand is high and drops the prices when the demand is low.
As the hotel owner, you set the rate at $109 on the weekend, and you get to know that there is a big concert that will be held in that area, and concert lovers are eager to make instant bookings.
Now, there is an opportunity for you to raise your rates. It is known as dynamic pricing, as you are setting rates based on market forces.
Upselling and cross selling your services bring a new revenue stream for you. You can charge your customers by turning the basic services into paid services such as spa, buffet breakfast, room service, etc.
Cross-selling is related to persuading your customers to buy related products.
For Instance – A customer booked a room at your hotel, now you can cross-sell various services to enhance customer experience, such as access to a gym, spa treatment, presenting wellness classes, etc.
On the contrary, upselling is related to selling an upgraded or expensive product or service that adds value to the life of customers.
For Instance – Room upgrades are the perfect example, wherein hotel owners could upgrade their room charges from a standard room to a mini-suite.
Here are hotel upselling techniques that can help you get increased bookings and hotel revenue.
Research studies say that 96% of trip advisor users prefer to read online reviews before choosing a hotel.
As you know, the hotel industry is influenced by the opinions and feedback of guests. Positive reviews from customers build a strong brand image for the hotel.
ORM increases the brand visibility of your business on OTA platforms. Ask your customers to share feedback with you. The online visibility of hotels depends on various factors, such as guest satisfaction scores, the volume of positive reviews, etc.
Hence, the greater number of positive reviews directly relates to the hotel’s sales.
Another tip to increase hotel revenue is to create an online presence on OTA and offer guests your hotel products/services. OTA acts as an online platform allowing hoteliers to communicate with their customers and offering customers better choices to find the best hotels. The primary functions of a hotel channel manager are to simultaneously disseminate your room inventory to many online travel agencies (OTAs) and to instantly sync hotel reservations with your property management system (PMS) in order to maximize occupancy and prevent overbookings.
You can participate in Google hotel ads if you are not ranking well on OTA.
Google hotel ads allow you to do various things, such as -
So, you need to decide where your target clients are active and build your online presence on that platform to improve hotel sales. Additionally, interview your guests to understand why they choose you over competitors.
Another strategy to increase hotel sales is growing your business through organic methods. You can get consistent bookings for your hotel business by improving your SEO score.
Requires a long-term commitment from your side, but it can potentially bring countless organic traffic for your business without spending bucks on ads. Hence, SEO makes your hotel website rank on top of SERP (Search Engine Results Page).
Assists in driving the initial traffic and generating business for your website by enabling you to ipay search engines to display your website's advertisement prominently when specific search queries are made.
For Instance – You can run Google ads, which follow the PPC model wherein the advertiser will be charged when someone clicks on the campaign. It does not guarantee a person will book a hotel on your website.
End notes...
Now, you have 10 strategies to increase hotel revenue. Some strategies require time and effort to increase hospitality revenue, whereas others can be quickly implemented.
Don’t worry! You don’t need to apply all these strategies on the go. Start with the basic ones to know what’s working well for you.
Explore Now: How to Promote Hotel Online?
Traditionally, setting room rates involved a bit of guesswork. Today, hotel revenue management software provides powerful analytics that take the guesswork out of the equation. This software analyzes competitor pricing, market trends, and even historical booking data to predict demand and suggest optimal pricing strategies. By leveraging these insights, you can maximize your revenue by charging the right price for each room, at the right time. Look for a hotel revenue management software solution that integrates seamlessly with your existing systems and offers user-friendly reporting tools to make data-driven decisions and boost your hotel's profitability.
While complimentary early check-ins and late check-outs can be a nice perk, consider offering them as premium add-ons. This allows guests who truly value the extra time to pay a reasonable fee, increasing your revenue. Clearly communicate the benefits – like maximizing a short stay or enjoying a leisurely departure – and set a strategic price that incentivizes guests without sacrificing significant room availability. This strategy creates a win-win scenario: guests gain flexibility for a fee, and your hotel generates additional income by catering to a specific guest need.
At BOTSHOT, you can increase hotel revenue with an automated front desk system (e-Front Desk) streamlining check-in and checkout.
To get more bookings for your hotel, we have a smart website builder (CreateWith) to help you create a compelling, SEO-friendly website using drag-and-drop functionalities, driving more direct bookings without paying for OTA commission.