Every hotel is looking to maximize top-line sales, improve occupancy rates, and enhance profitability, but it’s not easy. What makes boosting revenue more complex for hospitality businesses than for most others is that hoteliers must drive that growth while still prioritizing great guest experiences, which can increase costs.

This article covers 20 hotel revenue-driving strategies, most of which aim to increase sales, elevate guest experiences, and control costs all at the same time. Key to making that happen is the ability to analyze guest and other data to help hotel managers make more informed decisions.

What Is Revenue?

Revenue is the money a business takes in from the sale of its goods or services before subtracting the cost of returns, discounts, and allowances from the total amount of money generated by sales.

What Is Hotel Revenue?

Hotel revenue is the money received from selling room accommodations and providing other services: food, drinks, spa treatments, valet parking, conference space, and the like.

To help inform their business decisions, hotel managers use several revenue-related key performance indicators (KPIs). Total revenue, which is the sum of all money generated from all revenue streams within the property, is useful for measuring the overall success of a hotel business but not as useful for managing it. So hoteliers look deeper, considering several metrics to gauge their success.

Average Daily Rate (ADR): The average revenue earned for each occupied room

ADR = Room revenue / Number of rooms sold

Revenue Per Available Room (RevPAR): This measures the revenue earned per available room, whether it’s occupied by guests or not.

RevPAR = Total room revenue / Number of available rooms

Total Revenue Per Available Room (TRevPAR): Revenue from all sources, not just rooms.

TRevPAR = Total hotel revenue / Number of available rooms

Key Takeaways

  • Implementing effective revenue growth strategies is crucial to hotels’ long-term success.
  • Important revenue-enhancing strategies include upselling and cross-selling, optimizing prices through revenue management, and personalizing guest offers and services through market segmentation.
  • Advanced revenue management software can automate many hotel revenue-generating processes and provide data to improve decision-making.
  • Don’t forget the people: Training and motivating staff to upsell can significantly increase hotel revenue over time.

20 Ways to Increase Hotel Revenue

The following 20 proven strategies can help hotels boost their revenue and stay ahead of the competition. These range from dynamic room pricing strategies and maximizing occupancy to increasing sales from events and food and beverage, but all focus on improving the guest experience.

1. Optimize Your Online Presence and Marketing Efforts

Most travelers discover hotels and resorts through online advertising and reviews sites. The vast majority book their trips online, too. Here are several best practices for hotels to optimize their online presence and marketing.

  • SEO: An effective search engine optimization strategy is the first and simplest plan of attack. SEO improves a website’s visibility on search engine results pages, which attracts more organic site visitors. SEO strategies include a variety of techniques, but they boil down to posting high-quality, relevant content that is engaging and informative to travelers and contains search keywords (without overdoing them). It’s also a good idea to use local SEO, which means having your hotel’s presence listed on Google Business Profile and other local directories and optimize for general industry and local keywords. Be sure your hotel’s name, address, phone number, and URL are correct and consistent across all platforms so search engines can find it.
  • Social media: With so many social platforms available, it’s important to research which ones your hotel’s clientele prefer and then build your presence on those. Whether it’s Instagram, Facebook, X, Reddit, or some other forum, tailor content to each platform’s strengths and the demographics of its visitors. Try a regular mix of photos, videos, stories, and live streams. Showcase the hotel’s amenities, events, and guest experiences. Building on such a base, a hotel can explore partnerships with social travel influencers and bloggers to reach a broader audience.
  • Email campaigns: Developing an email marketing campaign generally starts by segmenting customer email lists according to criteria such as past stays, booking behavior, and preferences. Use guest data to personalize emails with recipients’ names, past-stay details, and customized offers. Personalized emails tend to have higher open and conversion rates, as does compelling content with clear calls to action (CTA). Highlight special offers, local events, and unique aspects of the hotel to entice recipients to book. Ensure timely and consistent communication by setting up automated email workflows for different stages of the guest journey—for example, pre-arrival information, post-stay follow-ups, and special promotions.
  • Content marketing: Everybody loves a good story, and the travel and hotel worlds are rife with them. Creative and professional content marketing can do much to engage and entertain customers. Maintaining a blog on your hotel website, with posts about local attractions, travel tips, and hotel news, is a great way to generate organic traffic and establish the hotel as a valuable resource for travelers. Be sure to update the blog regularly; nothing is more off-putting than visiting one whose content is old and dated. Invest in high-quality photos and videos that showcase the hotel’s features, rooms, and amenities. Visual content is highly engaging and can be shared across multiple platforms; people like to see what they’re signing up for. Educational content—guides, checklists, and e-books related to travel in areas surrounding the hotel’s location—can position your hotel as a travel expert.

2. Optimize Your Website for Mobile Users

About 63% of travelers use a smartphone app to research and book trips, so creating seamless mobile experiences and booking processes is essential for any hotel aiming to increase revenue. A website optimized for mobile devices also boosts search rankings and brand awareness. Moreover, by capturing bookings directly on their own mobile-optimized sites, hotels can avoid online travel agency (OTA) fees. Here are four ways to improve your mobile presence.

  • Responsive design: Responsive design ensures that your hotel’s website adapts seamlessly to any screen size, providing the best viewing experience across all devices, whether a desktop, smartphone, or tablet. Responsive design not only improves user experiences, but it also contributes to higher engagement rates and better SEO rankings.
  • Fast loading speeds: A fast-loading website is foundational for retaining the attention of potential guests. Studies show that a one-second delay in page-load time can lead to a 7% reduction in customer conversions, because travelers who find a website slow are likely to abandon it and go to a competitor’s site. Compressing images and using browser caching are just two ways to speed up a website.
  • Easy navigation: Simplifying website navigation is key to providing a smooth user experience. Guests should easily find information about room rates, amenities, and booking options. A clear menu structure, intuitive search, and straightforward CTA buttons encourage users to explore more pages. This increases the chances that they will book a room.
  • Mobile booking: A simple mobile booking process also helps convert website visitors into guests. This requires a user-friendly mobile booking engine that presents users with a quick and trouble-free overall booking process, including clear-form fields and multiple secure payment options.

3. Implement an Effective Booking Engine

Hotel booking engines drive commission-free revenue. And a good one can boost a hotel’s direct bookings by up to 44%.

Booking engines work round the clock, facilitating online reservations by providing potential guests with a secure system in which to reserve rooms, travel packages, and sometimes even restaurant tables and spa services. Booking engines should feature the following capabilities.

  • User-friendly interface: A clean design with easy-to-read fonts and a straightforward layout lets users find information and make reservations easily. Features such as autofill, clear navigation menus, and prominent CTA buttons add to that experience.
  • Access to real-time data: To book with confidence, potential guests need to know that the availability and rate information they’re being shown is accurate and up to date. Real-time data also helps hotels manage their inventory more effectively, reducing the risk of overbooking while maximizing occupancy rates.
  • Secure payment options: Secure payment options build trust with guests, and providing multiple payment methods, such as credit cards, PayPal, Apple Pay and Google Pay, increases the likelihood of a booking being completed. You will further reassure potential guests by clearly communicating the hotel’s security measures and privacy policies.
  • Property management system integration: Integrating the hotel’s booking engine with its property management system (PMS) is the key to making sure that people who are ready to book are seeing up-to-date and accurate availability and pricing information. This integration allows for automatic updates of both room inventory and rates across all channels, reducing the risk of overbooking and pricing errors. It also allows for better data management and reporting.

4. Use Dynamic Pricing Strategies

Dynamic pricing is a strategy for boosting revenue by adjusting room rates based on real-time market conditions. Hotels dynamically adjust their prices based on the following factors.

  • Demand forecasts: This involves analyzing past booking patterns, market conditions, and upcoming events to predict future occupancy rates and set prices. For instance, a hotel might use data from previous years to forecast demand during an annual local festival and adjust rates accordingly. Revenue management software can automate this process, providing real-time insights and recommendations. By accurately predicting demand, a hotel can make sure it has the right number of rooms available at the prices most likely to maximize revenue but prevent overbooking.
  • Competitors’ pricing: This requires hotels to monitor competitors’ prices and adjust their own prices to remain competitive. If a nearby hotel lowers its prices, you might need to reduce yours or offer additional perks to attract guests. Rate-shopping software can track competitors’ rates in real time, allowing hotels to make quick adjustments.
  • Special events: Being aware of, and ready for, events that spike demand lets hotels increase rates without diminishing occupancy. A city hosting a major sports event, for example, will see a surge in hotel bookings. By anticipating this surge, a hotel can raise its prices and implement minimum-stay requirements to maximize occupancy and revenue. Additionally, offering special packages or promotions tailored to event attendees can attract more guests and/or generate invaluable ancillary revenue.

5. Implement Yield Management Practices

While dynamic pricing focuses on factors affecting demand, yield management is a broader and more comprehensive strategy that aims to maximize revenue from any fixed inventory—in this case, hotel rooms. Yield management uses dynamic pricing but also considers other strategies to maximize revenue, including overbooking, length-of-stay restrictions, and market segmentation. It involves understanding traveler booking behavior to find the optimal balance between occupancy and rate, considering three key principles:

  • Fixed inventory: Hotels have a limited number of rooms to sell.
  • Perishable inventory: Unsold rooms for a given night represent lost revenue.
  • Variable pricing: Different customers are willing to pay different prices under varying conditions.

This formula is vital for guiding yield management pricing decisions:

Earned revenue ÷ Maximum potential revenue x 100

To illustrate the formula, consider the simplified example of a hotel that has 10 rooms and a maximum rate of $299. That means its maximum potential revenue per day is $2,990. Selling nine rooms at $149 each results in $1,341 in revenue, yielding 44.8%. However, increasing the rate to $249 and selling six rooms generates $1,494 in revenue, yielding 50%. It also reduces costs because the hotel now has three fewer rooms to service.

Some of the key tools of yield management are:

  • Room allocation: Hotels strategically assign available rooms to different booking channels, such as OTAs, direct bookings, and corporate clients, to maximize revenue and occupancy. A hotel might allocate more rooms to high-margin direct bookings during peak seasons while reserving some inventory for OTAs to maintain visibility and attract new customers.
  • Overbooking strategies: Accepting more reservations than there are available rooms is a widely accepted yield management practice. It anticipates cancelations and no-shows, and so it helps maximize occupancy and revenue. For instance, a hotel might overbook by 10% during a busy convention week, knowing that a certain percentage of guests will cancel or not show up.
  • Rate parity: Rate parity is a contractual agreement between a hotel and its public distribution channels that makes sure prices for the same room and length of stay are the same no matter where a customer sees them. A hotel might use rate parity, for instance, to ensure that its direct website and all partnered OTAs list a standard room at $200 per night, preventing potential guests from finding a lower rate elsewhere.
  • Seasonal adjustments: This practice alters room rates and availability based on the time of year, considering factors such as peak travel seasons, holidays, and local events. A beach resort, for example, might increase rates and reduce discounts during the summer months when demand is high, while offering lower rates and special promotions during the off-season. To experience a prime example of this, try booking a room in the Hamptons on the eastern end of Long Island, N.Y., in August and then again in February.

6. Utilize Stay Controls

Hotels use stay restrictions, such as minimum and maximum length of stay, to maximize revenue and lower costs during periods of varying demand. Stay controls work by stipulating, at the time of booking, when guests can check in and out of their rooms, how long they must stay, and at what rate. Here are four widely used stay controls.

  • Minimum Length of Stay (MinLOS): This control requires guests to book a minimum number of nights for their stay. For example, consider that many hotels charge higher rates for Friday and Saturday nights because they’re in high demand. A MinLOS control that requires two nights for anyone booking either Friday or Saturday maximizes occupancy. MinLOS is also used during periods of high demand that are followed by low demand. For example, a resort hotel during a winter holiday might use MinLOS controls to require that guests book a minimum number of nights to raise occupancy during the slower period before or after the holiday.
  • Maximum Length of Stay (MaxLOS): Hotels implement MaxLOS controls when they expect to sell out rooms at higher rates during specific dates. In the days leading up to a major conference, for instance, a hotel might limit discounted multi-night stays that extend into the conference period so that it can free rooms to book at higher rates.
  • Closed to Arrival: This control restricts arrivals on days when hotels anticipate having total or near-total occupancy with guests staying for multiple nights. For instance, a hotel might use closed-to-arrival controls to block arrivals on a Friday if it’s fully booked with guests staying through the weekend, optimizing room availability for longer stays.
  • Closed to Departure (CTD): Hotels implement CTD to limit or eliminate checkouts on specific dates. This allows them to better allocate resources, reduce strain on staff, and avoid disappointing guests during busy periods or days when the workforce may be limited, such as public holidays.

7. Reduce Reliance on Third-Party Bookings

While OTAs and other third-party platforms provide valuable support, it’s essential for hotels to develop strong direct bookings. Reducing reliance on outside platforms improves profitability by reducing third-party commissions, and it puts the property in a superior position when negotiating with them. For instance, hoteliers can focus their efforts on improving relationships with top-performing partners and eliminating those that aren’t working out.

Offering incentives to book directly on the hotel’s website or mobile app can significantly reduce its reliance on third-party booking platforms. Offering exclusive perks, such as food and beverage vouchers or free parking, can entice guests to do so. Other incentives might include discounted room rates, exclusive access to amenities, or late checkout options. Direct booking incentives not only attract more direct bookings but can also enhance guest loyalty and satisfaction.

8. Use Segmentation for Personalized Marketing

Many travelers genuinely appreciate a personalized touch that makes a positive difference in their guest experience. To offer effective and relevant personalization, hotels can use the data in their PMS to segment and understand their guests. This could show, for instance, whether guests are leisure or business travelers, who their travel companions are, their ages, and their preferences for everything from room type to amenities and food choices—limited only by the data the hotel is willing and able to collect. By analyzing spending habits and profitability, hotels can identify which segments yield the highest returns on investment and focus their marketing efforts accordingly.

Here are some key elements of a segmentation strategy.

  • Customer data: The more customer data a hotel collects, the more opportunities it will have to analyze that data to gain insights into customer demographics, preferences, and behaviors. With sufficient data, hotels can create detailed guest profiles, enabling more accurate segmentation and tailored marketing strategies.
  • Targeted campaigns: Good data allows hotels to create targeted marketing campaigns based on the segmented guest profiles. A hotel could promote weekend getaway packages to couples, for example, or offer business amenities to corporate travelers. Tailoring campaigns to specific segments increases engagement and conversion rates.
  • Personalized offers: Hotels should develop offers that cater to the unique needs and preferences of different guest segments. For example, they might provide packages with kid-friendly activities for families or discounted spa services for solo travelers.
  • Segmented email lists: A segmented email list lets hotels send customized communications to different guest groups. By tailoring email content to the interests and preferences of each segment, hotels can improve the relevancy and appeal of the offers that prospective guests receive. That leads to increased open rates, click-through rates, and bookings.

9. Provide Early Check-In/Late Checkout Options

Offering early check-in and late checkout is a simple yet effective way to boost hotel revenue without much investment. Despite it being one of the most frequently requested services, many hotels overlook these options. Guests are willing to pay extra for the flexibility, and accommodating those who prefer to arrive early or stay later can help increase occupancy rates. Many guests will pay from $20 to $50 for the convenience of early check-in or late checkout. But it’s important to manage these requests efficiently, especially when occupancy is high. Special upsell software can help hoteliers approve or deny these requests, charging guests only when their requests are accepted.

Implementing flexible policies, such as allowing free cancellations or modifications within specified time frames, can also significantly enhance guest satisfaction and drive more bookings. Such flexible policies—including check-in and checkout times—can lead to better online reviews and repeat business, since guests are more likely to return to a hotel that accommodates their changing needs.

10. Offer value-added services: Offering complimentary breakfast, free Wi-Fi, or airport shuttle services can enhance the guest experience and differentiate a hotel from its competitors. These services make guests feel as if they’re getting more for their money, which can justify higher room rates. As with many of these revenue-boosting strategies, value-added services not only improve guest satisfaction, but also encourage positive reviews and recommendations.

11. Capitalize on Upselling/Cross-Selling Opportunities

Mastery of upselling and cross-selling opens new revenue streams for hotels. Services that are often offered for free—such as buffet breakfasts or early check-ins/late checkouts—can be converted into paid options, and classic paid services—such as room service and spa treatments—can be promoted better. Other upselling opportunities include parking fees, pet fees (although allowing guests to bring their pets might increase cleaning costs), and shuttles to and from the airport or local attractions.

Offering guests the option to upgrade their room to a higher category is another common upsell strategy. Front-desk agents typically handle this during check-in, but the anticipation stage of a guest’s journey—in pre-arrival emails and online check-in—presents an excellent opportunity to offer room upgrades. An added benefit: When guests upgrade in advance, the hotel can resell the lower-category rooms, boosting occupancy.

Here are four approaches that hotels can use to capitalize on upselling and cross-selling opportunities.

  • Front-desk training: Equip front-desk staff with the knowledge and skills to identify upsell opportunities. When upselling is a natural part of the check-in process, hotels increase the likelihood of guests opting for premium rooms, services, and amenities.
  • Automated suggestions: Automated systems simplify upselling and ensure consistent promotion of additional services. Automated systems can analyze guest data and preferences to provide personalized recommendations for room upgrades, dining options, or spa treatments at key touchpoints, such as during online booking or check-in. Automated suggestions can be delivered via email, mobile app notifications, or digital kiosks.
  • Bundled packages: Creating offers that combine various services and amenities can increase a guest’s total spending. A romance package, for instance, might include a room upgrade, champagne, and a spa treatment. A family package could offer discounted tickets to local attractions and free meals for children.
  • In-room promotions: Hotels can place informational brochures, digital tablets, or QR codes in guest rooms that highlight available upgrades, dining options, and on-site activities. Guests can easily access these promotions at their convenience, leading to increased uptake of services.

12. Create Attractive Packages and Discounts

Offering a variety of experiences in packaged, discounted bundles can help improve a hotel’s SEO level as well as its ranking on travel sites. Three popular types of discount packages are:

  • Seasonal packages capitalize on local events, holidays, or seasonal attractions. For instance, a “Beach Escape” package could include transportation to and from the beach, a complimentary lunch, and free beach-gear rental. A “Ski Retreat” in the winter could be done much the same way. For hotels in the right location, “Fall Foliage” packages are similarly popular.
  • Themed packages, which cater to specific interests or occasions, can be very attractive. Hotels can use their guest demographic and segmentation data to identify the kinds of themes that should resonate with their clientele. Thinking beyond the classic romantic getaway and family fun packages, depending on their locations and guest data, hotels might consider packages such as “Work from Hotel,” “Wellness Detox,” “Local Artisan Experience,” or “Sustainable Explorer.”
  • Long-stay discounts offer discounted rates to guests who book multiple nights over a certain threshold— for example, for stays measured in weeks and even steeper discounts for those staying a month or more. Such offers might interest vacationers who travel for work. There’s also nothing wrong with a simple “stay 5 nights, pay for 4” deal. Hotels can raise or lower the threshold based on the season or their guests’ average length of stay.

13. Promote Food and Beverage Services Throughout the Stay

Highlighting your hotel’s food and beverage services is an obvious way to enrich revenue. The goal is to turn every meal—from room service to restaurant dining and event catering—into an opportunity to delight guests.

  • In-room dining menus: There’s just something fun about room service. Entice your guests with an easily accessible in-room menu. Don’t bundle it with other promotional materials or a hotel information binder; let it stand alone and attract attention. Feature signature dishes, local specialties, and seasonal items, and make sure to include a snack or late-night section. Someone is always hungry. Consider offering in-room meal packages, such as a breakfast-in-bed package or a romantic dinner for two with (electric) candles and wine.
  • In-house restaurant promotion: Showcase the unique offerings and ambience of on-site restaurants and bars, and convey the quality and convenience of staying in-house. Digital displays in the lobby, in-room tablets, and even personalized recommendations from staff can help encourage guests to dine in-house. Offering special deals, such as happy hours, themed nights, or chef’s tastings with wine pairings, can attract guests as well.
  • Event catering: Promote your hotel’s event services to guests who might plan future meetings, conferences, or special occasions, and make sure these offerings are clearly and descriptively posted online. Highlight testimonials and previous successful events—and mention special rates for group bookings. Make sure to offer customizable and varied menus to cater to any group, from coffee and pastries and light lunches to full banquet dinners and personalized events.

14. Partner with Local Vendors for Discounts and Experiences

Collaborating with local vendors can differentiate a hotel from its competitors, making it a more attractive option for travelers looking for authentic and memorable experiences.

  • Exclusive discounts: Form partnerships with local attractions, tours, and entertainment venues to offer your guests exclusive discounts. This can include discounted tickets to museums, local music or theater shows, or adventure activities, such as zip-lining, scuba diving, and guided city tours.
  • Local experiences: Create packages that incorporate local culture and activities to give guests a taste of the unique offerings in your area. For example, collaborate with local wineries to offer wine-tasting tours.
  • Local products and souvenirs: Work with local artisans and vendors to offer authentic local goods in the hotel’s gift shop or as part of welcome packages. This not only supports local businesses and fosters a hotel’s relationship with the business community, but it also provides guests with unique and meaningful mementos of their stay. Consider featuring items such as handmade crafts, local delicacies, or branded merchandise that reflects the local culture and heritage. A hotel can also host pop-up shops or markets, where guests can interact with local vendors and purchase their products directly.

15. Encourage Group Bookings

Group bookings can make a big contribution to revenue and help maintain high occupancy rates. Here are four ways to encourage group bookings.

  • Group rates: Hotels can offer special group rates and discounts for bulk bookings to appeal to large families, wedding parties, or corporate teams. Highlight the benefits of group rates on the hotel website and in other promotional materials to capture the attention of potential group organizers.
  • Event spaces: Showcase the hotel’s event spaces and meeting rooms online—photos are always a great idea. Provide detailed information on the size, layout options, and technological capabilities of each space. Don’t forget to offer packages that include catering, audio-visual equipment, and event support to attract corporate clients and event planners.
  • Customized packages: A fair share of the hotel revenue-generation ideas throughout this article come down to understanding your customers really well and then using that understanding to build tailored packages. This is one of those cases. For example, offer wedding packages that include room blocks, a banquet hall, and a bridal suite; or corporate packages that include meeting room rentals, business center access, and dinner or a happy hour for when the job is done and everyone is looking to unwind.

16. Keep Guests Engaged Throughout Their Stay

Maintaining guest engagement is pivotal to creating a memorable and enjoyable experience. Engaged guests are more likely to leave positive reviews, spend more money, and return for future visits. Consider implementing one or more of the following four measures.

  • Loyalty programs: A hotel can leverage the data it collects from its loyalty program to enhance its engagement with guests during their stay. For instance, by analyzing past-stay data, the hotel can customize in-room amenities or provide welcome gifts that align with individual guest preferences. The hotel can send real-time notifications about special events, promotions, or complimentary services based on previous interactions. Rewarding guests with loyalty points for participating in hotel activities or using amenities encourages their continued engagement.
  • Activity recommendations: Provide guests with personalized recommendations for local activities, attractions, and dining options. Use in-room tablets or mobile apps to offer suggestions based on the data you have about guests’ interests and preferences. Collaborate with local businesses to offer exclusive deals or curated experiences, such as guided tours, adventure activities, or special dining opportunities.
  • Follow-up communication: Maintain ongoing communication with guests after they check in—without being intrusive. The trick is to align follow-up communications with each guest’s interests and preferences. For example, a personalized welcome message (based on loyalty program data) sent immediately after check-in can set a positive tone by highlighting amenities that align with the guest’s preferences. As a stay progresses, the hotel can send real-time text notifications about ongoing events or dining specials. Daily reminders about scheduled activities help to ensure that guests won’t miss out on experiences that might interest them.
  • Personal touches: Add personal touches to guests’ stays to make them feel special and appreciated. For example, if guests mention that they’re celebrating a special occasion, surprise them with a small gift or special service, such as a complimentary dessert or room upgrade. Small gestures can make a big difference in creating a memorable experience and building guest loyalty. Remember to ask guests a few relevant questions upon check-in to identify such opportunities.

17. Streamline Operations With Automation

Automation can improve hotel operations by minimizing human errors, improving efficiency, reducing costs, and enhancing guest experiences. Freed-up staff can focus on providing exceptional service to customers from check-in to checkout.

  • Automated check-in/out: Easy-to-navigate self-service kiosks and mobile app features let guests check in and check out quickly and at their convenience, while reducing the need for front-desk staff. Automated check-in/checkout can also integrate with a hotel’s PMS to share accurate and up-to-date guest information. As always, maintain sufficient front-desk staff, because some customers still prefer the human touch.
  • Inventory management: Automated hotel inventory management systems are specialized for the dual inventory requirements of the hospitality business. Sure, they track and manage a hotel’s housekeeping, food, beverage, and other supplies, but they can also play a key role in generating revenue because they manage the availability of rooms. Those rooms are considered “perishable” inventory because, once a night passes, the revenue lost due to an unsold room can never be recovered.

18. Encourage Guest Feedback and Online Reviews

Seeking guest feedback and encouraging online reviews are crucial steps in elevating a hotel’s reputation and attracting new customers—and revenue. Reviews and feedback, both positive and negative, provide valuable insights into guest experiences, helping hoteliers refine services and address areas for improvement.

  • Incentivize feedback: Offer incentives, such as discounts on future stays, complimentary services, or loyalty points, to encourage guests to provide feedback and leave reviews. Make the feedback process easy by providing links to review sites in follow-up emails or through in-room tablets.
  • Monitor reviews: Regularly monitor online review platforms—Tripadvisor, Google Reviews, Yelp, and others—to stay informed about what guests are saying about the hotel. Use reputation management software to track reviews across multiple platforms so you can respond promptly and consistently. Positive reviews can be highlighted on the hotel’s website and in its social media pages to build credibility. Negative reviews provide opportunities for improvement and should be addressed promptly and professionally. Engaging with reviewers to fix a problem can turn a negative interaction into a positive one that leaves a lasting good impression.

19. Leverage Advanced Technology Solutions

Adopting innovative technologies can help hotels stay ahead of the competition and meet the rapidly evolving expectations of modern travelers.

  • Smart room technology: Automated lighting, climate control, and entertainment systems that guests can control through in-room tablets or mobile apps are just the beginning of smart room technology. Smart rooms can also offer keyless entry, allowing guests to access their rooms using their smartphones; voice-activated controls, through which guests can manage room features, request services or get information; personalized welcome experiences that greet guests by name and automatically adjust room settings to their preferences; smart mirrors that display news and weather information; virtual concierge services that provide recommendations, make reservations, and answer queries; and wellness features, such as air purification, circadian lighting, and smart mattresses. These innovations not only provide convenience and comfort for guests, but they also offer opportunities for upselling, cutting energy costs, and improving operational efficiency.
  • AI chatbots: Hotels have begun usingchatbots powered by artificial intelligence to handle routine inquiries and service requests. Chatbots can provide instant responses to common questions about check-in times, amenities, local attractions, and more. They can also assist with room service orders, maintenance requests, and reservation modifications. Automating these interactions can free up staff to focus on more complex duties.
  • Virtual room tours: High-quality online tours give potential guests a detailed and interactive view of room accommodations, as well as event spaces, common areas, and unique features.

20. Get Your Whole Team Onboard

Nearly all staff members are capable of presenting upsell opportunities, with the proper training. Motivate staff with reward programs, such as monetary incentives for upsells or monthly competitions with prizes for the most upsells. Hosting regular upselling meetings to brainstorm staff suggestions can also reveal creative ideas and cultivate greater collaboration.

Drive Financial Performance with NetSuite’s Integrated Solutions

NetSuite’s cloud-based financial management platform, which integrates seamlessly with other business applications, is tailored to meet the unique challenges of the hospitality sector. The NetSuite platform helps hoteliers manage a variety of revenue-boosting processes, including dynamic pricing, personalized marketing, upselling, group bookings, and loyalty programs. With NetSuite for the hotel industry, hoteliers can automate manual processes, access real-time data, eliminate their dependence on spreadsheets, and implement robust revenue management practices. NetSuite’s flexible and scalable platform adapts to the ever-changing preferences of consumers, empowering hoteliers to increase revenue and drive innovation.

Implementing all of these 20 revenue-increasing strategies would no doubt be daunting. But hoteliers are already likely to be using some of them, and, regardless, hotels don’t need to apply all of them at once. Start with those that would be most impactful for your hotel property, then fine tune the approach by testing new ideas and strategies over time.

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Increasing Hotel Revenue FAQs

How do hotels generate maximum revenue?

Hotels generate maximum revenue by optimizing room rates, enhancing occupancy through targeted marketing, upselling additional services, implementing dynamic pricing strategies, and incorporating numerous other, more specific strategies. Using hotel-specific revenue management software and analyzing market trends can help hoteliers make informed decisions that maximize both revenue and profitability.

What is a hotel’s biggest source of revenue?

The biggest source of revenue for most hotels is sales of room accommodations.

How to improve hotel GOP?

To improve gross operating profit (GOP), hotels should focus on increasing revenue while controlling costs. Strategies include optimizing staffing levels, negotiating better rates with suppliers, implementing energy-saving initiatives, and leveraging technology to streamline operations. Offering value-added services and upselling to existing customers can enhance revenue without significantly increasing costs.

How do you increase the revenue of a hotel?

Increasing hotel revenue involves a combination of strategies, including optimizing room pricing through revenue management, enhancing guest experiences to drive repeat business, diversifying revenue streams with additional services, and using targeted marketing to attract new guests. Regularly analyzing performance metrics and adapting strategies based on data can also significantly boost revenue over time.