It takes alignment across sales, marketing, and revenue to ensure your commercial goals are met. With so much in motion, knowing where to focus isn’t always obvious.
NB: This is an article from Lighthouse
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And when everything feels urgent, small decisions can make a big difference.
Here we share eight practical, data-backed strategies that are already being used by top-performing properties. Each one delivers real impact across sales, marketing, and revenue, without adding unnecessary complexity to the day-to-day running of your commercial strategy.
1. Reassess room type premiums to capture missed revenue
Room type pricing is often treated as a set-it-and-forget-it exercise. But even small misalignments between the rates you set and what guests actually pay can quietly chip away at your revenue.
Start with a detailed look at how each room type is performing, not just in terms of occupancy, but in the ADR it’s actually achieving. Compare the expected price differences between room types to what’s coming through in real bookings. If the numbers don’t match, investigate why.
Look closely at:
- Free upgrades: Are these being offered too freely, especially on high-demand dates? If they’re not tracked properly, they can distort your room type ADR and make it harder to assess the true value of your inventory. One way to shift this from lost revenue to captured value is by putting a structured upsell program in place, ideally one that starts pre-arrival. Whether it’s offering suite upgrades or bundling add-ons like early check-in, even small pre-arrival offers can drive incremental revenue when timed and priced well.
- Business mix by room type. Which segments are booking which room types? If negotiated corporate accounts are consistently placed in higher-tier rooms, is the premium being captured or absorbed?
- Static negotiated rates. Should these have access to premium inventory at all? In many cases, restricting them to standard room types can protect your margins.
Next, benchmark your room type premiums against your comp set using Rate Insight. Pay close attention to day-of-week variation. Leisure and transient guests often book differently on weekends compared to weekdays. Also consider seasonality when reviewing your competitive positioning.
Finally, question the structure of your premiums. Are they consistent across the year? Are there times when you could increase the gap or narrow it to boost conversion? The goal isn’t to standardize everything but to be deliberate and informed in how you price each room type.
