Automated upselling – also referred to as “autopilot upselling” is changing the hotel operations landscape.
NB: This is an article from UpsellGuru
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Just like you allow a revenue management solution to make the best decision for the hotel on pricing, room type selling strategy, and many more. Great upselling technologies provide the same capabilities. Hoteliers can benefit from a technology-enabled toolbox to help them scale and personalize upsell opportunities, enabling their staff to focus on creating a memorable experience for guests while maximizing revenue and profit. With no manual effort required, autopilot upselling empowers hotels to add value to the guest journey with personalized and relevant offers and decide on how to best price them, according to demand influencers and real-time product availability, and whether to accept or decline upsell offers.
Let’s explore how autopilot upselling operates throughout a guest’s journey and how it can capitalize on guest satisfaction and your bottom line.
Pre-Arrival: A Time For Anticipatory & Relevant Offers
The guest journey starts long before a guest reaches the hotel and pre-arrival is an important touchpoint to create a first impression. Using booking data to establish a profile of the guest, autopilot upselling tools will deliver well-considered and relevant offers to help guests create their ideal experience before even arriving at your property. Pre-arrival is also one of the best times to sell a room upgrade, an early check-in, or tailor-made add-ons so that guests can get started on their stay with ease and anticipation.
The autopilot system tracks customer data and offers room upgrades to guests based on availability and guest profiles. For instance, a family traveling with kids can be offered an upgrade to a bigger suite while a business traveler could get an offer for an executive room that includes workspace. They come in advance of a guest’s check-in, so guests can plan for the upgrade and arrive reassured of a more personalized stay.
Targeted Offers for Guest Types: Pre-arrival offers can also include extras that speak to the travel profile of each guest type. For example, families may receive offers for kids’ room configurations or tickets to area attractions while couples may be treated to dining packages or spa deals. Segmenting offers with guest interests means hotels are making a personalized and convenient experience for guests long before they arrive.
Best Use of Revenue Opportunities: An automated upselling system should leverage on-the-spot data to update available offers dynamically based on hotel occupancy and demand patterns. The system might prioritize premium room upgrades for the nights that have high occupancy, to maximize occupancy as well as revenue. As a result of this dynamic targeting, hotels can ensure that they are not leaving money. Because it is instantaneously making decisions, reviewing them later if the data does not support an immediate result, and all of this happens without team members having to do anything!
