Unpopular opinion: I don’t like baseball. At all. That said, I can’t wait to see the Savannah Bananas in action.
NB: This is an article from LodgIQ, one of our Expert Partners
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If you haven’t heard of this minor league baseball team, they’re famous for breaking all the rules of traditional baseball and succeeding because of it. Their owner, Jesse Cole, built the Bananas around a simple philosophy: don’t do what everyone else does.
Now, what does this have to do with revenue leadership? Plenty.
In the hospitality industry, we love talking about how we’re different: our hotel’s unique story, brand, or experience. But when it comes to setting pricing strategies, many revenue teams still fall into a trap I call “Comparisonitis.” This is the over-reliance on competitor rates to guide decisions at the expense of truly understanding your guests.
The Problem with “Comparisonitis”
It sounds logical: keep a close eye on what your competitors are charging, and adjust accordingly. But is it really the best strategy?
Think about it:
- What if your competitor’s pricing strategy isn’t working?
- What if they raised rates by $50 when they could’ve gone $70 higher and now you’re both leaving money on the table?
- What if your guests would’ve paid more for your unique value, but you undershot by following the crowd?
The truth is, focusing too heavily on competitor benchmarks leaves you vulnerable to their mistakes. Worse, it distracts from what really matters: how your guests behave and respond to your pricing.
It’s time to shift focus. Instead of copying your comp set, focus on your consumers: their buying habits, your historical data, and forward-looking insights from the wider market.
Focus on Your Consumers, Not Your Competitors
Here’s a challenge: When setting pricing, how much are you relying on your guest data versus following the herd?
Many revenue leaders look at their competitor hotels’ published rates and assume they’ve got it right. But what if you could see exactly what your consumers were willing to spend and responding accordingly?
This is where consumer-centric data comes in. Instead of just tracking a handful of hotels in your comp set, forward-thinking leaders analyze:
- Hotel pacing data: How fast are your rooms selling relative to market demand?
- Market-level pacing trends: What does the wider market (not just eight competitors) tell you about demand and pricing elasticity?
- Consumer behavior insights: How are buyers behaving across industries, like airlines, and how can that inform your strategy?
By putting your guests at the center of your decisions, you gain insights that competitors simply can’t offer.
