If you’re looking to boost revenue, upselling is a long-established business practice that shouldn’t be overlooked.
NB: This is an article from IDeaS
To do it well in hospitality, however, requires the successful navigation of several confounding variables and operational challenges. In practice that often means a lot of time spent, missed opportunities, and leaving money on the table.
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Like baking, many elements of revenue management are an exact science that require careful measurement, planning, and execution for it all to come together well.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the benefits that come from approaching automated upselling as a critical piece of your revenue management recipe – and not just a bonus treat.
The upside of automated upselling: 7 ways your hotel can benefit
1. You can take advantage of the time between booking and check-in
Your guests’ appetite for making room upgrade and service purchases fluctuates. What may seem like an outlandish upsell suggestion at the time of booking may sound more appealing as they get closer to check-in. This window provides a natural opportunity to push high value upgrades.
The value of this approach is only magnified with dynamic pricing integration as it generates upsell pricing that is directly responsive to the projected demand for different room inventory. For example, if your inventory of deluxe suites is seeing a lull in demand during the guest’s stay, guests can receive a dynamically discounted upgrade offer that maximizes inventory and profitability.
2. Advance room upgrades can free up high-demand inventory
By getting an optimized room upgrade offer out early, you can free up space to get in-demand lower cost inventory booked. That means you’re not just selling the upgraded room and reaping the benefits of a higher margin purchase—you’re also unlocking an opportunity to get the once-claimed room booked sooner.
3. Cohesive systems build trust in pricing suggestions for front desk staff
Effective automated upselling strategies depend on a seamless integration of data. A front desk staffer armed with static upsell offers and rate discounts may end up making less than ideal decisions from a revenue management perspective. Worse yet, they may be reluctant to even suggest offers if there’s uncertainty about how the price offered compares to the reality of the property’s booking needs.
By having a well-integrated and trusted pricing suggestion provided by G3 RMS, front desk staff know they can propose upsell opportunities with confidence. That helps build and reinforce a revenue-focused culture of smart upselling.
