New fees for guest bookings can help generate revenue for the hotel while offering assurances and options to guests who have special requests.
Surely hotel revenue managers are doing everything they can think of to drive rate and minimize distribution costs via traditional methods. But there are other ways in which your hotel might be able to generate additional revenue streams.
Of course, not all of these ideas are feasible for all hotels. Some ideas work better for resorts, which typically charge advance deposits and which tend to have more restrictive cancellation policies, while others might be more applicable at hotels.
‘Confirming’ room location requests
Despite how well hotels try to segment their inventory, most find that there are multiple subsets of rooms lumped into one rate/room-type category.
For example, a “deluxe” category might or might not have a certain view or specific location. Most hotel reservations agents will tell callers that they “will make a note of your request, but it is not guaranteed,” and then go on to hard-block the requested room.
Instead, consider allowing your voice agents to “confirm” the request for an additional add-on fee above the rate.
‘Confirming’ bed type
While some hotels do segment bed type, others include a mix of kings and doubles in one rate/room category. As in the above example, most reservations agents tell callers they will “request” the bedding preference.
Instead, consider allowing them to charge a fee to “confirm” it and then to hard-block the room.
Early arrival and late departure
While most hotels have a check-in time somewhere around 4 p.m., some guests arrive super early. It is one thing if the guest wants to check in at 3 p.m. instead of 4 p.m. But if a guest is coming off of a red-eye flight, or if a resort guest wants to spend all of their first day enjoying the activities, they might be willing to pay an additional fee to “confirm” this in advance.
