If you’ve worked in a hotel for more than five minutes, you’ve probably seen the awkward standoff between Sales and Revenue. Sales wants to close deals. Revenue wants to protect rate.
NB: This is an article from Topline Revenue, one of our Expert Partners
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Both teams want the hotel to succeed, but too often they’re playing on different scoreboards.
The truth is, most of the tension comes down to conversations that never happen. Sales doesn’t share what’s really in the pipeline. Revenue doesn’t explain the “why” behind tough pricing calls. And so the cycle continues: Sales grumbles about “Revenue saying no to everything,” while Revenue mutters about “Sales giving away the house.”
Here’s where they misalign and what they should be talking about if they actually want to win as a team.
The Disconnect – Sales vs. Revenue Management
At its core, the conflict is simple:
- Sales chases volume. They’re measured on contracts signed, rooms filled, revenue booked. If they’re behind on targets, they’ll happily push through a big group at a discount just to get numbers on the board.
- Revenue chases value. Their metrics are ADR, RevPAR, and RGI. They’re tasked with maximizing the yield on every available room. To them, a cut-rate deal looks like a hole in the bucket.
Neither is wrong – but when they’re not aligned, the hotel ends up with lopsided results. Think: a full house on Saturday night at bargain-basement rates, or empty rooms midweek because Sales didn’t know that’s when Revenue really needed volume.
Add in the fact that they’re often siloed (Sales out pitching clients, Revenue buried in spreadsheets), and you’ve got two teams that rarely sit down to compare notes. The result? Mixed messages, missed opportunities, and plenty of internal eye-rolling.
What They Should Be Talking About
Let’s cut to the chase. Here are the conversations that need to happen – regularly.
Forecasts and Need Periods
Revenue managers live and breathe forecasts. They know which months will sell out and which weeks will sit empty. Sales, meanwhile, knows what business is coming down the pipeline – the big group lead, the corporate RFP, the repeat client likely to rebook.
When those two views aren’t shared, the strategy is half-blind. Sales wastes time chasing groups in peak season (where demand is already strong), while Revenue overestimates pace because they don’t know a deal is about to close.
Fix it: Bring Sales into the revenue meeting. Show them the forecast, highlight the need periods, and let them steer business toward the gaps. At the same time, Sales needs to be transparent about the pipeline. When both sides know the map, the hotel stops stumbling around in the dark.
