Hospitality Revenue Management

Here are 8 hospitality revenue strategies that actually work. Too many brands are still recycling lazy upsells and pretending it is innovation. Charging for Wi-Fi, bottled water, or early check-in is not strategy, it is desperation. The properties that will own the next decade are the ones that flip the script and turn ancillary revenue into experiences worth paying for. 1. Room selection as revenue. Guests want transparency. Show them the exact view, the layout, and the differences in real time. The more you let them see, the more they will spend. Hidden room maps are leaving money on the table. 2. Cancellation freedom. Stop punishing guests for life happening. Clear credit or voucher systems transform resentment into loyalty. Flexible policies drive more bookings and increase long-term revenue. 3. Loyalty on autopilot. Loyalty should be built into every booking, not treated like a side program. Auto-enroll, deliver instant benefits, and make guests feel valued the moment they confirm. This is how you build lifetime customers. 4. Empty space monetization. Lounges, rooftops, and ballrooms sit idle for most of the day. Turn dead space into revenue with co-working options, private dining, pop-up events, or micro-weddings. It is low-cost, high-return, and adds vibrancy to the property. 5. Wellness on demand. Stop limiting wellness to the spa. In-room yoga mats, meditation kits, and recovery tech should be easy upsells. Guests want to feel good everywhere, not just in a treatment room. 6. Personalization paywall. Control is the ultimate luxury. Let guests choose the scent of their room, pre-stock their minibar with what they love, or have their playlists waiting when they walk in. People will pay for experiences that feel like theirs. 7. F&B as content. A restaurant should not just be a dining room, it should be a stage. Offer chef’s tables, cocktail labs, kitchen tours, or immersive tasting menus. Guests spend more when they feel like insiders. 8. Sustainability as value add. Guests are willing to pay to be part of something bigger. Give them the option to fund local initiatives, support carbon offsets, or contribute to visible green upgrades. When done authentically, this builds both revenue and reputation. And let me be clear. The one thing that needs to end immediately is charging for Wi-Fi. It is insulting and outdated. The first hotel brand to step up and say “We have the fastest free Wi-Fi in the world” will not only win guests, they will own the global conversation. That single decision would be worth more than any upsell you are currently clinging to. Hospitality is not broken. It is uninspired. The future belongs to the brands that stop nickel-and-diming and start designing upsells that guests actually celebrate. So the real question is this. Are you building revenue strategies that create loyalty, or fees that create resentment? --- If you like the way I look at the world of hospitality, let’s chat: scott@mrscotteddy.com

Here is the Playbook I'd use to find a balance of DR and Brand if I were to do it again. If you’re looking to find a way to invest in brand in a way that’s accountable to revenue so you can get out of the DR and Discounts race to the bottom, this post is for you. Or, if you're seeing increasing customer acquisition costs with no end in sight and know you need to find a way to invest in the longer term growth of the business, but can't because you're not able to measure the revenue impact, this post is for you. Chubbies' transition from a fast-growing, money-losing, short term revenue obsessed brand to a fast growing, profit generating, short AND LONG term revenue obsessed brand was a multi-year mess, but helped save the company. Based on everything we learned, here's how I might approach it if I were to do it again Hope this helps -- ⚖️The 3-Month Playbook for Balanced Performance Marketing 🏆Goal: Drive as much resilient revenue as short term paid revenue with your paid marketing ✍️Definitions: Resilient Baseline Revenue: - The revenue you have left over when you turn off short term ads and discounts. - Revenue from organic search, direct and organic social referral sources with short term influences removed to get to true base. Paid revenue: Revenue that’s not from resilient baseline or from email / sms 📊Results & Measuring Success 💥 Immediately: Increased quality engagements (shares, saves, comments). 🔍 30 Days: Boost in branded search, organic, and direct traffic 💵 30-90 Days: Increased revenue from organic search and direct, with high revenue per session Part I: Mindset Shift 🤔 Step 1: Rethink ROAS 🚫Increasing ROAS doesn’t drive profit growth 🔻Lower ROAS is the goal 💡Ensure team knows that Part II: Get Your DR Right 📊 Step 2: Optimize Short Term DR 🧐Run short-term incrementality tests. Ensure spend is incremental 🧮Use Marginal CAC to inform where, when and how to allocate spend Part III: Start Small. Start Now. 💸 Step 3: Put Money Behind Existing Top Organic Content ✅Use 5% of budget to boost old posts with high shares, comments and saves ✅5% for conversion-optimized ads from top organic posts ✅5% for engagement optimized ads from top organic posts Part IV: Create Content Machine 🎥 Step 4: Hire Hungry Content Creators Hire 3 creators who are hard-working learners and loyal customers 🎯 Step 5: Define Your Brand's Content Arena Identify your brand’s unique gaps (product, positioning, etc.) and the feeling/moment you want to own 🎬 Step 6: Content Machine ✌️Double your video output every week until you can’t 🛠️Constantly improve concept quality 🔻Constantly decrease cost per content piece Part V: Go From Testing to Balance 📈 Step 7: Test, Measure, and Learn Track results and apply lessons in an objective way 🆙 Step 8: Scale Budgets and Incorporate New Content 🔁Go back to Step 3 and increase budgets 🤗As the Creative Machine makes new content, incorporate it 🌗Get to 30% - 50% of budgets

Hotels must stop relying on outdated F&B models and embrace a diversified, brand-specific approach. By differentiating their F&B offerings, leveraging successful internal concepts, and carefully evaluating external partnerships, hotels can enhance guest experiences, improve operational efficiencies, and ultimately boost profitability. The future of hotel F&B lies in R&D investment, innovation, strategic thinking, and a willingness to break away from the current status quo. By having the right insights from across the business, hotels can improve strategic financial planning, drive profitability, and effectively manage capital and staff resources. This approach will help mitigate revenue leakage, ease complex tasks, and ensure effective staff management based on demand, supply, and market fluctuations. With the right insights and leadership, hotel F&B can reclaim its profit margins and meet the challenges of changing consumer preferences head-on. #HospitalityIndustry #HotelManagement #FoodAndBeverage #F&BInnovation #HotelTrends2024 #EconomicChallenges #GuestExperience #HospitalityInnovation #RevenueManagement #SustainableHospitality #LaborCosts #F&BStrategies #HotelOperations #TechInHospitality #LocalSourcing #HealthAndWellness #Outsourcing #JointVentures #HospitalityTechnology #CustomerExperience #HotelProfitability

What digital marketing channels have the biggest impact on helping quarterly earnings? At NP Digital, we work with a lot of publicly traded companies. And they all want the same thing, more profitable growth. Now marketing isn’t the only thing that impacts quarterly earnings. But we’ve seen some channels help more than others. Here are the ones that we see have the biggest impact in order: 1. Conversion rate optimization – most publicly traded companies are already at scale. So a 10 or 20% increase in conversions can have a massive impact on new revenue. Most publicly traded companies that we have worked with tend to index low when it comes to conversion optimization investments. 2. App store marketing – everyone has phones and companies have apps, but very few publicly traded companies focus on organic app store marketing versus paid app store marketing. It doesn’t mean paid ads are bad, but you can do a lot organically, which can really help move the needle. 3. SEO – most publicly traded companies have good domain authority. But a lot of them mess up on basic SEO fundamentals. Such as not having multiple pages going after the same keyword. Or not updating the content on money pages often enough. Simple fixes can have a quick impact on rankings, especially for sites with high authority. 4. Email marketing – large companies tend to have lists. But they don’t optimize their emails for sales. Yes, sending more emails helps, but the real lift is from sending better-optimized emails. The second big lift comes from scrubbing the email list. If you send emails to people who don’t want your emails anymore it really hurts deliverability for anyone whom you send it to (even the people who want your emails). 5. Paid ads – paid ads are super expensive. The cost really adds up, but it’s because it is effective. The real lift we see isn’t from spending more money, it’s by fine-tuning the campaigns combined with working on the rest of the funnel. Remember, the paid ads just drive people to your site, you still need to convert them by optimizing the landing pages and the rest of the funnel. Now, typically large publicly traded companies are leveraging most marketing channels. If they weren't the list would be different. And works for them, may not work for you. For example, if you don't have volume in visitors and sales, it's hard to do conversion rate optimization.

🚀 Smart Ancillary Revenue: Meeting Guest Needs with Convenience Spotted this high-tech vending machine inside an airport restroom—offering essentials like toiletries, medication, deodorant, and even condoms. Brilliant. A seamless, elegant way to meet urgent customer needs while generating ancillary revenue. 💡 Why does this matter for hotels? Many hotels overlook small, high-margin convenience sales. While minibar snacks and bottled water are standard, why stop there? Hotels can replicate this concept by offering: ✅ On-demand essentials → Travel-size toiletries, painkillers, personal care items. ✅ Wellness-focused options → Sleep aids, skincare, relaxation products. ✅ Tech accessories → Phone chargers, adapters, earbuds. Hotels already have the perfect environment for upselling beyond the room rate—and self-service tech like this vending machine ensures 24/7 availability without extra labor costs. This isn’t just about revenue; it’s about anticipating needs and enhancing the guest experience. If an airport restroom can do it, why aren’t more hotels implementing smart, guest-friendly retail solutions? 💬 What’s the most innovative ancillary sales strategy you’ve seen in hospitality? Let’s discuss! 👇 #Hospitality #AncillaryRevenue #GuestExperience #HotelTech Torres Hospitality Consulting Oaky Global Revenue Forum - Madrid

You don’t need more leads. You need better segmentation. I’ve lost count of how many marketing and business leaders tell me they have a pipeline problem only to find out they actually have a positioning or segmentation problem. More leads ≠ more revenue if your ICP is off, your messaging is generic, or your sales team doesn’t believe in the leads you’re generating. Better segmentation = • Higher win rates • Lower CAC • Better customer success handoffs • Less marketing/sales drama You also get great customer satisfaction abd and an opportunity to build a stronger business too. What to do now? Identify your ICP, their attributes, behaviour, needs and values first - this is so important to your strategy. The answers we need are usually all hiding in your data, your teams heads and your customer interviews yet so many overlook this step. Before you pour more budget into paid, ask: Who exactly are we trying to reach and why with what, how and when? … and are they still the right fit for our growth stage? Then align your internal teams and goals to focus on the best fit customer and segment for your stage. Happy hunting and stay focused! #b2bmarketing #icp #revenuemarketing

If I was running ABM at a fast-growing security company (like Wiz, Snyk, or Netskope), here's how I'd avoid wasting money on bad-fit accounts. 👇 AI Segmentation. Most companies segment by industry. They say something like: "We target Tech, Retail, and Hospitality companies with 1,000+ employees." Motel 6 and Airbnb show why this breaks. Same firmographic profiles. But very different business situations, needs, and priorities when it comes to information security (or any tech purchase). You wouldn't sell to them the same way. AI Segmentation helps you uncover and target the highest value segments for your business, beyond basic industries. Here's how I would do this for a security company: 1.) Segment on business situation (not industry). -- Analyze your best customers (high NRR, high ACV). -- Group by specific situations that align to your value prop. e.g. Security Maturity Level, Security Use Cases, Compliance Sensitivity, etc.  -- Find the *natural* clusters based on value, not generic industry labels. 2.) Identify segments with AI. -- Use Keyplay AI to categorize every account in your market. -- Backtest segments against historical data to find which segments have the highest NDR, ACV, and Win Rates. -- Find new ICPs, outside generic vertical groups. 3.) Action the data -- Create ABM plays at intersections with highest win rates. -- Develop content specific to each segment combination (e.g., "Cloud Security for Advanced DevSecOps Teams in Retail") -- Refine your segmentation models as you grow. This process can reduce non-ICP Spend (waste) by 20-30% and help you find thousands of net new target accounts. Don't just throw your budget at industries. Find the segments where your solution resonates most, where you win often, win fast, and win big. That's strategic segmentation. p.s. If you want me and my team to kick-start this process for you, we're offering a free strategic segmentation analysis to CMOs at SaaS security companies with >$20M ARR. Get your report here --> https://lnkd.in/gMezS4Zk #ABM #ICP

Marketing is a Revenue Generator For too long, marketing has been viewed as a cost center—an expense line item rather than a revenue driver. This outdated perspective limits marketing’s strategic potential and undercuts its ability to deliver measurable business outcomes. In reality, marketing is a revenue generator, a key player in driving sustainable business growth. When properly executed, marketing fuels demand, nurtures leads, increases customer lifetime value, and accelerates sales velocity. Traditionally, marketing focused on brand awareness, advertising, and lead generation without a clear tie to revenue. However, today’s data-driven marketing landscape has transformed the function into a powerful growth engine. With advanced analytics, automation, and attribution modeling, marketers can now directly connect their efforts to revenue outcomes. To fully harness marketing’s revenue potential, organizations must shift their mindset and approach: Align Marketing & Sales Goals: Foster collaboration between marketing and sales teams to create shared revenue targets and ensure seamless lead handoff. Invest in Technology & Automation: Utilize CRM, marketing automation, and AI-driven analytics to enhance targeting, personalization, and efficiency. Prioritize Customer-Centric Strategies: Focus on delivering value, solving customer pain points, and fostering long-term relationships. Measure & Optimize Continuously: Track key performance indicators (KPIs) to evaluate marketing effectiveness and make data-backed adjustments. Emphasize Revenue Attribution: Implement multi-touch attribution models to accurately assess marketing’s contribution to revenue. Marketing is no longer just about awareness—it’s about driving measurable revenue. Companies that recognize marketing as a revenue generator gain a significant competitive advantage, achieving scalable growth and improved profitability. By aligning marketing with business objectives, leveraging data-driven strategies, and focusing on customer value, businesses can turn marketing from a cost center into a powerhouse for revenue generation. It’s time to shift the narrative: Marketing isn’t an expense—it’s an investment in sustainable business growth. #marketing #growth #ROI #revenue #strategy #businessgrowth

Understanding Digital Marketing’s Impact on Your Business Digital marketing is no longer just a ‘nice to have’—it’s a critical component of your overall strategy. Yet, many senior stakeholders often struggle to grasp its full potential, relying instead on vanity metrics like social media likes or website traffic. These metrics might look good in a report, but they don’t necessarily translate into business growth. To truly understand the impact of digital marketing, it’s crucial to link it directly to your company’s strategic goals. How does it drive revenue? How does it contribute to customer acquisition and retention? These are the questions that should be top of mind. Digital marketing isn’t just about external campaigns. It plays a vital role internally by aligning your marketing efforts with your overall business objectives. A well-integrated digital strategy can improve operational efficiency, enhance customer experience, and ultimately boost your bottom line. For instance, consider the value of search engine optimisation. SEO is often misunderstood as merely getting your website to rank higher on Google. In reality, SEO is about ensuring your business is found by those who are actively looking for the solutions you offer. It’s about driving qualified leads that are more likely to convert into paying customers. When done right, SEO can be a significant driver of revenue, yet it’s often undervalued because its results aren’t immediate. As senior stakeholders, it’s essential to shift your focus from vanity metrics to actionable data that ties back to your business goals. This means asking the right questions about how your digital marketing efforts are being measured and how they contribute to long-term success. Remember, effective digital marketing is not a short-term fix but a long-term investment in your company’s future.

It was october 2021, We were preparing our budget and our planned profitability was nowhere near the target. We experienced a trade off between maintaining luxary operations and profitability at same time. We wanted to deliver ……. Then we came up with a plan around these strategies 1️. Focus on Data-Driven Decisions In luxury hospitality, intuition is important—but data is king. - Use past occupancy trends to forecast revenue - Monitor spending patterns of different guest segments - Track high and low seasons to adjust resources When your decisions are backed by numbers, you can optimize every dollar spent. 2️. Invest in What Guests Value Most Guests choose luxury and boutique hotels for unique experiences, not generic amenities. - Allocate budget to enhance personalized service - Invest in distinctive design or local artwork - Partner with local farms or artisanal suppliers for dining Knowing where to splurge—and where to save—makes a difference. 3️. Leverage Technology for Efficiency Digital tools aren’t just for big chains—they’re a game changer for boutique hotels too! - Automate check-in and booking processes to save time - Use data analytics to optimize staffing and inventory - Implement energy-efficient tech to reduce utility costs Efficiencies here create room in your budget for guest-focused enhancements. 4️. Negotiate Smarter with Vendors Luxury doesn’t mean overpaying for supplies and services. - Consolidate orders to get bulk discounts - Build strong relationships with local vendors for exclusive deals - Regularly review contracts to ensure competitive pricing Every penny saved on operations can be reinvested into elevating the guest experience. 5️. Prioritize Preventive Maintenance Nothing is more expensive than neglecting your assets. - Schedule regular inspections for HVAC, plumbing, and tech systems - Proactively maintain luxury furnishings and decor - Avoid costly, last-minute repairs or replacements A well-maintained property is a luxury experience in itself—and protects your reputation. What budgeting techniques have worked for you? Let’s discuss in the comments!