Modern hotel technology has introduced new forms of guest communication but it also enabled hotels to capture revenue from new sources while better utilizing their in-house offerings. In the post-pandemic era, the latter has an even bigger significance since hotels will focus more on increasing total revenue per available guest.
There are plenty of ways hotels can make extra revenue beyond room night, from promoting personalized offers and value-added services to guests to integration of attractions, activities, and experiences through local partners.
But how do hotels effectively tap into this revenue potential? By using guest-facing technology like automated messaging, video chat, Web applications, digital signage, etc. as a tool to increase sales and maximize ancillary revenue opportunities. Now, let’s go over a few examples of using a guest engagement platform to drive revenue for your hotel.
Use automated messaging for upselling
Sending personalized, timely offers that can enhance your guests’ stay is essential for positively impacting revenue. For example, you can use automated guest messaging to send offers for upgrading their choice of the room directly to your guests’ phones in the days prior to their arrival.
You can introduce your hotel’s messaging solution in the booking confirmation email and take advantage of messaging apps your guests are already using, like Facebook Messenger, to send rich messages for room upgrades with photos that show off the room’s best features.
You can basically use messaging to promote any service that you consider a relevant upsell for a guest, such as a session at the spa, a breakfast buffet, etc. This is a great way for capturing their attention and engaging them through a familiar channel. The guest can then purchase or book a service directly through the chat interface, which streamlines the buying process.
Drive Food & Beverage sales
F&B is an important revenue generator for hotels, however, it is often not utilized effectively. What will make a huge difference in F&B sales going forward is making access to services easier and much more convenient for guests.
For example, the convenience of using a simple web app or a chat interface to make room service orders can help increase the number of guests using that service. The same stands for restaurant reservations or requesting food or beverage while enjoying various different amenities in your hotel (e.g. ordering cocktails by the pool or snack at the bar).
Opportunities to suggest and display items such as wines, appetizers, and dessert will increase the average check by as much as 30%.
By enabling guests to access your F&B menus via a simple Web link on their phone or within a familiar chat interface, you’ll make it easy for them to choose, order, and make instant cashless payments. And since the delivery can be done whenever and wherever your guests will have a more enjoyable experience.
Integrate local partnerships and food delivery
Local partnerships with restaurants and fast foods are a great new way to capture additional revenue. Your guests are already ordering takeout to their room which is an additional cost for you and not a revenue opportunity. Why? Because you have to deliver the food to their room, clean up the room after they consume the meal, and pay to remove the trash associated with takeout orders.
Plus, you probably have a partner who is soliciting and charging these partners to advertise in your in-room compendium, of which you receive some small percentage. This is not a great business model.
In the new digital world you can get rid of the in-room paper compendium because it is now on your guests’ phone. You can allow your partners to update their offering in real time and charge them a delivery fee of, for example, $5 to cover your costs and for the privilege of having direct access to your guests. You can also provide partners with metrics as to how valuable your partnership is as well as guest feedback associated with that particular vendor.
Experiential offerings - this is why we travel today!
Authentic cuisine, museums, hiking excursions, biking, running groups, mountain climbing, river rafting, scuba diving, sightseeing, every hotel has local offerings regardless of whether you are a resort, destination, city center, suburban hotel, Inn or B&B.
Are you generating any revenue from these guest experiences? Your revenue manager needs to be researching all these opportunities. Using the right digital platform you can create a program that enables both your hotel and local vendors to capitalize on this revenue opportunity.
It can be as simple as charging to display the local partner’s offering via your hotel’s digital channels (web app, chat, digital signage, etc.), or a more sophisticated process to allow your guests to make direct reservations. Either is acceptable, doing nothing is unacceptable!
For example, with a platform like avery, you can send relevant local partner offers to guests via SMS, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp or via in-app notifications to get them excited about things they can do in the area. This is a great way to maximize your per-guest revenue without hard selling or losing touch with guests’ needs.
Takeaways
The right hotel technology can help you improve guest experience by offering them relevant products or services via the channel of their choosing. This starts right at the booking process and extends throughout your guests’ stay at your hotel. Generating incremental revenue is directly tied to prioritizing guest convenience and increasing the quality of service you deliver.
By improving the way your guests access, choose, and pay for the services you offer while at the same time pushing only relevant and timely offers, you’ll consistently increase revenue per customer which is especially important during times when you can’t rely solely on increasing your hotel’s occupancy rate.
