LODGING LEADERS
234 | More for the Money: Upselling generates significant revenue gains for hotels
LODGING LEADERS
Though average daily rate in U.S. hotels continues to grow year over year, hotel operators are not so eager to increase room prices these days.
STR and Oxford Economics forecast ADR will increase by 1.9 percent this year and 2.2 percent in 2020.
While an increase is usually viewed as a positive, the joy is muted in the hotel industry. STR noted in August that inflation coupled with increasing room supply are outpacing the rise in hotel revenue.
Hotel operators are experiencing what STR calls “an absence of pricing confidence.”
So, you don’t want to increase your room rate but you need to make more money.
How do you do that? You upsell. You offer additional products and services to guests who have already booked at your property.
Think you do not have anything to offer besides a clean room and free breakfast? Think again. Generating extra revenue by upselling is possible no matter the location, type and size of your hotel.
In today’s episode Lodging Leaders talks to experts in upselling in the hospitality industry.
You’ll hear from Geoffrey Toffetti, president and chief marketing officer of Frontline Performance Group, and Jason Bryant, founder and CEO of Nor1.
They talk about the art and science of selling upgrades and when to engage the guest with offers. And they give tips on ways to increase incremental revenue that goes straight to your bottom line.
LODGING LEADERS
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317 | Together Again: U.S. hotel industry begins to see return of small meetings
Ginny Morrison of Evanston, Illinois, is a 33-year veteran of Spire Hospitality, a hotel management company with a portfolio that spans coast-to-coast. As vice president of sales and marketing, Morrison saw the coronavirus pandemic decimate the meetings business. More than a year later, she’s witnessing a comeback as small-meeting planners are actively booking events for the last half of 2021 and beyond. As public health agencies expand COVID-19 vaccination programs across the U.S. and states ease up on public-gathering restrictions designed to keep the virus at bay, the hotel industry is seeing small meetings begin a comeback. In Episode 317, Long Live Lodging covers the state of the small-meetings sector and how hotels can grab their share of the meetings business during and post-pandemic. This report is part of our ongoing coverage about the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on the hospitality industry.
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316 | Pandemic Trailblazer: Hunter Hotel Investment Conference leads lodging industry’s 2021 event circuit
The Hunter Hotel Investment Conference will be the industry’s first large event to be held during the coronavirus pandemic. The Atlanta event will be a hybrid format of in-person and virtual access, also an industry first. Lee Hunter, chairman of the conference, knows the level of expectation is high among other conference planners as well as industry professionals eager to network after more than a yearlong hiatus. Episode 316 of Lodging Leaders podcast features Hunter as he tells what it takes to re-launch the industry’s conference circuit amid the COVID-19 outbreak.