Think Outside the Guestroom: Innovative Strategies to Drive Hotel Revenue | By Rodney Clough

If your hotel’s top-line revenue is stalling or declining, you should consider ways to increase the other line items.

Real opportunities for boosting revenue may exist outside of occupancy and ADR, and this could be a good time to make big moves to keep your overall revenue growing.

• Capture more food and beverage revenue. The front desk agents could ask guests at check-in about their dinner plans and offer your outlet as a possible option. Keep a restaurant menu at the front desk that the agent can show your guest as an enticement. If dinner isn’t in the mix, how about a pre-dinner cocktail? Agents should provide a cocktail menu to peruse and let the guest know when your bar/lounge opens.
• Check your market pantry/coffee station for more healthy options and market these in your workout facility. Post-workout protein is key to getting the most out of any exercise session, and very few hotels take advantage of this need through their lobby food and beverage options. Moreover, these options are rarely marketed to those working out in hotel gyms or pools. Every hotel fitness room should display a sign informing guests that protein bars and shakes are available at the front desk or food bar post-workout.
• Analyze your resort/amenity fee. As an avid traveler, especially of boutique and resort hotels, I’m not personally a fan of the resort fee. But since this reality is here to stay, a hotel owner or manager should do a biannual review to make sure the fee is on par with the market level. It could be time to raise the resort fee by $3 or $5, and this revenue tends to drop straight to GOP (less any fees paid to the franchisor).
• Check your parking fee. Along the same line as the resort fee, I’m always surprised at the range of parking fees that exist in the same market for the same service and product—a parking space is a parking space, after all. How often do you check your rates against the market level? Now may be the time to adjust your rate upward. Again, this flows easily through to GOP because you are unlikely to add much cost at the same time.
• Offer the upgrade, the early check-in, the late-check-out—and not just through email. Do not just accept what your guest has booked as final, and don't assume that the email ask is enough. Your front desk agents should kindly, without a hard sell, confirm with guests at check-in whether they would be interested in an upgrade or late checkout.

These are just a few opportunities to consider, but more importantly, you should make a regular habit of reflecting on your other revenue sources. Program innovation discussions into your management meetings on a monthly basis, set recurring reminders to review pricing and strategies in these other categories, and talk to other GMs in the market to share ideas. You or someone on your team should shop the competitive properties on a quarterly or biannual basis to keep up with their offerings outside of the guestroom. When someone on your team returns from a vacation, ask them if they experienced anything innovative or exceptional at their vacation spot. Take pride in and have fun with creating revenue in interesting ways, particularly ways that don’t make guests feel like they are being nickel-and-dimed.

At HVS, we turn data into powerful insights that drive your success. For more information about hotel revenue strategies or for help making informed investment decisions that align with your goals and risk tolerance, please contact Rod Clough, MAI, CRE, MRICS.