Hoteliers seem to struggle to find ways to increase revenue, but by implementing an upselling strategy that goes beyond the typical freebie offer is sometimes all that is necessary to create a unique guest experience and increase revenue. The first step in implementing an upsell program for your property is to determine the upsell opportunities that best suit your inventory and property operations. After determining the upsell opportunities that are right for your property and operations, you need to get to work training your front desk staff to learn the various upselling tactics to maximize guest experience and revenue. The following upsell ideas are by no means all-encompassing, but they will get you thinking about what upsell offers you may be able to offer your guests. 

Activities:

When collecting guest preference data, be sure to keep a record of their preferred activities. When you do, you can use activities as an upsell offer. For example, if you have planned activities around the property, you can offer these as incentives for guests to boost revenue and increase the guest experience. Activities are great upselling tools because out of town guests seem to jump at the chance to experience all your property has to offer. Activities can be treated as upsell opportunities by reservation specialists, front desk staff, or they also sell well during the online booking process. 

In room extras:

If you’ve ever worked at a property that caters mainly to families, you understand the importance of having cribs and cots available to parents who have been wearily traveling with infants or cranky toddlers. But why stop there? The addition of any in room extras like flowers, chocolates, champagne, or local artisan baskets are a great way to increase revenue without breaking the bank. This option is highly recommended since it doesn’t require any additional inventory from the property itself. In room extras are successfully sold online at the time of booking. 

Packages:

Packages are also a great way to add revenue to your property. When building food, beverage, spa and activities into your packages, you are not only creating a guest experience, but you’re increasing your bottom line. Packages can be sold typically by your sales and marketing team, or they can be successfully sold online at the time of booking. However, packages are not something that your reservation staff is typically going to offer a guest over the phone. 

Room upgrades:

If you’ve ever wanted to create a VIP guest experience without breaking the bank, offering room upgrades is the perfect way to do it. Guests who book a standard room through your online booking engine are likely to take advantage of a higher priced, more luxurious room if offered at a reasonable rate, right? What if they had the ability to bid on a room upgrade? There are multiple ways you could offer room upgrades to your guests, and that’s where a tool called UpsellGuru comes in. UpsellGuru makes it easier than ever to increase your guest experience while increasing your revenue at the same time. roomMaster has recently partnered with UpsellGuru to do just that. If you’re looking for a product that automates your upselling platform, contact our Sales Team to find out how you can get a demo of UpsellGuru today.

Summary:

The art of upselling in the hotel industry is not a new concept, but in order to be successful you need to know what appeals to your guests. While we have covered some great ways to boost your upselling game, consider what your guests are doing while visiting, what they ask for, and what is right for your property’s branding message. Once you have determined what’s right for your property, then put together an upselling strategy to create unforgettable experiences for your guests. 

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InnQuest Software is a leading technology provider for the hospitality industry. For over 25 years, innQuest has combined hotelier experience with innovative technology to deliver an all-in-one solution that empowers hotels to attract guests, drive customer loyalty, and increase profits. Our flagship property management software, roomMaster, helps manage over 5,500 properties across 100 countries. InnQuest develops scalable solutions ranging from a Hotel PMS, Cloud PMS, Channel Manager, Hotel CRM and helps properties enable guests to Book Direct. We believe that everyone deserves a great guest experience, whether they’re staying at a small B&B, a thousand-room resort, or anywhere in between.

Call us today at 1.813.288.4900, or email us at sales@innquest.com. We will be happy to walk you through innQuest’s solutions.