Travel wholesalers are B2B companies that purchase hotel room inventory in bulk at a discounted rate and sell it to OTAs, travel agents, tour operators, airlines, and other travel or accommodation sellers.

Also known as bed banks, wholesalers are a ‘middleman’ sitting between travel agents and travel suppliers (in this case your hotel). They will never sell your rooms directly to travellers.

Every wholesaler will have a unique price for operators to participate in their programs and often different wholesalers will sell in different ways. For instance, some may sell rooms only while others will deal in packages. Some are even limited to specific property types or markets.

Despite being a polarising entity within the industry, the new narrative around wholesalers could be one of opportunity for your business. Let’s take a closer look.

Why are hotel wholesalers important to discuss?

Hotel wholesalers can be a vital part of your hotel’s distribution strategy, when used strategically. They offer opportunities to access a more diverse and unique range of guests. An optimal hotel distribution strategy always includes a healthy mix of direct and third-party bookings, with a broad variety of potential revenue streams. 

Wholesalers do bring up a lot of debate however, and have been a point of contention in the hotel industry due to the potential frustrating drawbacks for property and revenue managers. It got to the point where hoteliers were extremely cautious about engaging them.

But when COVID-19 happened, it emphasised the need for diversification and tech-led business strategies.It also accelerated the need for agility, with the motivations, behaviours, and preferences of travellers shifting indefinitely.

With diversification so high on the agenda again, wholesalers represent a door being reopened.

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Should your hotel consider using a bed bank?

For some hotels, such as large groups and chains, bed banks can be extremely useful if they have a beneficial agreement and appropriate distribution technology in place.

Current advice for hoteliers within the industry includes: 

• To start considering niche demographics and guest profiles 
• Double-down on improving distribution networks
• Create an online presence that expands booking potential

Alongside this, the prevailing view emerging after the pandemic is that wholesalers are adopting more responsible practices, with greater transparency and less fragmenting of purchased rates.

A market trend towards last-minute bookings also means hotels need to be more flexible in how they fill their beds, allowing bed banks like Hotelbeds to take a more granular approach to their partnerships.

This, coupled with the ability to manage negotiated rates dynamically with hotel commerce platforms like SiteMinder, makes wholesalers a very real proposition for hoteliers looking to optimise their business.

A leading travel news outlet reported that rooms sold through bed banks by hotels will surpass $50 billion going forward, now that the wholesale marketplace is being cleaned up with the help of advanced technology solutions.

Noting that the pandemic created a customer base that favours last-minute travel reservations, there’s a pressing need for hoteliers to abandon manual B2B distribution business if they want to keep up.

Coupled with this is the traveller protection that comes with booking packaged holidays, increasing bookings via traditional channels sales and making wholesalers an attractive proposition once again.

Pros and cons of hotel room wholesalers

While hotel room wholesalers are certainly a valid distribution method to consider, there are still a number of pros and cons your hotel should weigh up before proceeding.

Let’s take a look.

Pros of hotel room wholesalers

• With wholesalers selling to online travel agents and retail agents, no stone is left unturned in the mission to get your property in front of as many eyes as possible.
• Many wholesalers specialise in providing access to a wide range of markets that you could never reach directly, and working with them becomes almost a free form of marketing for your property.
• The benefit of being able to more accurately forecast occupancy patterns when you have a contract with a wholesaler, and you can be certain to always generate a specific volume of business and be paid in advance.

Cons of hotel room wholesalers

• Even if wholesalers have the best intentions, there’s not much they can do to control what OTAs or other parties do once the product has been sold on. 
• By demanding low net rates (or high commissions) wholesalers drive down profitability
• Wholesaler pricing can be static for long periods of time, limiting hotel profitability
• Multiple contracts between hotel and wholesaler, and wholesaler and other distributors – results in rate disparity
• Rates expected to be packaged sometimes end up ‘unbundled’ and sold at a heavily discounted rate, undercutting the hotel.

List of travel wholesalers

A list of common travel wholesalers or bed banks you might see includes:

• Hotelbeds
• Bedswithease
• Bonotel
• GRNconnect
• Abreu Online
• HPro Travel (HotelsPro)
• Jumbo Tours
• Tourism Exchange
• Travco
• WebBeds

However there is no shortage of wholesalers available to hoteliers, with 100+ connected via SiteMinder’s integration alone.

Who are the largest hotel wholesalers?

HPro Travel, formerly HotelsPro, claims to work with one million hotels, making it the biggest hotel wholesaler in the market. It also boasts that these properties span across 70,000 destinations, 15,000 cities, and 205 countries.

Hotelbeds is another large bed bank, operating across 185 countries and a range of property types including hotels, resorts, boutiques, hostels, apartments, villas, B&Bs, and more.

A third ‘giant’ would be WebBeds, which is said to have almost 400,000 connected hotels in 14,000 destinations, and works closely with both independent hotels and hotel chains.

How to manage wholesale agreements at your hotel

Some best practices you can take in managing your wholesale agreements include:

1. Plan, research and trial

It’s important you know what you want to achieve since each wholesaler may have different strengths or be attuned to different markets and types of guests. Once you have a plan, choose some likely partners and undertake a trial period if you can to see if a long term agreement will be worthwhile.

2. Manage constantly

To avoid difficult parity violations, such as when you drastically change your rates, it’s important to treat wholesalers as true distribution partners and constantly manage the agreement.

3. Analyse regularly

If you can identify when and where contract violations occur, you can better decide what changes need to be made to your agreements in the future or if you want to remain in the relationship.

4. Seek similar minds

If your philosophy as a hotelier is based strongly on the hospitality side of things and serving people the best experience, you should try to find partners who have the same idea. As we know, some parties are more interested in securing sales than taking care of people, so choose carefully when entering into wholesale agreements.

5. Be on the front foot

Dynamic rate agreements will go a long way to reducing disparity and give you more control. So you should narrow down your list of wholesale partners who are willing to agree to your terms. It’s vital that you can adjust rates according to supply and demand across all your distribution strategies.

If you have the resources to dedicate entirely to managing wholesale agreements, like an IHG for example, then it’s certainly beneficial to do so. If not, then seek and share as much information as possible. Hoteliers can learn a lot through lived experiences and from their peers. The industry is huge and the hotel community can usually overcome challenges through collaboration and smart partnerships.

For PPHE Hotel Group, a hospitality real estate company operating the Park Plaza and art’otel brands across Europe, this is certainly true – its laser focus on responsiveness currently proving invaluable. As markets spring to life, and PPHE’s award-winning hotels and restaurants are filled to capacity in one region, another can simultaneously be experiencing speed bumps, making the need to be adaptive essential.

Catering to both the leisure and business segments, PPHE’s distribution team has turned to SiteMinder Multi-Property, which enables its hotels to load, manage and distribute their rates centrally, to help them work smarter in the current climate.Michelle Steyn, the Director of Distribution, Reservations and Customer Service at PPHE Hotel Group, provides an insight into the core issues her team was looking to solve for, and the results so far.

“We definitely knew we needed to be more nimble, and with SiteMinder Multi-Property, a task like loading multiple rate plans has become much easier,” she explained.

“To provide a tangible example, we recently rolled out a new channel, Trip.com, for 11 hotels across three regions. Where previously it would have taken two team members four to five days to complete this task, one person finalised the set up within just two.”

For Michelle and her team, this additional speed to market can be the difference between activating a new channel and gaining exposure to a range of new guests ​​– or not.

“We work in a hyper fast-paced industry, and sometimes opted against rolling out new rate plans and channels in the past, simply due to the amount of time it took to set them up for multiple properties. We feel confident that, with SiteMinder Multi-Property, a lot of that time and effort has been taken away.”

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As well as the efficiencies that working across multiple, always-changing markets demands, support and reliability were two other concerns for Michelle, particularly as planning ramps up for the European summer.

“While the health checks function allows us to see any issues under one tab, when we do need more help, the SiteMinder team is always very responsive and knowledgeable,” she said.  “As the first hotel company to go live with the Opera Xchange Interface, there was close collaboration with the development team in Sydney, and our system enhancement requests were always taken on board and implemented.”

“The team understood our needs, and tweaked the interface to optimise performance accordingly. The reliability of SiteMinder Multi-Property is also important to us. The technology is solid and stable and we very rarely experience any channel outages.”

With summer fast approaching at the time of writing, PPHE Hotel Group is only expecting an increase in commercial gains as it grows with SiteMinder.

Minor Hotels has made being adaptable part of its DNA. The sometimes more, sometimes less approach of the 530-strong hotel group makes it ready for change at any moment, and the company expects the same of its technology partners. SiteMinder’s latest response has been Multi-Property.

In 2019, Thailand-headquartered Minor Hotels ranked as one of the 25 largest hotel companies in the world. It’s an achievement earned over many years of focus and being adept at navigating uncharted territories. And, this approach has served Minor well in recent months, aided by the chain’s long-standing partnership with SiteMinder which is built on an adaptable, flexible approach that puts hotel users first.

Kannaphon (Big) Phienlumleart, Director of Distribution, says:

“What we look for in platforms is flexibility, which allows us to ‘do central’ when we need, ‘do individual’ when we need, do reports individually but centrally, do the setup ourselves sometimes, and then other times let our hotels do it. That flexibility means, no matter the time or place, we can react. That represents who we are as a company.”

Minor and SiteMinder have worked together since 2013 but the launch of SiteMinder Multi-Property has helped the hotel chain centralise functions at a crucial time.

Rating the technology

SiteMinder Multi-Property removes complexity for revenue teams and boosts efficiency, by enabling hotel groups and chains to manage and distribute their rates centrally.

Marcos Cadena, Vice President Digital Marketing, Distribution, CRM, Loyalty, Partnerships & Head of Data Privacy at Minor Hotels, says the technology enables the chain to set up policy and control mechanisms centrally from Thailand, providing it with “a single way of auditing the properties”.

He adds that this is a huge time-saver for the company, estimating that the group would have to dedicate the time of 10 more people—which would mean a hit to the bottom line—if it weren’t for the technology.

He also highlights the slick user experience of Multi-Property, making it easy to train new team members and bring them on board.

“One thing we have always liked about SiteMinder is that the user experience of the product has always been really good. Sometimes we prefer that to price because we have realised that if the user experience is not good, people will stop using the product, regardless of how cheap or expensive it is.”

Big emphasises how good a fit the technology is for the mostly decentralised company, which is turning to Multi-Property on a daily basis.

“Daily tasks are carried out by our individual hotels but it’s good from the corporate perspective to be able to launch promotions for every hotel at the same time. It means we can centralise some functions from the corporate office if we want to. And, this only adds to our ability to adapt.”

Big also stresses the importance of the health check within Multi-Property, which allows his team to see the status of each channel connection, for each property, at any given time.

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Supporting growth

Minor plans to open 17 properties this year and both Marcos and Big feel Multi-Property will be a key solution, as the chain expands, in setting up new hotels quickly as well as training new staff. Speed-to-market with new properties in the portfolio saves Minor from having to hire more people and all the related costs.

Marcos stresses that Minor is “all about driving performance”.

“Without the technology that we’re working with today, I don’t think we would be able to maintain the profit margins we are aiming for. We are a commercial and P&L-driven operation, 100%. So, cost is the first thing that we will always look at and if a tool is not helping us to drive that bottom line for us and our owners, then we will not work with it.”

He adds that the time-saving element is also key when resources are scant, especially in the current environment. As proof of the company’s continuous efficiency drive, Marcos points to Big’s three teams in Thailand which handle 80 hotels in total.

“With little manning, we’re able to manage so much from one single place. So, that is proof of the efficiency of SiteMinder’s platform.

“Anywhere we can minimise cost and improve our capacity, to deliver to our hotels at the lowest cost possible, is an incredible win for us. Right now, knowing that the whole environment has changed and we have reduced staff, this is a great time for us to do a lot of things that we couldn’t do before. It’s almost like SiteMinder’s new functionality fell perfectly on time. While the market is shifting, it will help us to keep on going.”

Marcos also recognises the importance of innovation in the hospitality industry with small, incremental improvements often far more beneficial than “big step” innovations in adding to a property’s productivity and profitability.

Collaborative gains

Finally, Multi-Property is not only expected to boost the bottom line but also get Minor’s teams working together even more closely.

Both Big and Marcos expect to see more collaboration between marketing, distribution and revenue management through the implementation of the technology as well as benefits for hotel owners.

Tighter knit teams will bring additional value, while, as Marcos points out, owners will see immediate gains from rates and promotions pushed out centrally, more regularly and in an accurate and timely manner.

Significant time and efficiency gains are critical to the bottom line of any hotel. TFE Hotels is one such example, and the Australia-based hotel chain anticipates it will achieve these through implementing SiteMinder Multi-Property.

Until very recently, TFE Hotels, which has earned a reputation as the “developers’ hotelier”, had two revenue team members loading rates for its 60-strong portfolio of hotels. However, SiteMinder Multi-Property has alleviated some of their workload by removing some of the complexity.

SiteMinder Multi-Property enables hotel groups and chains to load, manage and distribute their rates centrally.

Amanda Hoolihan, Director of Revenue NT, QLD, SA, TAS, VIC, WA & NZ at TFE Hotels, acknowledges how time-consuming the task of loading rates is and says the ability to be able to do it all in one go, for all hotels in the portfolio, will make a huge difference.

She calculates the saving in days.

“It used to take my team a good week to load everything that was needed to roll out a company-wide promotion. SiteMinder has saved us about two days, each time. We generally do three to four campaigns a year that are network-wide, but at the moment we’re doing things a little bit differently and doing more. So, already, SiteMinder is saving my team around 16 days of work each year, which is incredible.”

Automation wins

Amanda feels that SiteMinder’s technology generally allows TFE Hotels’ revenue team to take more control of their time, which is a huge advantage for the hotel group.

“SiteMinder gives us the ability to do things ourselves. It’s particularly important during periods when people are unavailable, and you need a job done fast.”

An agile system is key for an agile team. Amanda says the ability to make decisions and act swiftly is crucial.

“The value needs to be there. Our technology must enable us to move quickly.”

She is also optimistic that the technology will grow with the company. As TFE Hotels continues to recover from the challenges of the pandemic, it will need to be more dynamic with its rates, reacting as the market changes. SiteMinder Multi-Property is helping to ensure that rooms and rates can be accurately configured in the system now, ready for when business ramps up.

Indeed, TFE Hotels has opened 11 new properties in the past 12 months and has several more in the pipeline, including nine in Europe, scheduled to open over the next 12 months.

“From an expansion as well as a consolidation perspective, the assistance from SiteMinder is certainly a time-saver.”

With 170 locations across Australasia, the hotel brand is one of many around the world that has been manually updating various systems to create a coherent rate management and distribution strategy.

For years, Quest’s team in head office has been unable to react to market fluctuations as swiftly as they would have liked.

Enter SiteMinder Multi-Property, which removes complexity and boosts efficiency by enabling hotel groups and chains to centralise the management of their rates and distribution.

Efficiency gains

In short, Multi-Property allows revenue managers and hotel teams to enter rate plans once and have the details disseminated across all locations within the group, providing a consistent rate and distribution approach.

The solution also provides hotel teams with a wealth of insight on rates and distribution partners, which improves decision-making. A simple health check makes it possible to continuously monitor the status of data flows and connections.

And, crucially the system is designed in a user-friendly way, making it easy for hotel groups and chains, which are experiencing either growth or restructures, to onboard new users and hotels quickly. The design simplicity also means they can dip in and out of the system while simultaneously carrying out other tasks.

The efficiency gains reaped for Quest as a result of implementing the technology have been significant, with the chain calculating a time-saving of 160 hours to put a new rate strategy in place.

This type of work has now been reduced to about five minutes.

It is therefore little surprise that, for Quest, the development of Multi-Property is being viewed as an exciting evolution of its long-standing partnership with SiteMinder.

Mark Tierney, Chief Revenue & Distribution Officer for Quest, says the Multi-Property technology makes commercial sense for the brand franchise for many different reasons.

“The platform will help my team be more strategic, allowing us to analyse the data that’s coming through and make informed decisions swiftly, freeing up time for more critical work.”

Mark envisages Quest relying increasingly on the solution – going from using it on an ad-hoc basis to daily across the brand’s 170-strong portfolio.

“Scaling the SiteMinder product across the network will be the next evolution for us and we are incredibly excited about the opportunity it represents.”

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Growth strategy

In addition, the technology helps Quest position itself for growth.

The company is recruiting franchisees to run new Quest properties and the Multi-Property tool fits neatly into that strategy.

Mark acknowledges the lofty administration requirements on franchisees currently in place for effective distribution management, compounded with general operations, and says the Multi-Property technology has a huge role to play in alleviating some of that work.

“SiteMinder has allowed us to remove some of the administration toll for our franchisees and to centralise distribution with a smaller team of experts, which is now able to manage 170 properties efficiently. By taking on some of the workload for our franchisees, it has freed up time which can be better spent on other business functions and the guest experience.”

Mark adds that each franchisee is fundamentally a small business working in a dynamic and fast-paced environment, and SiteMinder’s technology can make a significant difference by delivering a consistent product to sell rooms. He also believes Multi-Property will help attract new franchisees, as the platform supports Quest’s structured, centralised approach to business overall.

Going forward, another advantage of the technology is the speed-to-market at which new campaigns can be delivered. The ability to respond at pace is particularly important as the travel industry recovers from the pandemic, and Quest is now confident it will be able to deliver more tactical campaigns as a result of the technology.

Distribution goals

Quest had already planned to diversify its distribution mix and Mark says SiteMinder has been pivotal in helping to achieve those goals.

“SiteMinder has removed much of the complexity that comes with distribution. Our role is to support and educate the franchise network. By taking back all of that administrative component from our franchisees, the conversation can instead be about what the product is going to deliver for them, and how those results can be continually maximised. We then use the system to be able to get to market quickly.”

Future proof

Quest has used the challenges of the past year to analyse its business, observing what works well and what to improve on moving forward.

The company feels that with SiteMinder as a technology partner, it is able to distribute in different markets quickly and efficiently. This, it feels, will remain key going forward as it looks at how it can improve the guest journey and capitalise on direct bookings to its website.

“Our brand website recently had its best month ever and we’re very encouraged by that, because we’re delivering bookings to our network with no cost.

“Separately, we’re about to move across to SiteMinder’s new API, which has been a big investment on their part and it’s that speed-to-market that’s going to be crucial for us. Consumers don’t see all the work behind the scenes, they just get frustrated when sites don’t load quickly. We know there’s a huge technical component to providing a smooth guest experience online and SiteMinder has met that.”

Amenities come in all shapes, sizes and functions. The form the amenities at your hotel take will depend on what demographics you target, what your guests are asking for, your budget, and competition within the local market.

This blog will take you through everything you need to know about managing amenities at your hotel and using them to improve the guest experience.

Why are hotel amenities so important?

Hotel amenities can make or break the stay for a guest, and can be the reason they leave positive feedback or even choose to book in the first place.

Your amenities can be what sets you apart from competition, and how you can provide a memorable experience.

With this in mind, it’s vital to make the right choices around what amenities you install in your rooms or around your property. What will you charge? What will you class as an add-on, extra, or perk? What amenities should be free essentials?

Two things to remember are:

• That an amenity can be something as simple as a microwave or as big as a gym
• Don’t overestimate the importance guests place on fancy or gimmicky amenities

This second point should be emphasised. The majority of guests will nominate cleanliness as their number one requirement when staying in a hotel room. Even years prior to COVID-19, some studies found 97% of guests considered cleanliness the most important factor. No amount of fancy, convenient, or luxurious amenities will make them look the other way if they’re dissatisfied with the quality of their room. Another related factor is that guests today see a feature like Wi-Fi as a given, not something they should pay for or sign up to a loyalty program to access.

Always make it a priority to match the amenities you offer to the travellers you are targeting or expect to visit your hotel. If you provide guests with everything they want, their perception will be that they’ve had the perfect stay, resulting in better reviews, higher demand, and a chance to raise your rates.

Hotel amenities ideas for your property

The amenities at your hotel should always reflect your brand and your guest segments, but of course there’s lots of flexibility within this framework.

Think about what your hotel stands for. Is it renowned for:

• Quality on a budget?
• Comfort and convenience for business guests?
• Boutique luxury?
• Family friendly?
• A unique tourist attraction itself?

List out the defining qualities of your property and make sure your amenities align with them. This will ensure the guests you want to attract will be more likely to book and provide positive reviews. At the end of the day, you want to give your guests the perfect experience, and that begins with winning the right ones over. There may be nothing wrong with anything you do, but will a family care about heated bathroom floors if there are no parenting facilities? Setting expectations and marketing effectively is a crucial first step to your hotel amenities being a successful feature of your property.

Here are some general ideas (big and small) for amenities at your hotel:

• Exercise facilities for guests who like to stay active while travelling. If you’re not a hotel who can provide a gym space, maybe you could still offer exercise equipment such as weights or resistance bands in guest rooms.
• Whitegoods such as a microwave or refrigerator. If guests go out to dinner or go shopping they may have food and supplies they want to reheat or store safely in their room. This isn’t fancy but it’s super convenient.
• Various appliances such as hair dryers, hair straighteners, irons and ironing boards, and a surplus of charging outlets. Perhaps you also have phone chargers or toothbrushes available on request for those forgetful guests who packed in a rush. Again, not fancy but a convenience guests will really appreciate.
• Spas, pools, saunas, and bars – afterall, most guests are excited to relax and unwind while at the hotel. Being able to sit back and enjoy their time will have them in a great frame of mind.
• Creating packages with choice: To really give guests what they desire, offer them a shopping cart experience when booking. E.g let them upgrade to a room with a balcony, choose what floor their room is on, what they specifically want stocked in their mini-bar or fridge, choice of pillow and mattress firmness etc
• Surprise and delight guests with novel touches. Try to partner with a local retailer and give guests a product in their room. This might be a pair of running shoes to go exploring in, hats and beach towels, or a backpack.

Keep in mind that post-COVID guests will want to have health promoting, calming, experiences.

Need help setting up offers and upsells? Visit the hotel app store to see who can help.

It’s also a good idea to give guests plenty of information about your amenities beforehand so they know what they’re paying for. Provide guests with great photographs of amenities, facilities and each room type, as well as an explanation of their features. Online bookers love slideshows and image galleries.

It’s important you are clear about your location; don’t just provide an address as not all guests know the area. Let guests know where you’re located in proximity to shopping districts, tourist destinations and other points of interest.

Luxury and high end hotel amenities examples

Luxury guests clearly come with their own set of expectations but just like any travellers they want to know their spend was worth it. They’re paying good money and expect to be wowed and pampered during their stay.

They are probably less independent and hands-on than some guests so the basics a family or budget traveller will love are considered sub-par by a luxury traveller. They’ll expect your staff to attend to every need. On the other hand luxury can mean different things to different people. Some guests may simply appreciate an extreme sense of comfort and timeliness, others will want ultimate decadence, and others will favour personalisation above all.

An example of small but powerful touches that can add to the luxury experience is done by Viceroy Riviera Maya in Mexico, which sends a soap concierge to each villa so guests can handpick the organic, fragrant soap they’ll use in their room.

Some other ideas include:

• Room purification to ensure guests with allergies feel comfortable
• A taste of local flavour or history – leave something in your guests room that gives them an exclusive piece of the local community to savour or take an interest in.
• Replacing the mini-bar with a cocktail bar
• Handwritten notes and handcrafted goods will stand out in a world now dominated by online interactions
• Organise private or VIP shopping experiences with local vendors
• Put a tablet in every room for room service, make it as easy as possible for guests to make requests

Remember that choice is always a luxury and it doesn’t have to cost your hotel a whole lot to instil a sense of luxury.

Cool and creative hotel amenities to try

It always helps your hotel amenities to stand out if you can think outside the box and do things a little different to your competitors – if it makes sense of course!

The easiest to do this sometime is to take advantage of where your hotel is located.

For instance:

• If the community is well known for brewing or distilling, provide tasting samples in your guest rooms with discount vouchers for guests who want to go visit the local businesses.
• If there are a lot of art museums around, give guests their own canvases and paint supplies setup near a window so they can try their hand at being creative.
• If there are popular music or performing venues around, put a different instrument in guest rooms to give guests a unique experience.

It can also be a great idea to tie your amenities together into different experiences across your hotel. An example of this are the rooftop beehives at the Towers of Waldorf. Small groups can explore the beehives and the hotel also uses the honey in their three-course lunch.

Other ideas that might impress guests are blackout curtains allowing them to make the room pitch dark at any time, sound proofing measures so any outside noise is eliminated, and the ability to control remotely all of their room functions such as bed height, lights, heating etc.

Need a better way to sell your packages, extras, and drive direct bookings? Try an online booking engine.

List of hotel amenities and services: From simple to sophisticated

Looking for a brain dump of amenities that you can pick and choose from to choose at your hotel?

• Check out the list below for inspiration that can apply to all types of travellers and all hotel budgets, from big to small.
• Mobile check-in
• Tools such as ironing boards, hair dryers, hair curlers, hangars, charging ports
• Complimentary coffee and water in the room
• Desks and workspaces
• Kitchen features such as microwave, fridge, blender
• Spa and pool services
• Free airport shuttle and transport services
• Flexible check-in and check-out
• Full range of quality toiletries
• Complimentary luggage storage before and after check-in/out
• Pet friendly facilities
• Hands-on cooking, art/craft, or exercise classes
• Communal spaces for meetings and social gatherings
• In-house gyms and restaurants
• Bikes and scooters to go exploring with
• Locally sourced items and produce
• Playgrounds and games rooms for children

You can always explore more specific ideas in the blog sections above too!

How your hotel facilities and features affect pricing

Your hotel amenities are there to enrich the guest experience and entice more bookings, but they can also directly result in more revenue for your property and impact the way you price your rooms or packages.

The way you approach it is your choice but you can charge more for in-room extras such as extra entertainment on the TV, upgraded toiletries, robes and towels, items like dryers, irons, kettles etc. Other premium offers you might charge for include priority parking, pool use, or fitness facilities. You might factor these into the room rate, put them into packages, or offer them as optional extras for purchase.

Your competitors are also a huge factor. You can price competitively by knowing what you can offer that your competitors can’t! If you’re the only hotel in town with a pool or restaurant for example, that’s an easy and natural win in terms of increasing your rates.

Hotel amenities: Key Takeaways (TL;DR)

• Your amenities can be what sets you apart from competition, and how you can provide an experience that sticks in the minds of guests
• No amount of fancy, convenient, or luxurious amenities will make them look the other way if they’re dissatisfied with the quality of their room
• List out the defining qualities of your property and make sure your amenities align with them
• You want to give your guests the perfect experience, and that begins with winning the right ones over
• Give guests plenty of information about your amenities beforehand
• Luxury can mean different things to different people
• Remember that choice is always a luxury and it doesn’t have to cost your hotel a whole lot to instil a sense of luxury
• Tie your amenities together into different experiences across your hotel
• There are amenities that will suit all types of travellers and hotel budgets
• You can price competitively by knowing what you can offer that your competitors can’t

Hotel sales is the practice of selling hotel rooms and services to guests. Generally, hotels have dedicated sales teams that focus on implementing tactics to improve hotel room sales and boost revenue.

Whether it’s peak season or off-season, one of the main goals of a hotel should be to develop and execute room selling techniques designed to increase profitability.

Let’s delve into how you can achieve this.

Why is hotel sales important?

The primary reason why hotel room sales is important is because it drives revenue. Increased revenue allows you to deliver the service guests expect and propels your hotel towards future growth. Before you can offer additional packages, excursions, and luxury upgrades, you need to master the art of selling rooms.

Another reason to prioritise hotel room sales is to create the atmosphere guests expect. A nearly empty hotel can be off-putting to guests. By selling as many rooms as possible, you provide a lively, charismatic environment that enhances their stay.

While providing a comfortable stay is a key goal for any hotel manager or operator, it’s essential to remember that you’re running a business. This means you need to sell hotel rooms. Your hotel sales strategies should balance your commitment to the guest experience with the necessity of booking as many rooms as possible at any given time.

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History and development of hotel sales management

The history and development of hotel sales management is a fascinating journey that reflects the evolution of the hospitality industry itself. It’s a story of adaptation and innovation, driven by technological advancements, changing consumer behaviours, and the dynamic nature of the global travel and tourism industry.

Early Days: Personal Relationships and Word-of-Mouth

In the early days of the hospitality industry, hotel sales management was primarily based on personal relationships and word-of-mouth referrals. Hoteliers would build relationships with travel agents, tour operators, and corporate travel managers to drive bookings. Word-of-mouth recommendations from satisfied guests were also a crucial source of new business.

The Rise of Global Distribution Systems (GDS)

The 1960s and 1970s saw the advent of Global Distribution Systems (GDS), computerised networks that enabled travel agencies and travel management companies to access hotel inventories and services in real-time. This marked a significant shift in hotel sales management, as it allowed hotels to reach a global audience and significantly increased the efficiency of the booking process.

The Internet Revolution

The rise of the internet in the 1990s and early 2000s brought about another major shift in hotel sales management. With the advent of online travel agencies (OTAs) like Expedia and Booking.com, hotels were able to reach an even wider audience. However, this also led to increased competition and put downward pressure on room rates.

Direct Bookings and the Rise of Metasearch

In response to the growing power of OTAs, many hotels began focusing on driving direct bookings through their own websites. This led to the development of sophisticated booking engines and the rise of metasearch sites like Kayak and Trivago, which aggregate rates from various booking sites, including the hotels’ own websites.

Data-Driven Sales Management

The latest trend in hotel sales management is the use of data analytics to drive decision-making. With the help of advanced data analysis tools, hoteliers can now make more informed decisions about pricing, distribution, and marketing. This allows them to optimise their sales strategies, maximise revenue, and better meet the needs of their guests.

What is a sales funnel?

A sales funnel is a visual representation of the journey potential guests take; from discovering your hotel, to becoming loyal customers. Put simply, it outlines how leads move through various stages before making a booking and, ideally, returning as repeat customers. Understanding the sales funnel definition is essential for hotel operators and marketers because it gives structure to your sales process. It helps you pinpoint where guests lose interest, where they hesitate, and how you can guide them towards finalizing their booking and turning them into loyal customers. 

For hotels, the sales funnel is about meeting travellers at every stage of their decision-making journey. By offering the right information, incentives and experiences, you can move them closer to booking. Mastering your hotel’s sales funnel improves conversion rates, increases revenue, and strengthens guest connections.

Sales funnel stages & why it’s important

Every traveller moves through similar steps before they decide to book. Understanding these stages helps you refine your messaging and marketing tactics, guiding you through continuous sales funnel optimization to ultimately maximize your revenue. 

1. Awareness

In this first stage, potential guests discover your hotel. They may have searched for accommodation, seen your property on an OTA, or come across your social media. This is where first impressions matter. Great photos, clear descriptions and positive reviews spark curiosity.

2. Interest

Once aware, guests start to weigh up their options. They will compare your hotel to others based on location, amenities, reviews and price. This is when your website, blog, and social channels should answer their questions and highlight what makes you different.

3. Desire

Now the guest is seriously considering your property. They might sign up for your emails, explore your packages or read guest stories. At this stage, emotional connection becomes important. Show them the experiences they could enjoy and create a sense of urgency with limited-time offers or exclusive perks.

4. Action

This is where interest turns into commitment. The guest is now ready to book, so the process must be easy and inviting. Complicated forms or slow websites could cause hesitation, so you need to ensure that booking is straightforward. You can also consider adding a small incentive such as a free drink or flexible check-in to further entice potential guests.

5. Loyalty

The funnel doesn’t end at booking. Once the guest has stayed, it is time to encourage repeat visits. Follow-up emails, loyalty programmes and thoughtful offers can turn one-time guests into long-term supporters. They may return again or recommend you to others.

Sales funnel example

Imagine a guest planning a family holiday. They begin with a Google search for “family-friendly hotels in Queenstown”. This is the awareness stage. They visit your website and explore your family suites and kids’ activities, moving into the interest stage.

They sign up to your newsletter and receive a special school holiday package. Now they feel connected and reach the desire stage.

They book directly on your website after seeing your best price guarantee, which marks the action stage.

After their stay, you send a thank you email with a 10% return discount and invite them to join your loyalty programme. This completes the journey at the loyalty stage, where they are more likely to come back or refer friends.

Top 13 strategies on how to improve hotel sales

Every hotelier needs to implement sales strategies that work best for their own target market as well as for their local destination.

Ultimately, it is up to the hotel operator or manager to create a customised hotel sales strategy that will drive the most room sales at their own individual property, but here are 13 of the best hotel room sales strategies to consider:

1. Group hotel sales strategy

This strategy may require an overhaul of your normal marketing and sales approach. The idea is to sell rooms and meeting spaces to corporate groups; it’s important you can offer a deal for both.

Landing these types of sales requires innovation but it can be very beneficial for repeat business if you do. The most cost-effective way to secure group bookings is by connecting directly to planners.

You can list your property on venue marketplaces where planners can view floor plans, photos, and unique differentiators. It’s also important to segment your target audience, so you can make compelling offers to the right kind of groups for your property.

2. Direct hotel sales strategy

With this sales strategy, the priority is to earn direct bookings online from as many guests as possible. Direct bookings are the most beneficial booking for hotel operators because these bookings generate the most revenue.

There are no agents or other distribution partners that must be paid a commission when a guest books directly online.

In order to implement a direct booking strategy, hotel managers should invest in an online booking system that syncs with their existing website and property management system. Hotel operators should also prioritise their social media strategy when focusing on increasing direct bookings.

3. Destination marketing sales strategy

This type of sales strategy requires a hotel operator to work with other tourism business professionals in their destination to promote the region as a whole.

Through a destination marketing campaign, local businesses team up to target the most powerful inbound tourism markets and drive more traffic to the general area.

4. Cross-promotional hotel sales strategy

With this sales strategy, hotel managers need to identify and evaluate various large events that will be taking place in the local region throughout the calendar year.

Then, the hotel operator needs to come up with a promotion that can coincide with the event, ultimately allowing them to earn an influx of bookings that they may not otherwise have had.

Opportunities that are ideal for a cross-promotional sales strategy include an upcoming industry conference, a concert or a major sporting event.

5. Loyalty program and guest rewards sales strategy

Many travellers today, particularly the powerful millennial generation, value the opportunity to earn rewards with the companies that they do business with. Hotels, in particular, have great success with rewards programs.

In a guest rewards sales strategy, the manager or operator should develop a system that rewards guests for staying frequently, for purchasing upgrades, and for referring friends and family members.

A rewards sales strategy often generates repeat bookings, which are particularly lucrative for hotel operators.

6. Revenue management sales strategy

This type of sales strategy aims to maximise the number of rooms booked at any point in the year, regardless of the typical travel traffic at that particular point in time.

Typically, a revenue management plan requires hotel operators to drop room rates during the low season in order to encourage bookings, while raising rates during high traffic times.

During these moments, guests are going to be willing to pay higher rates to get a room, so it’s worthwhile raising rates to generate more revenue per available room.

7. OTA optimisation

Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) such as Booking.com, Expedia, and Agoda are powerful platforms that can significantly increase your hotel’s visibility and reach a global audience. However, to maximise the benefits of OTAs, it’s crucial to optimise your listings. This includes providing high-quality photos, detailed and engaging descriptions, and up-to-date information about your hotel’s amenities and services. Additionally, managing your rates and availability effectively can help improve your ranking on OTA search results, making your hotel more visible to potential guests. 

Remember, while OTAs do charge a commission, they can drive a significant volume of bookings, making them an important part of a balanced hotel sales strategy.

8. Leverage online reviews 

A positive online reputation can significantly boost your hotel’s bookings and revenue. Encourage your guests to leave reviews on popular platforms like TripAdvisor, Google, and OTAs. Respond to reviews in a timely and professional manner, showing appreciation for positive feedback and addressing any issues raised in negative reviews. This not only helps improve your hotel’s online reputation but also demonstrates your commitment to guest satisfaction.

Additionally, showcasing positive reviews on your website can help drive direct bookings. Remember, a strong online reputation is a powerful sales tool in the hotel industry.

9. Upselling hotel sales strategy

Upselling is the process of selling a more expensive version of the service or product your customer is buying. The methods you use to upsell need to be handled with a degree of delicacy.

The timing, tone, and regularity with which you upsell is the key to the success of your efforts. You don’t want to seem pushy, so treat it as an exercise in awareness rather than a sales pitch. Make sure guests know what options are available to them but let them initiate any further interest.

10. Re-marketing

Re-marketing allows you to reach out to potential guests who have visited your site without finalising their booking. Many travellers will visit a variety of different websites to explore their options during the research phase of their online booking journey.

With re-marketing strategies, you can access these customers again at different points during their online booking experience and remind them to visit your site again to book with you.

11. Incentives or cross-selling hotel sales strategy

Cross-selling is the process of selling an additional, supplementary product or service to complement the product or service your customer is buying.

Offering incentives in the form of additional products or services may just be the thing that gets your guest to confirm a booking. Think added-value items like a free massage, or a local tour.

12. Build local partnerships

Unless your hotel is located in a remote or isolated destination, there should be plenty of other businesses and attractions you can form a mutually beneficial partnership with.

Co-promoting with restaurants, speciality shops like ski hire, adventure companies, theme parks, or museums can help lead to easy and effective marketing.

And these kinds of partnerships can work no matter how the guest is planning their trip – be it to book accommodation first, or create their itinerary before looking for a hotel.

13. Make booking easy on your website

The importance of a good website experience for travellers can’t be overstated. Nothing will drain their excitement quicker than a slow, confusing, or convoluted website.

Make sure yours is clean, intuitive, mobile-friendly, and has clear action buttons such as ‘book now’ for potential guests to click. When direct bookings are so valuable, your website has to be a priority.

“We used to have to block a few rooms in the busy season to make sure that there were no double bookings. Thanks to SiteMinder, I can sell every last room without worrying about this because it automatically rejects new bookings once the rooms are sold out.”

Tini Diekmann,

Sales and Revenue Manager

Hotel Oderberger Berlin

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Hotel sales and marketing

Sales and marketing go hand in hand – sales must be enabled by good marketing to be effective. By basic principle, you shouldn’t market anything that sales can’t deliver, or you’ll risk negative customer feedback. There are so many avenues to market and sell your hotel through that, if you do it right, bookings should never be a problem.

In the hotel industry, marketing depends on how you make travellers aware of your property and your sales tactics will be how you get them to book a stay at your property.

Your marketing should largely revolve around:

• Spreading a brand message
• Adopting a unique voice
• Making contact with your key target markets
• Being active on social media to build an audience
• Having an email marketing strategy
• Utilising a search engine optimisation strategy
• Being mobile friendly

Things that can really help drive sales include:

• Videos
• Amazing visual advertisements
• Well-crafted copy
• Celebrated feedback
• User-generated content (driven by great experiences)
• Value-rich offers
• Unique selling points

You have a lot of freedom with sales, and it can be exciting. Essentially, you get to tell your potential guest how great your property is and how much fun they’ll have enjoying your hospitality.

Selling your hotel rooms should be all about creating energy and building anticipation in the traveller – they need to believe not staying at your hotel would be a missed opportunity to help make their trip perfect.

Hotel marketing sales funnel strategy

A hotel marketing sales funnel strategy brings focus to how you turn curious travellers into loyal guests. By mapping out each stage of the guest journey, from awareness to booking and beyond, you can create targeted campaigns that meet their needs at the right moment. This means more effective marketing and better conversion rates. Using tools like sales funnel software makes this process easier to manage, helping you guide potential guests from discovery to reservation.

When to use a hotel sales funnel software

When your marketing and sales efforts start to scale, or when you want to improve efficiency and consistency, sales funnel software become essential. It helps automate tasks like lead tracking, email nurturing and follow-ups, giving you more visibility into where each potential guest sits in the funnel. This not only saves time, but also increases the chances of turning lookers into bookers.

Features in a sales funnel software

A strong sales funnel software for hotels should offer features that help streamline the path from interest to booking:

• Lead capture tools that gather guest enquiries from your website, social media and campaigns
  
• Automated email sequences to nurture guests through their decision-making process
  
• Visual pipeline management to track where every potential guest is in the funnel
  
• Integration with booking engines and CRM systems to keep data centralised
  
• Reporting and analytics to measure performance and identify opportunities to improve conversions

Hotel sales ideas to get started

It’s never a good move to put all your eggs in one basket in any situation. Selling your hotel is no exception. You need to have a lot of ideas so when something isn’t working you can shift your focus.

Different selling methods will apply to different markets and demographics – you certainly would not sell in the same way to a family as you would to a couple. The good news is that there are hotel sales ideas to cover all bases.

Take a look at this list to kick-start your thinking:

• Let people take virtual tours of your hotel
• Use fresh, interesting, content to answer travellers’ questions
• Keep your website updated with local events
• Have conversations with followers on social media
• Link with local businesses to create lucrative partnerships
• Let guests sell more for you with reviews and user generated content
• Go behind the scenes to humanise your brand
• Connect with influencers

Trying something new is always worthwhile; if it doesn’t work you haven’t lost anything and it just might be what you need to provide a boost to your hotel sales.

10 easy tips to boost hotel sales

Creative hotel sales ideas

There’s no right or wrong idea before you’ve seen the results. Getting creative means you have to experiment and take actions you haven’t taken before. Take a look at traditional methods and think about how you can step outside of the box. 

For instance, selling guests in the local area is very common and very logical. But what if you went further and gave guests even more reason to explore and enjoy their surroundings – just as Palomar San Diego did way back in 2012.

Their initiative was a scavenger hunt competition that sent guests and locals on a city wide adventure via a social networking app called ‘Scavenger Hunt with Friends.’ The idea was to #livelikealocal. 

This could have been a complete failure but in reality it generated plenty of coverage for the hotel and added a fresh sense of fun for travellers, while effectively giving them a guided tour of the city.

There are plenty of ways you can subvert traditional sales offers, simply by taking what already exists and thinking one step beyond it or shifting the ingredients to create something travellers haven’t heard or seen before.

Promotional hotel sales strategies

Promotions are great because you can be very flexible and targeted with what you offer, and often they’ll grab the attention of travellers searching online. 

This is where it can actually be useful to steer into what guests might expect, such as promotions around seasons, themes, events, direct bookings, or partnerships.

1. Seasonal promotions

Most destinations experience a low season, where tourism is not as active as other parts of the year. However, with the right deals your hotel doesn’t have to suffer through empty rooms and hallways.

Try to incorporate discounts with eye-catching promotions like ‘Summer Getaways’ and ‘Winter Retreats’ and remind travellers how beautiful your destination is and how much they can see when there are less crowds.

2. Themed promotions

These will be attention-grabbing and very relevant for travellers looking into booking a stay in the area.

For example you might offer promotions around honeymoons or anniversaries if you’re in a romantic locale, adventure deals if you’re out of the major cities, or ultimate relaxation experiences if you’re a coastal hotel. Appealing to different lifestyles or family setups is always a good idea.

3. Event-based promotions

It makes a lot of sense to capitalise on events and include them in your promotions. People will already be researching these events so if your hotel has a deal in conjunction with them, awareness of your hotel should increase along with site traffic.

These events might include music or art festivals, Easter or Christmas events, circuses, travelling markets, sporting events etc. With a booking you might offer discounted tickets, adapt the hotel experience to match the events, create special rates.

4. Direct booking promotions

Placing exclusive promotions within your booking engine on your website will give travellers an incentive to book directly instead of via an OTA. It will also help establish your hotel website as your most important distribution channel and help increase profit by eliminating OTA commission fees.

The incentive might be a discount, or it might also be an added extra such as a bottle of wine, restaurant voucher, or amenity gift cards.

5. Partnership promotions

Combining with other businesses will reduce the cost of promotion and marketing, and give you wider coverage, as long as your partner holds up their end of the bargain. It may also give you access to a new market and create ongoing business.

Common partnerships include those with theme parks, restaurants, cinemas, museums, sporting arenas, adventure, and tour guides. 

It’s one thing to create your promotions, but remember you need people to see them. Always advertise on your social media channels and ensure your search engine optimisation is strong

6. Mobile-only promotions

Year-on-year, nearly every statistic points to an upsurge of mobile usage on hotel, travel, and booking websites, with projected numbers even more prominent.

As quick as online booking overtook more traditional and outdated methods, mobile is starting to usurp desktop. Implementing smart and effective mobile strategies will boost customer experience and keep your hotel competitive within an industry that never stops innovating. 

First things first, you’ll need a mobile-optimised website which will attract traffic and remain as user-friendly as a desktop browser. Secondly, your booking engine requires the capability to run promotions with restricted rates to mobile-only, while keeping a painless two-step booking process.

Packaged hotel room sales ideas

Hotel packages are a staple of any marketing and hotel sales strategy, and also something guests will expect to have offered to them.

The impact these packages have on driving extra bookings or boosting revenue will depend on three key factors:

• What you sell
• How you sell it
• When you sell it

Guests won’t purchase a package just because you tell them it’s a great deal. You need to offer them value for money and something that will excite or interest them personally.

Packages can apply to both leisure and business travellers as a pleasure and convenience respectively, and your hotel can only benefit from selling packages as guests who purchase packages are less likely to cancel their booking.

Ideally you want a package that will please every guest but at the same time, if you have too many it will dilute the impact. Three great packages are better than 10 mediocre ones.

Here are five tips when creating your hotel packages:

1. Use other businesses to enrich your packages

Combining your services with that of another tourist attraction in the area is a surefire way to add value to your packages. It also gives you a lot of flexibility on what you can offer guests. Tickets to zoos, tours, theme parks, museums are always popular as are restaurant vouchers.

Even concerts or one-off events can be leveraged as short-term packages. This way you can cater for many different guests, those interested in adventure and those more excited by shopping or fine dining.

2. Promote one-stop shopping

Savvy travellers will look at your packages and wonder exactly what kind of deal they’re getting. Unless you and your business partner agree to offer discounted prices, it’s likely the combined price of a room and a tour package will be similar to the components purchased separately.

This is why you need to advertise the convenience and quality of what you’re offering, rather than spiking the cost.

3. Be creative with your choices

Guests might become rather bored if they see yet another ‘romance’ package. Try incorporating more interesting content into your packages and their names.

For instance, a ‘bucket list’ package might include a selection of passes or discounts to the absolute must-sees of the local area. This will be an attractive option for guests because it’s likely they are already interested in visiting those landmarks.

For business travellers, always focus on convenience such as a package delivering breakfast to their room, free dry cleaning, and transport services.

4. Use your own property to add value

While most packages include a room and some type of external activity, you can make your packages even more enticing by adding your own service to the mix such as spa-treatments or a bar tab.

Guests will want to experience your amenities and they’ll be more likely to pay to do so if it’s included in a package.

5. Cater for specialty markets

Never ignore families. Often it’s the children you’re appealing to most because parents will be looking for activities that will occupy the kids. The same principle applies if you’re a pet-friendly hotel.

You must also consider guests with disabilities and people with specific occupations that you can give personalised packages to.

Don’t forget to promote any new packages you create, be they long-term or one-off. Use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and your email to drum up business. Send any information along to your local tourism office so they can do the same.

Another thing to consider is what you want to achieve with your packages. Sometimes they can create a lot of brand awareness, even if they don’t attract much business directly. For example, I read about this strange offer from a hotel in California.

To the average traveller, you and your competitors will often appear very similar. That’s why you need to present an offer that tips the balance and convinces an undecided traveller that yours is the best hotel for them. Package deals and extras are an easy, but extremely effective way of doing this, providing you take the right approach. 

Hotel sales action plan

A successful sales strategy starts with effective distribution. To maximise bookings, hotel operators need to build strong networks with key industry players. These include retail travel agents, visitor information centres, local businesses, online travel agents (OTAs) and destination marketing organisations.

However, distribution isn’t something you set and forget. It is a dynamic process that requires regular attention. Guest preferences, booking habits and market conditions change constantly, so hoteliers must stay proactive and look for new opportunities to reach guests through trusted partners and emerging channels.

Equally important is your ability to manage room availability across all distribution partners in real time. This is where a channel manager becomes essential. By connecting your property management system to every booking channel, a channel manager helps keep accurate availability and pricing everywhere your rooms are sold. This reduces the risk of double bookings, helps capture last-minute reservations, and allows you to maximise occupancy at every opportunity.

An effective distribution strategy plays a critical role within your broader hotel sales funnel. It ensures that when potential guests reach the action stage, your rooms are ready and easy to book. To make this process even more efficient and drive more direct bookings, hotel sales funnel software can help streamline guest journeys and boost conversions.

Hotel sales tools

Your hotel sales tools include anything that enables you to bring a guest into your hotel. This might mean your social media accounts, your email marketing campaigns, the phone on your front desk, guest feedback, or back-end hotel technology solutions.

Though when you think of tools as objects or functional pieces of software you might consider these to help inform your sales strategy:

• Social networks
• Analytics tools such as Google
• Survey tools
• Online travel agents
• Property management tools
• Booking engines
• Channel managers
• Website builders
• Dynamic Pricing tools

Identifying and using the right tools will depend on your property and the guests you want to attract but for the most part all properties need the same tools. The difference comes in how you use them.

Data is extremely important so using tools that can give you detailed reporting functions is a great step to take. With enough data at your disposal, you can make informed decisions about how you sell, gaining an edge over any competitors who are following a ‘cookie-cutter’ approach.

Obviously you need to be smart about how you use the budget at your hotel and look for tools which will make life easier while helping deliver more revenue to the business.

Hotel sales software

When you think of sales software in a hotel context, it’s better to think of distribution software. Three key pieces of technology that could help you are a channel manager, online booking engine, and website builder.

While they may not be strictly thought of as sales software, they are the key to driving sales and revenue in the hotel industry.

1. Channel manager

This is one of your greatest allies when distributing your rooms because it’s a tool that manages all the different online travel agents (OTAs) you sell your rooms through, such as Booking.com, Expedia or Airbnb.

The main operating principle is called “pooled inventory” which means updates to rates and availability are made automatically across all connected channels whenever and wherever a booking is made.

Enabling a more effective way to promote your rooms will naturally create an increase in sales. Read our guide on channel managers to learn more.

2. Booking engine

An online booking engine has become essential, especially with the rise of social media. Creating a friction-less experience for guests when they book directly will boost your conversion and improve your sales results. Read our guide on booking engines to learn more.

3. Website builder

This takes away the need for you to hire a web designer. Instead you can use this software to create a beautiful, search engine optimised, guest converting website in minutes.

You simply have to provide your content and choose from a number of available templates. Your website is a major selling point for travellers – winning them over with an amazing first impression is imperative.

With the right technology in place, you will be able to easily and effectively implement your hotel room sales strategies. To learn more about these hotel sales tools and to find out if they are the right choice for your hotel property, check out how they work in a video demo.

“We used to have to block a few rooms in the busy season to make sure that there were no double bookings. Thanks to SiteMinder, I can sell every last room without worrying about this because it automatically rejects new bookings once the rooms are sold out.”

Tini Diekmann,

Sales and Revenue Manager

Hotel Oderberger Berlin

Read more

Advantages of hotel sales strategies

When you sell hotel rooms, you do more than just get another guest in the door of your property. You are able to improve your hotel business in its entirety.

Here are a few of the benefits that you will realise when you employ hotel room sales strategies that are designed to increase hotel room sales:

Generate more revenue consistently throughout the year

An effective hotel sales strategy allows you to earn as much revenue as possible, regardless of the seasonal ebbs and flows of the tourism industry.

Make improvements to your property

As you begin to earn more revenue from your bookings, you can make improvements that will generate buzz about your brand and continue to sell more rooms.

Move beyond standard sales strategies

Once your sales steadily increase, you can begin to expand your offerings. Romance packages, adventure packages and luxury upgrades allow you to sell more rooms while also boosting the revenue you earn per booking.

Transient business travellers are guests who are predominantly on-the-move and seek short (and often urgent!) hotel stays, like business people who travel during the week. Corporate transient travel occurs when a person travels interstate or internationally to represent their place of work.

Such guests are usually not looking for anything more than a basic service: a clean and comfortable room for the night, and a nice breakfast in the morning. Normally, rooms with a bath/shower, telephone and TV usually suffice (i.e. rather than suites etc.) for customers, with some overnight-staying guests possibly wishing to take advantage of some available in-house hotel services, such as laundry and pressing.

With companies of all types becoming increasingly globally connected, most industries engage in some sort of business travel. The industries that spend the most on transient travel include:

• Food processing and services
• Real estate
• Professional and business services
• Personal and social services
• Transportation services
• Government
• Wholesale trade
• Construction
• Rubber and plastic manufacturing
• Communication services

Reasons for trips are often to attend a conference, speak at a summit, discuss deals with partners, inspect a worksite, foster relationships, or establish new business opportunities.

Depending on the size of the company the transient traveller will either book their transport and accommodation themselves, usually via online travel agents and hotel/travel websites – and organise their own itinerary – or their company will do so on their behalf through travel agents and global distribution systems.

It’s very common for business travellers to travel back to many of the same destinations each year or multiple times during the year.

The frequency, duration, and expenditure of these corporate trips – as well as the behaviour displayed by the guest – will be impacted by the particular industry, gender, age, and personal preference of the transient traveller.

Why travel safety is important to business travellers

There are few travellers that don’t care about safety along their trip, and even fewer transient business travellers that don’t prioritise their own wellbeing. While ensuring that guests feel safe during their stay with you may seem like a no-brainer, there are even more benefits to ensuring this kind of atmosphere for securing business travellers.

For business travellers, safety is not just a preference, it’s a necessity. Travelling for work can be stressful, and concerns about personal safety can significantly add to this stress. Ensuring a safe environment is essential for their mental and physical well-being.

Not only that, but when safety concerns are alleviated, business travellers can focus better on their work commitments. Safe environments foster a sense of security, enabling them to concentrate on meetings and work tasks without distraction. 

Furthermore, companies have a duty of care to ensure the safety of their employees while travelling. This extends to choosing accommodations that are known for their stringent safety standards. 

Employee safety is crucial, but so is the safety of any equipment and/or data that the employee brings with them. Theft, accidental damage, or loss of a company laptop, for example, is a fast (and unfortunately common) way to turn a business trip into a disaster.

Lastly, but importantly, in the wake of the pandemic, safety has taken on a new dimension, encompassing not just physical security but also health safety. Hotels that adapt to these changing needs, by implementing rigorous cleanliness protocols and health safety measures, will be more appealing to the health-conscious business traveller.

Appeal to business guests around the globe with SiteMinder

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What do business travellers want in a hotel?

While every business traveller is different, there are consistent themes that practically anyone travelling on business will be looking for in a hotel.

Convenient location

Business travellers prioritise location above all. They seek hotels that are strategically located near business districts, airports, or conference centres. A convenient location saves time and reduces travel-related stress, a key consideration for those on tight schedules.

Flexible booking

Flexibility is crucial for business travellers whose plans may change at the last minute. They appreciate hotels offering flexible booking policies, including easy cancellations and modifications. 

Efficient check in process

Time is of the essence for business travellers. An efficient check-in process, preferably with options for online check-in, is a significant advantage. This streamlined service not only saves time but also enhances the overall guest experience.

Business amenities 

Essential business amenities, such as high-speed internet, work desks in rooms, meeting facilities, and business centres, are non-negotiable. Hotels equipped with these facilities can greatly increase their appeal to business travellers. 

Personalisation

Personalised experiences make business travellers feel valued. This can range from customised room settings to tailored services like preferred newspaper delivery or wake-up call timings. The key here is to use in-depth data analytics and potentially even artificial intelligence to inform who wants what, when, and in what format.

How to attract business travellers

Your audience is unique and will be appealed to in a unique way, but every hotel can benefit from applying some (or all!) of the below tips to appeal to business travellers:

Tip 1: Understand what business travellers want during their hotel stay

While leisure travellers may be looking for luxury, business travellers are more focused on convenience and efficiency.

To attract business travellers to your property, make sure you offer the amenities that they desire.

• Business travellers spend more than 16 hours per day connected to WiFi Internet, according to Leonardo, and they expect it to be available at hotels. If they have to pay extra for it, they will, because they need it to complete their work.

• They’ll probably have more than one device that they’re working with. Make sure there are at least four plug outlets in each room, situated near the bed and desk areas.

• An iron and ironing board would be useful for those who need to look sharp before rushing off to meetings.

• Many business travellers don’t want to give up their fitness routines while travelling. If your hotel has a fitness centre, then that’s a definite plus.

Tip 2: Create a pricing strategy aimed at business travellers

To create a pricing strategy aimed at business travellers, you’ll need to identify them first.

So use your property management system’s customer data to segment your guest database. Then, take note of any trends you notice – like length of stay (LOS), lead time, and booking channel.

When you combine those trends with your seasonal pricing changes, you’ll be able to develop a pricing strategy that pushes the needle. 

As a general rule of thumb, business travellers are not as sensitive to rate changes and pricing because their companies are compensating for their travel.

Tip 3: Create a loyalty program aimed at business travellers

Business travellers are looking for loyalty programs that provide them with useful rewards.

For example, you might create a rewards program for your brand that allows them to collect points to earn free rooms, free upgrades, or luxury amenities during their stay. This type of program works particularly well for large hotel brands that have locations in metropolitan areas around the globe.

Business travellers also find multi-level rewards programs to be appealing. For example, once they spend a certain amount with your particular hotel brand, they can advance to the first level.

However, they can continue to work toward earning a more elite status within your hotel, in turn reaping better rewards along the way.

Tip 4: Remember other time zones

For international business travellers, dealing with different time zones is a frequent challenge. Providing a 24/7 customer service desk and ensuring easy connectivity for international calls and video conferencing can be a significant draw. The same can be said for providing real-time information services about local events, weather and transportations, perhaps through a dedicated app or in-room technology. 

And for maximum points, you can invest in multilingual staff or offering translated version of key documentation (such as food service menus). Your website can also reflect this, assuming your website builder has the ability to easily localise and switch languages based on the location of the person viewing it.

Tip 5: Develop business-specific packages

Business travellers are, as you know, quite different from leisure travellers (with some overlap). But many of the same things that draw leisure travellers will also draw business travellers, including customised business-oriented packages.

These packages could include transportation services, such as airport transfers, meeting room access, and specific meal plans. Custom packages not only provide convenience but also offer a sense of value and personalisation, which are key factors in building loyalty among business travellers.

Plus, the reality is that many business travellers have to work within a budget or seek approval for costs. Offer a package that gets them everything they need at an enticing discount, and arguing to stay at your hotel versus a competitor without such a package becomes a much easier sell.

Lastly, remember how to target business travellers on AirBnB and booking.com. Direct bookings are only one slice of the pie, and mastering OTA listings is key to getting maximum cover for your business.

“If I had to describe SiteMinder in one word it would be reliability. The team loves SiteMinder because it is a tool that we can always count on as it never fails, it is very easy to use and it is a key part of our revenue management strategy.”

Raúl Amestoy,

Assitant Manager

Hotel Gran Bilbao

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Best hotels for business travel and business travellers

Advice is one thing; application is another. Here are a few of some hotels around the world that have mastered appealing to business travellers:

The Ritz-Carlton, Tokyo, Japan

Situated in the heart of Tokyo’s Roppongi district, The Ritz-Carlton offers unparalleled access to Tokyo’s business and financial centres. This hotel boasts state-of-the-art meeting rooms, high-speed internet access in all guest rooms and public areas, and a dedicated business centre. The Club Level provides an exclusive lounge with continuous culinary offerings and a personal concierge service, ideal for informal meetings.

Lessons to learn:

• Emphasise strategic location and accessibility: Being in the heart of a business district, like Roppongi, is crucial. Ensure your hotel is easily accessible from key business hubs and transport links.
• Offer comprehensive business amenities: High-speed internet and state-of-the-art meeting facilities are non-negotiables. Consider having dedicated floors or areas like The Club Level for business guests, offering privacy and exclusivity.
• Personalised service: A personal concierge service for business travellers can significantly enhance the guest experience, making them feel valued and supported.

The Langham, London

Nestled in the West End, near Regent Street and a stone’s throw from the City, The Langham is ideally positioned for business travellers looking to blend convenience with luxury. The Langham, London, features a 24-hour business centre, complimentary Wi-Fi, and versatile meeting spaces equipped with the latest technology. The hotel also offers a “Service Stylist” for personalised business services.

Lessons to learn:

• Blend tradition with modernity: The Langham shows that traditional hotels can seamlessly incorporate modern business facilities, appealing to those who appreciate heritage as well as contemporary convenience.
• Focus on guest experience: Beyond business amenities, providing experiences such as the famous afternoon tea can offer a unique, memorable stay, encouraging repeat business.
• Adapt spaces for multiple uses: Ensure that spaces within the hotel, such as lounges and lobbies, are versatile and can be used for informal meetings or as workspaces.

Fairmont Dubai

Strategically located in the financial heart of Dubai, this hotel is just minutes from Dubai’s key attractions, shopping facilities, golf clubs, and beaches. Fairmont Dubai features 20 meeting rooms and a dedicated business centre. The rooms are equipped with high-speed internet and advanced audio-visual equipment. The hotel also offers secretarial services to assist with business needs.

Lessons to learn:

• Leverage location: Like the Fairmont Dubai, being close to both business and leisure attractions can make your hotel a preferred choice for business travellers who may wish to extend their stay for personal time.
• Invest in technology: Equipping meeting rooms and guest rooms with the latest technology and ensuring reliable internet connectivity is essential for catering to the business traveller’s needs.
• Promote work-life balance: Offering facilities such as rooftop pools, spas, and fitness centres can help business travellers unwind, promoting a balance between work and relaxation.