Beyond ABS: Unlocking the full potential of hotel merchandising
Key insights:
- ABS is just the foundation, true personalization goes beyond room attributes to include experiences, services, and flexible options throughout the guest journey.
- Personalization directly impacts revenue, and guests are willing to spend more on tailored experiences.
- Hotels need to adopt a retailer mindset and drive more value by selling services, experiences, policies, and physical goods throughout the guest journey.
- Properties applying a retail-driven strategy have reported up to $300 in ancillary revenue per booking and stronger guest engagement.
- Use merchandising solutions that go beyond ABS and dynamic packaging, enabling retailing throughout the entire guest journey, including standalone offers for both guests and day visitors to maximize revenue opportunities.
Taking a page from the airline industry, hotels have increasingly embraced Attribute-Based Selling (ABS) – an approach that allows hotels to create room products with specific features like bed type, view, or floor preference, enabling guests to book options that align more closely with their preferences..
This shift reflects a broader industry trend: personalization is no longer optional but essential. In fact, 86% of travelers say a personalized travel experience is important, and 6 in 10 (61%) are willing to spend more when their stay feels tailored to their needs.
As hotels adopt ABS to improve guest satisfaction and boost revenue per booking, a new possibility emerges: with the right technology, they can move beyond room attributes to offer a fully personalized retail experience that spans the entire stay and even reaches travelers before they arrive or book a room.
Why personalization shouldn’t stop at the room
Attribute-Based Selling (ABS) is a step forward in hotel merchandising, but focusing solely on room features limits its true potential. In a world where guests crave choice and customization, there’s a growing opportunity for hotels to extend personalization across the entire journey and not just at check-in.
Imagine empowering guests to select early check-in, parking, or room upgrades, while also pre-selecting spa treatments, dining experiences, excursions, and local events – all before they even arrive. By offering ancillaries and standalone offers across multiple touchpoints (at booking, pre-stay, during the stay, and even post-stay), hotels can enhance convenience and unlock new revenue streams throughout the entire guest journey.
The ability to sell standalone experiences to non-guests is redefining what it means to be in hospitality. It’s no longer just about selling a bed for the night – it’s about meeting evolving traveler expectations and monetizing meaningful moments, with or without a room.
From attributes to full-scale retailing
As hospitality technology advances, we’re seeing a shift from attribute-based selling to hospitality retailing, a more dynamic and flexible approach to hotel commerce.
The concept is simple: think like a retailer. Instead of offering static room categories or pre-set packages, hotels can curate and sell a wide range of products and services based on real-time availability, guest behavior, and demand. Hoteliers can transform existing amenities, services, and experiences into revenue-generating ancillaries by applying a retail mindset that treats every aspect of the guest journey as a product or experience that can be packaged and sold.
This shift doesn’t just enhance the guest experience. It also opens up entirely new ways to drive total revenue per guest, increase ancillary sales, and build deeper relationships through choice and relevance. Properties embracing this approach have seen an average of $300 in ancillary revenue per booking, demonstrating the significant potential of retailing to boost profitability while delivering more personalized and memorable stays. Whether it’s bundling a suite with a spa package, local tours or selling parking passes independently, everything becomes an opportunity to generate incremental revenue.
Marc & Rose: Personalizing the stay with spa offers, golf, and water park fun
At Arizona Grand Resort & Spa, operated by Marc & Rose Hospitality, the shift to hospitality retailing has led to a significant transformation in both strategy and performance. In addition to unbundling room features, the resort introduced a curated mix of on-property experiences, offering spa treatments, golf tee times, and water park passes as both add-ons and standalone purchases. These offerings were surfaced dynamically throughout the guest journey, from booking to pre-arrival, allowing travelers to personalize their stays based on their interests.
The impact was immediate. The resort saw a 28% increase in ancillary revenue from items unrelated to the room, driven by strong uptake in water park access, spa appointments, and premium activities. Guests responded positively to the added choice and convenience, while the resort saw higher total revenue per booking, projecting over $500K in ancillary revenue within the year based on current trends.
By adopting this retailing mindset, Marc & Rose shifted from traditional room merchandising to a flexible, experience-first approach that curated meaningful moments, enhanced the stay, and opened entirely new revenue streams.
Unlocking the full power of retailing in hospitality
While many in the industry are still implementing basic ABS capabilities, some solutions have already evolved further into a more expansive, retail-driven approach. The core principle of ABS, such as enabling guests to book rooms with specific features like bed type, room view, or early check-in, is just the foundation.
With technology advancing rapidly, forward-thinking hotels are embracing a broader approach to personalization that extends beyond basic room features. Tools like SynXis Retailing support not only ABS fundamentals but also offer the flexibility to sell non-room items, reach non-guests, and present both standalone and bundled experiences. This shift transforms the booking engine into a hospitality commerce engine, allowing guests to pick and personalize services that shape their ideal stay. By thinking beyond the room, hotels can deliver more relevant experiences, strengthen guest relationships, and unlock new revenue streams through smarter merchandising.
Next steps:
- Assess your current merchandising strategy: Identify where you’re using Attribute-Based Selling today and where you could extend personalization beyond the room, such as experiences, services, or policies.
- Evaluate solutions that support full-scale retailing: Look for technology such as SynXis Retailing which enables ancillary add-ons and standalone offers to personalize across the entire guest journey, including pre-arrival and non-guest opportunities.
- Start small, measure impact, and scale: Pilot ancillary offers like spa passes, early check-in, or parking add-ons. Track incremental revenue per booking, then expand based on guest uptake and overall performance. You can also consult with Sabre Hospitality’s Retail Growth Team to identify high-impact opportunities and tailor a retailing strategy that aligns with your property’s goals.
