Maximize revenue by merchandising hotel spaces

Expanding revenue horizons

Before, hotels were limited only to room bookings. Now, with innovative technologies, hotels possess a myriad of opportunities to enhance their revenue streams and attune to travelers’ diverse needs. Capitalizing on personalization, we have developed industry-leading retailing solutions that enable hotels to become profitable through ancillaries complementing guest stays. Now, we can decouple offers from room bookings. Hotels can sell offers not just to staying guests but to anyone, opening up new revenue streams to a wider audience. This multifaceted approach enriches the original guest experience and is a pivotal strategy for boosting profitability in a competitive hospitality landscape.

Imagine the potential of transforming something as simple as your hotel’s parking spaces into a significant revenue stream. Where typically these spaces are underutilized, especially during non-peak seasons, these empty parking slots can be monetized by offering them to non-guests. Even with just 50 spaces alone, a hotel can generate an additional $182,500 per year (figurative figure if charged at a daily rate of $10 for 365 days a year). This is a substantial increase in revenue from an asset that might otherwise go underutilized.

This retailing strategy optimizes your existing resources and provides non-guests with convenient services, enhancing your hotel’s presence and brand in the community. This innovative approach demonstrates how rethinking and repurposing available assets can lead to significant financial gains and a more diversified revenue stream.

Hoteliers must think beyond traditional models, evolving from mere room providers to retail-minded innovators. To maximize revenue, they need to leverage the latest technology and explore commercial offers for both guests and non-guests. Here’s how today’s leading hotels are embracing revenue-generating solutions like SynXis Retailing to monetize their spaces and services, thereby expanding their total offerings.

Monetize underutilized spaces

The modern hospitality landscape demands innovative thinking. Diversifying revenue streams is crucial to mitigate risks from market fluctuations and counter the impact of varying travel seasons. The possibilities are endless once hoteliers recognize the opportunities hidden in plain sight. According to a Skift report, more than 85% of hoteliers expect ancillary revenue to play a more significant role in their annual revenue by 2025. By offering a variety of services and experiences even beyond the guestbook, hoteliers can create multiple income sources, making their business more resilient and sustainable.

Nowadays, every part of a hotel can be a revenue generator. In the same Skift research report, 49% of hoteliers emphasize the importance of unique amenities and upselling in their overall revenue strategy. From parking lots to rooftops, each space presents a valuable business opportunity waiting to be tapped into. By viewing these areas as valuable real estate, hoteliers can unlock new avenues for monetization. Hoteliers can optimize their inventory by offering different services and products at various times, maximizing space utilization and revenue potential. For instance:

• Spa day pass: Hoteliers with spa amenities, fitness centers, and pools can offer day passes to the public, providing access to spa facilities with additional add-ons such as massages and facials.
• Dining experiences: Hoteliers with renowned dining establishments can sell unique dining experiences, such as a private romantic dinner by the beach.
• Meeting rooms: Hoteliers equipped with conference rooms can rent out these spaces with time slots and add-on services like additional meal options.
• Co-working lounges: Hoteliers can offer flexible workspaces with amenities like high-speed internet and printing facilities.
• Rooftops: Hoteliers can leverage rooftop space for unique experiences such as outdoor yoga classes or movie nights to attract a crowd.

Hotels are no longer just places to stay; they are becoming vibrant lifestyle hubs. SynXis Retailing empowers hoteliers to sell a wide array of trip-related experiences by leveraging their existing spacing and services. This expands the hotel’s catalog of offerings for both travelers and non-staying guests, enhancing the overall experience and significantly increasing revenue opportunities.

Selling through every touchpoint

In today’s fast-paced digital age, guests expect instant access to information and services at their fingertips. The outdated process of calling or emailing to book services is now seamlessly replaced by SynXis Retailing.

A streamlined booking process is essential for enhancing the customer journey and simplifying the process of finding and booking services. A quarter of travelers are frustrated about not being able to book multiple options in a singular place. By consolidating services and experiences within their booking system, hoteliers can eliminate the need for guests to spend extra time researching third-party providers.

SynXis Retailing allows guests to add offers at the time of reservation, during their stay, and beyond. All offers, whether room-related or not, can be added to a single itinerary, providing hoteliers with full visibility of their clients’ journeys and creating opportunities for more personalized service. Guests should be free to make purchases anytime and anywhere, which is why SynXis Retailing is integrated with other platforms used industry-wide, such as booking engines and call-center tools.

Automating tasks and optimizing efficiency

While many hoteliers have centralized reservation systems for room bookings, they often lack integrated management for other facilities. 45% of hoteliers report that the fragmented nature of technology and data prevents them from achieving a singular, end-to-end view of their customers and operations.

Adding ancillaries and independent offers to the mix can be an additional challenge for some. Thus, having a comprehensive booking system to help centralize all reservations and inventory management, improve communication across departments, and deliver a seamless guest experience is essential.

Thanks to technological advancements, hotel operations have become much more efficient and guest-centric. Smart task management solutions, such as Nuvola, address concerns about order fulfillment and the manual tasks involved. Combining task management and e-commerce enables automated fulfillment, helping hotels focus on strengthening their daily operations and optimizing their services. Integrating both solutions drives efficiency by automating order creation, scheduling, and notifications to ensure efficient fulfillment of all orders, facilitating communication between all teams and departments.

With compatible solutions, hoteliers can optimize resource allocation, reduce human errors, and focus on delivering what they do best — personalizing guest experiences.

Next steps:

Hotels should make the most value of their guests and set out for them to anticipate their needs in advance. Providing exceptional experiences that exceed guest expectations is the key to unlocking new revenue streams. Here’s how to get started:

• Be proactive in reviewing your spaces
• Embrace creative ideas for what you can monetize
• Think about your current array of offers and how you can expand on these
• Find the right tools to help you digitize your revenue generation, such as SynXis Retailing

Related Articles:

• The ultimate guide to social media marketing for hotels
• Top 10 strategies to increase your hotel revenue in 2024
• Innovative hotel marketing: leveraging vouchers to attract new guests
• 5 tips for unlocking hotel excellence
• Why hoteliers are moving on from dynamic packaging to SynXis Retailing

Written by Tiffany Lung