COVID has hit the global hotel industry hard. But as with every crisis, new opportunities surface. During the financial crisis of 2008/09, we saw Airbnb and Uber emerge.

Many revenue-generating ideas were born over the past year. From staycation and workation to renting out equipment and even offering outsourced services like housekeeping. Hoteliers have been creative in finding ways to keeping their business afloat.

What was born out of a need for survival might lead to a more permanent shift in a hotel's business model.

The idea of non-room revenue is nothing new and even pre-pandemic was something more and more hotels embraced. F&B or MICE revenue management is still in its infancy for the overall industry but terms like Total RevPAR have evolved from buzzword to serious KPI.

Is now the time to look at non-room, ancillary revenue? Where are the opportunities?

Timothy Wiersma
Timothy Wiersma
Principal | Revenue Generation, LLC.

As it relates to non-room revenue, we only have to look around us to find opportunities. If you have meeting space, perhaps you can look at possible alternative uses for the space on a temporary basis. One example would be to create co-working meeting space for local businesses and entrepreneurs. Many hotel guests, as well a local guests, are looking for safe dining options and may not comfortable utilizing a restaurant yet. If you have a number of smaller meeting rooms consider utilizing them as private dining rooms as an extension to your restaurant or local restaurant nearby.

There may still be opportunities to assist in your community recovery by making your meeting space available to the medical community for vaccination centers, quarantine quarters, etc. 

If you have an outdoor pool and fitness facilities, consider renting excess capacity to the community surrounding the hotel. 

These are just a few ideas on how to repurpose space and drive revenue by otherwise underutilized real estate inside your hotels. As with anything, it is important to take the time to measure profitability, how it will affect existing in-house guests, and how it may create goodwill to your local community. 

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