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?

Raul Moronta
Raul Moronta
CRME, CHIA, Chief Commercial Officer at Remington Hospitality

The topic of non-room ancillary revenue is certainly an interesting one in the current environment. On one side, there is a lot of pressure from hotels to maximize profitability. However, given the increase in available supply, it makes it more difficult to implement some of these strategies when the competitive set might be offering some of these services for free.

There is an opportunity to reimagine our services and offerings in the post COVID world. For example, pool cabanas are the perfect isolation vehicle for friends and families who want to be together in a safe place. As the demand for leisure travel continues to increase, this is an area where we can further expand and offer more customized services.

One of the biggest opportunities I see is to continue reimagining guestrooms. Hoteliers could assign unique rooms to be used for day meetings, Zoom calls, etc. Rooms could also be sold for day parts: AM & PM, doubling the income while avoiding the expense and linen usage of a traditional overnight stay. We've seen this play out in a similar way as some hotels have transformed guestrooms into private dinner spots for small gatherings and dates. One of the most interesting developments of the pandemic is the use of outdoors space. While very typical outside the US, it wasn't until now that the hospitality industry came up with expanding patios, sidewalk restaurants, tents etc.

There is a time and a place for ancillary revenue in the post-COVID world, but in general I believe we can expand on reimagining our spaces and offering the services future guests will require.

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