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?

Alessandro Crotti
Alessandro Crotti
Digital Strategist and E-commerce Expert for Independent Hotels.

Where there's value, there's revenue, yet the "how" we sell anything in addition to the core revenue stream (rooms) will make a difference.

Take the airlines, for example: most of them focus on their core service, flight seats, and postpone the most "revenuable" ancillary services and upgrades until the booking is confirmed, like car rentals, etc.

For whatever reason, this doesn't happen in the Hotel industry. And it's a pity because it's been proven that only AFTER having paid for the main service (flight seats for airlines) people are more inclined to purchase something more.

Again, the power of perception.

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