The Ultimate Guide to Upselling in Hotels

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Up-selling, as the name suggests, is a technique with which hotel chains aim to offer and convince their customers to opt for relevant enhanced services with higher pricing in order to up their profits. The phenomenon essentially involves influencing customers to advance on their current product considerations and upselling the hotel rooms  

Benefits of Upselling

A smaller, high-end, boutique property in the mid-Atlantic region, having less than 150 rooms implemented a new upselling program to their hotel. Within a year, they were able to raise their revenues from $20,000 to $120,000 just by selling upgraded rooms and services to their guests.

Knowing your customer and understanding their needs is crucial to begin upselling your property to them. Increased profits being one of the most significant and intended gains of upselling, there are a variety of other benefits that come along with it:
  • Better guest experience and satisfaction
  • Stronger guest loyalty
  • Greater utilization of hotel facilities
  • Increased referrals from satisfied guests
Your guests would happily spend more on improving their experience at your hotel, that's one sure shot upselling technique in a hotel. Experiences are what will make their stay with your hotel worthwhile so you should strategically plan the things that you want to upsell. Consider introducing package deals with multiple services or products bundled together, for instance, a room upgrade with food or drinks along with a late check out facility.

What to Upsell?

Some of the features that work well for upselling include:
  • Room upgrades and special features
  • Spa services
  • Food and beverages
  • Amenities such as pool, bar, or bowling
  • Transportation by partnering with local service providers
  • Special offers like birthday treats, bed and breakfast, and more
  • Flexible check-in and check-out timing
  • In-room extras like a bottle of wine, DVD rentals, in-room massages, etc
  • Leisure activities and unique attractions
  • Family and couple packages

Techniques of upselling

Now that you know what features you want to enhance to convince your customers to buy your upsells, the next essential step is to devise an action plan for it.
  • Identify your target audience- Understand the needs and expectations of your potential customer using customer market segmentation . Imagine the negative experiences your guests will undergo if you end up offering couple-friendly amenities to your potential guests who arrive with their families.
  • Use the right pricing strategy- Do not overdo the prices of your enhanced services in the greed of higher profits. Implement an appropriately balanced pricing strategy that takes the initial cost of the purchase into account and feels like a suitable offer to your customers.
  • Run multiple upselling options - Multiple options which cover a variety of price points will cover a more substantial customer base.
  • Determining the right opportunity for the right time - For instance, you can offer seasonal discounts on various services.
  • Do email marketing for your special offers - Use your database to inform your previous visitors about upcoming offers and garner their attention.
  • Partner with local offerings - It will ensure a hassle-free travel experience for your guests since they don't have to look for other resources for sightseeing or clothing.
  • Rely on Social Media to leverage more bookings - Maintain a consistent social media profile for your business and regularly update your offers and upgrades on them.
  • Plan for group bookings - Offer venues for get-togethers, parties, weddings for guests to choose according to their needs.
  • Focus on direct check-ins - Guests despise waiting for long to get checked into their rooms. Make it easier for them by providing straight check-ins.
  • Use the right technologies - Focus on choosing an appropriate integrated hotel PMS and booking engine so that your potential customers can find your hotel.

Upselling vs Cross-Selling

While you are all set to explore the upselling techniques in a hotel, you must take into account the concept of cross-selling as well so as not to confuse the two. Both are often used interchangeably but serve different purposes.

While effective upselling encourages customers to purchase a comparably higher-end version of a product or service in question, cross-selling invites customers to buy the other related or complementary items that your hotel has to offer.

For example, a guest has agreed to upgrade their room to an enhanced one with an additional price. Now as a part of your hotel selling strategy and as a cross-sell, you can ask them if they'd like a box of assorted cookies and chocolates or a bottle of champagne to enjoy in their hot tub. They are most likely to spend more at the moment if you time the cross-sell correctly.

With all this information now at your disposal, it's time for you to level up your hotel room selling technique. Make way for better profits to flow in, while your guests enjoy a memorable stay at your property.

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