This article has been written by Upstay for BEONx
The global SARS-COV-2 pandemic has taken its toll on the traveling industry. As different countries differ in vaccination rates and travel restrictions, the comeback is expected to be gradual, which means that hotels and resorts will have to make sure they are ready to be more competitive than ever.
New consumer demands, trends, and changes are well on their way. Some have already become the industry standard, such as the increased demand for flight safety, affordability, and improved hygienic practices.
Due to the industry stagnation, new trends in hotels themselves have started undergoing development and innovation, such as IoT integration, smart hotel rooms, pricing intelligence software, and digital transformation of the guest experience and communication.
One of the trends that many hotels have adopted during the pandemic is adding on top of the traditional revenue management efforts, which are focused on the distribution stage, efforts to optimize the post-booking performance, specifically taking measures to increase ADR and revenue leveraging existing bookings.
Optimizing Rates for the Distribution Stage
Pricing is one of the most significant points in the hotel industry and has been for a long time. People are continually looking to get the most out of their money, so following through with smart pricing solutions is crucial to maintain a competitive occupancy rate.
The post-pandemic tourist and hospitality world will be very different from the one we’re used to. The new trends and consumer habits will mandate a change in hotels, and it all starts with pricing.
An example of hotel pricing optimization is BEONx, which applies algorithms to help hotels with their distribution strategies and increase booking numbers by using SaaS Artificial Intelligence technology.
By optimizing your rates and prices, you can actively make your property much more appealing to visitors who may have saved up a bit extra because they couldn’t travel the previous year.
Revenue Management for hoteliers.
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Optimizing Inventory Performance Post Booking
IEven after you found the most effective rates for your hotel and decided on a distribution strategy, the chances are that you cannot sell your entire premium inventory for its premium price.
You may end up with lower occupancy in those more expensive rooms or try to overbook your easier-to-sell standard rooms and upgrade guests to higher categories for no cost to balance the house.
A solution to this common problem can be UpStay’s technology, which gives pre-arrival upselling a boost. It unlocks new revenue streams and increases hotels’ profitability from their existing bookings. UpStay enables hotels to boost guest engagement levels even before they check-in while increasing revenue. The platform does it in a fun and inventive way by offering hotel guests the possibility of naming their own price when opting-in to buy pre-arrival room upgrades and additional accessories.
As stated by Tzafrir Blonder, CEO de UpStay:
“Hotels need to be prepared for the recovery process, and technology is a must. Finding new ways to increase revenue streams will help hotels recover faster.”
Inventory optimization solutions such as UpStay can then act on the period of time from the booking is made and until the guests’ arrival to leverage unsold premium rooms to generate more revenue for the hotel.
The fact is that even before Corona, hotels many times miss on the opportunities they have to optimize their inventory. This is a very crucial time for hotels to implement technology that increases revenue and occupancy, whether in the distribution stage or the post-booking and pre-arrival stage and during the stay.
By combining revenue management solutions for the distribution stage and post-booking / pre-arrival solutions, you’re effectively capturing more value and increasing your hotels’ margins to meet the new, post-coronavirus age of travel and hospitality successfully.
Jonathan Shemer – CTO at Upstay
Jonathan is a data science and software engineering wizard. He began his career in the Israeli NSA equivalent elite technology unit 8200, where he led a research and development team in high-performance computing and machine learning. In his last role, Jonathan served as a senior engineer at Gartner Innovation, leading there a core NLP and ML project. Studied Entrepreneurship and Business Administration at IDC Herzliya, Graduated with Honors.
