Discover the ultimate hotel upselling strategy! Learn how to personalize offers, maximize revenue, and enhance guest experience with data-driven techniques.
Discover the ultimate hotel upselling strategy! Learn how to personalize offers, maximize revenue, and enhance guest experience with data-driven techniques.
As per the recent Oracle and Skift study on ‘Hospitality in 2025’, 81% of the hoteliers surveyed saw a tremendous shift in the future of upselling and ancillary services.
However, most hoteliers continue to make one huge mistake while upselling, i.e. using a ‘one size fits all approach’. This approach not only affects their business's overall revenue but also fails to differentiate them from their competitors
In fact, as per McKinsey, businesses with the most effective hotel upselling strategy had a 20-30% impact on revenue.
Hence, if you want to sustain your business and gain a competitive edge as a hotelier, you must craft a unique upselling strategy based on your distinct hotel type.
But how?
In this blog, we will walk you through the…
Are you eager to know more? Let's begin…
There are several advantages of upselling in hotels. Increased revenue per guest and overall profitability, enhanced guest experience, improved guest and brand loyalty, etc to list a few.
However, in order to achieve a successful upselling strategy, you must adhere to certain general hotel upselling principles.
Read on to know more…
Understanding your guest preference and interest is the first step to curating an upsell strategy. Based on relevant data such as guest profile, booking pattern, pre-arrival survey, etc. — you must evaluate and propose tailored upsells to enhance your guest’s stay. For instance, recommending romantic packages for couples, exclusive group dining options for families, group travelers, etc.
The most effective and crucial principle is to upsell at the perfect time and stage of the guest journey. Whether it’s at the booking stage, pre-arrival, check-in or during their stay – upselling relevant offers based on the guest’s journey stage considerably increases the chances of conversion. For instance, offering early check-in, room upgrades, etc at the pre-arrival stage and tour or meal recommendations at the in-stay stage.
Although it’s important to include visually appealing images and descriptions, what’s even more crucial is to highlight the benefits of your offer. This means focusing on how a specific upsell would add value to your guest's stay. For instance, in terms of room upgrade offers, entice your guests by highlighting scenic views, spacious rooms, additional amenities, etc. Whereas, ease of travelling and exclusivity could be specified while upselling private transfer services.
Refrain from overwhelming your guests with a lot of upsell offers. Too many promotions might discourage them from opting your service. Hence, you must offer relevant and limited upsell offers to your guests based on their preferences and booking patterns. Moreover, you can also increase the chances of click-through and conversion rates by tweaking the pricing and visual appeal of your upsell offers.
Upselling is the process of encouraging your guests to purchase a higher-priced option from the same category. Cross-selling on the other hand, is persuading your guests to purchase related services priced either at the same or a slightly higher or lower range, from another category.
For instance, room upgrades, early check-in, and late checkouts are the best examples of upselling a hotel service. At the same time, other comprises promoting food and beverage options, cab rentals, etc.
Although often used interchangeably, upselling is used as a broad term that comprises all the activities that come under cross-selling.
In this section, let's explore the different hotel categories with their distinctive guest type.
Different hotel categories with their limited budgets and amenities offer a few common yet distinct ancillary items. Here is a list of the varied upselling options for each hotel category type.
As per statistics, upselling has the potential to boost your customer’s lifetime value by 20-40%. Hence, to drive optimum results, you must learn how to implement hotel upselling ideas and strategically align your unique hotel features with your guest needs.
Read on to know more…
Instead of upselling a single service, combining related services at a better price simplifies the guest's decision process and also impacts the average order value. For instance, a couple would much rather save time and purchase a great deal on a romantic package (i.e. room upgrade + exclusive dinner + spa) than spend time selecting different services.
Access to premium amenities and exclusive services are the key USPs of an upsell. Based on your guest's distinct profile, educate them on how different services have the potential to enhance their stay. For instance, mention how opting for a co-working space and premium wifi will enable the business traveler or digital nomad to optimise their productivity. In reference to guests who've come to attend an event, recommend locker rentals to them.
In addition to upselling your services, offering digital menus to your guests gives them an opportunity to browse through and make an informed decision. It gives them more control over how they want to enhance their stay. In fact, as per statistics, using self-service technology increases the likelihood of guests' spending by more than 20%.
Make it easier for the guests to make an informed decision by being transparent about the availability of your service. Moreover, boost your profitability margin by offering dynamic pricing such as limited-time discounts, tiered pricing for varied services, adjusting prices as per seasonal changes, etc. This ensures you achieve your revenue metric despite seasonal changes, evolving trends, varied guest preferences, etc.
Streamline your payment process by integrating your hotel software with a trusted payment processor. Integrated payments, improve your guest experience by letting your guests pay for an availed service — at their own convenience, through their device, either immediately or at checkout.
Notify your guests about the status of their service — whether it’s on time or in the process of being delivered. Updating your guests assures them that their needs will be met shortly.
Reviews and numbers have the potential to build trust among your guests and often influence them to make a purchase. Present social proof of how your upsell services have been loved and purchased often by your guests and how it enhanced their stay.
Before we proceed to learn how to measure the success of a hotel’s upselling strategy, let's understand why it’s important in the first place.
Measuring the success of an upsell strategy has several benefits. We have listed down a few…
Now let's get back to the steps on how to measure success and optimise your strategy.
Key performance metrics such as open, click-through, and conversion rates are the most crucial parameters that define how well your strategy is performing and which aspects need improvement. Get a clear overview of your performance and upsell revenue from varied upsell sources, i.e. mobile app, front desk, etc.
Gather real-time and post-stay feedback through online surveys to evaluate your guest's satisfaction level. Assess each review whether positive, neutral, or negative to understand your key strengths and weaknesses. Following this, improve upon your service quality and overall efficiency.
Conduct an A/B testing of different upsell variations to evaluate factors such as your guest’s preferred category, timing, communication channel, templates, etc. This approach helps you understand your guest’s upsell preferences allowing you to maximise your revenue potential.
Whether you are a boutique hotel or a vacation rental; budget, mid-scale or luxury hotel — implementing a hotel upsell strategy doesn’t have to seem like an additional task to your already overwhelmed staff.
Hence, the solution is to incorporate a unique upselling strategy with the best industry-led hotel upsell software to get the best results.
Here’s how Guestara, an AI-powered Guest management platform and hotel upsell software will help you achieve all this and a lot more.
No matter the type of hotel category, guest profile or upsell service — Guestara’s Upsell Tool lets you seamlessly customize and have total control over how you want to drive ancillary revenue for your hotel.
Create varied upsell categories and include items that you wish to upsell by mentioning their respective titles, images, descriptions, prices, etc. The tool even lets you manage to upsell inventories in real time and select the stage you want to upsell at. You just need to switch the toggle as per your preference, thereby considerably impacting your conversion rates.
Whether it’s an add-on amenity, in-property service, or off-site service request — the Guestara Journey Feature lets you automate your entire hotel upselling campaign with just a few clicks, thereby saving time and improving operational efficiency.
But how does it work? Choose a relevant upsell strategy based on whether the guest is at the pre-arrival, check-in, or in-stay stage. Set triggers to upsell your preferred guest segment at the right time and stage through the preferred guest communication channel to increase the chances of conversion.
Whether it’s early check-in or late check-out requests, cab rentals, room upgrades, on-site dining reservations, etc. — with Guestara’s Guest App, your guests can browse through and place requests with just a few easy steps. The Guest App feature not only lets your guests personalize their stay with ease but also enhances the guest experience by considerably reducing wait times.
What’s even great is that your guests can access the integrated Guest App through a link without having to download external software.
In order to ensure clear workflow management, Guestara’s Task Board feature gives you a quick glimpse of all the guest requests in one place. It also allows you to manage, track, and schedule all your upsell requests on a single dashboard.
But most importantly, you can keep your team in the loop by notifying them about missed or delayed service requests, prompting them to take immediate action.
As a hotel manager or owner, you must set up a clear and concise Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). In fact, strategically curated SOPs have a significant impact on your hotel’s quality standard and key performance metrics.
But how does Guestara help? Guestara’s SOP Management helps you define service delivery timelines i.e. ‘on time’ or ‘delayed’, determine performance benchmarks, set up automated alerts, etc. SOPs act as guidelines that your staff must adhere to, thereby ensuring service quality and efficiency.
With the help of Guestara’s Upsell Analytics Dashboard, get a glimpse of the best-performing upsell campaigns that drove the highest conversion and revenue during a specified period.
Moreover, get an overview of your guest preferences and the most requested upsell offers across different stages of the guest journey. Following this, promote your most requested offer to further increase your ancillary revenue.
Revenue fluctuations, overhead costs, low occupancy rates, etc are a few common challenges that every hotel faces. But how effectively you manage your upselling is certain to maximize your revenue potential.
Transform your upselling strategy by booking a personalised demo with our experts today!
Discover the ultimate hotel upselling strategy! Learn how to personalize offers, maximize revenue, and enhance guest experience with data-driven techniques.
As per the recent Oracle and Skift study on ‘Hospitality in 2025’, 81% of the hoteliers surveyed saw a tremendous shift in the future of upselling and ancillary services.
However, most hoteliers continue to make one huge mistake while upselling, i.e. using a ‘one size fits all approach’. This approach not only affects their business's overall revenue but also fails to differentiate them from their competitors
In fact, as per McKinsey, businesses with the most effective hotel upselling strategy had a 20-30% impact on revenue.
Hence, if you want to sustain your business and gain a competitive edge as a hotelier, you must craft a unique upselling strategy based on your distinct hotel type.
But how?
In this blog, we will walk you through the…
Are you eager to know more? Let's begin…
There are several advantages of upselling in hotels. Increased revenue per guest and overall profitability, enhanced guest experience, improved guest and brand loyalty, etc to list a few.
However, in order to achieve a successful upselling strategy, you must adhere to certain general hotel upselling principles.
Read on to know more…
Understanding your guest preference and interest is the first step to curating an upsell strategy. Based on relevant data such as guest profile, booking pattern, pre-arrival survey, etc. — you must evaluate and propose tailored upsells to enhance your guest’s stay. For instance, recommending romantic packages for couples, exclusive group dining options for families, group travelers, etc.
The most effective and crucial principle is to upsell at the perfect time and stage of the guest journey. Whether it’s at the booking stage, pre-arrival, check-in or during their stay – upselling relevant offers based on the guest’s journey stage considerably increases the chances of conversion. For instance, offering early check-in, room upgrades, etc at the pre-arrival stage and tour or meal recommendations at the in-stay stage.
Although it’s important to include visually appealing images and descriptions, what’s even more crucial is to highlight the benefits of your offer. This means focusing on how a specific upsell would add value to your guest's stay. For instance, in terms of room upgrade offers, entice your guests by highlighting scenic views, spacious rooms, additional amenities, etc. Whereas, ease of travelling and exclusivity could be specified while upselling private transfer services.
Refrain from overwhelming your guests with a lot of upsell offers. Too many promotions might discourage them from opting your service. Hence, you must offer relevant and limited upsell offers to your guests based on their preferences and booking patterns. Moreover, you can also increase the chances of click-through and conversion rates by tweaking the pricing and visual appeal of your upsell offers.
Upselling is the process of encouraging your guests to purchase a higher-priced option from the same category. Cross-selling on the other hand, is persuading your guests to purchase related services priced either at the same or a slightly higher or lower range, from another category.
For instance, room upgrades, early check-in, and late checkouts are the best examples of upselling a hotel service. At the same time, other comprises promoting food and beverage options, cab rentals, etc.
Although often used interchangeably, upselling is used as a broad term that comprises all the activities that come under cross-selling.
In this section, let's explore the different hotel categories with their distinctive guest type.
Different hotel categories with their limited budgets and amenities offer a few common yet distinct ancillary items. Here is a list of the varied upselling options for each hotel category type.
As per statistics, upselling has the potential to boost your customer’s lifetime value by 20-40%. Hence, to drive optimum results, you must learn how to implement hotel upselling ideas and strategically align your unique hotel features with your guest needs.
Read on to know more…
Instead of upselling a single service, combining related services at a better price simplifies the guest's decision process and also impacts the average order value. For instance, a couple would much rather save time and purchase a great deal on a romantic package (i.e. room upgrade + exclusive dinner + spa) than spend time selecting different services.
Access to premium amenities and exclusive services are the key USPs of an upsell. Based on your guest's distinct profile, educate them on how different services have the potential to enhance their stay. For instance, mention how opting for a co-working space and premium wifi will enable the business traveler or digital nomad to optimise their productivity. In reference to guests who've come to attend an event, recommend locker rentals to them.
In addition to upselling your services, offering digital menus to your guests gives them an opportunity to browse through and make an informed decision. It gives them more control over how they want to enhance their stay. In fact, as per statistics, using self-service technology increases the likelihood of guests' spending by more than 20%.
Make it easier for the guests to make an informed decision by being transparent about the availability of your service. Moreover, boost your profitability margin by offering dynamic pricing such as limited-time discounts, tiered pricing for varied services, adjusting prices as per seasonal changes, etc. This ensures you achieve your revenue metric despite seasonal changes, evolving trends, varied guest preferences, etc.
Streamline your payment process by integrating your hotel software with a trusted payment processor. Integrated payments, improve your guest experience by letting your guests pay for an availed service — at their own convenience, through their device, either immediately or at checkout.
Notify your guests about the status of their service — whether it’s on time or in the process of being delivered. Updating your guests assures them that their needs will be met shortly.
Reviews and numbers have the potential to build trust among your guests and often influence them to make a purchase. Present social proof of how your upsell services have been loved and purchased often by your guests and how it enhanced their stay.
Before we proceed to learn how to measure the success of a hotel’s upselling strategy, let's understand why it’s important in the first place.
Measuring the success of an upsell strategy has several benefits. We have listed down a few…
Now let's get back to the steps on how to measure success and optimise your strategy.
Key performance metrics such as open, click-through, and conversion rates are the most crucial parameters that define how well your strategy is performing and which aspects need improvement. Get a clear overview of your performance and upsell revenue from varied upsell sources, i.e. mobile app, front desk, etc.
Gather real-time and post-stay feedback through online surveys to evaluate your guest's satisfaction level. Assess each review whether positive, neutral, or negative to understand your key strengths and weaknesses. Following this, improve upon your service quality and overall efficiency.
Conduct an A/B testing of different upsell variations to evaluate factors such as your guest’s preferred category, timing, communication channel, templates, etc. This approach helps you understand your guest’s upsell preferences allowing you to maximise your revenue potential.
Whether you are a boutique hotel or a vacation rental; budget, mid-scale or luxury hotel — implementing a hotel upsell strategy doesn’t have to seem like an additional task to your already overwhelmed staff.
Hence, the solution is to incorporate a unique upselling strategy with the best industry-led hotel upsell software to get the best results.
Here’s how Guestara, an AI-powered Guest management platform and hotel upsell software will help you achieve all this and a lot more.
No matter the type of hotel category, guest profile or upsell service — Guestara’s Upsell Tool lets you seamlessly customize and have total control over how you want to drive ancillary revenue for your hotel.
Create varied upsell categories and include items that you wish to upsell by mentioning their respective titles, images, descriptions, prices, etc. The tool even lets you manage to upsell inventories in real time and select the stage you want to upsell at. You just need to switch the toggle as per your preference, thereby considerably impacting your conversion rates.
Whether it’s an add-on amenity, in-property service, or off-site service request — the Guestara Journey Feature lets you automate your entire hotel upselling campaign with just a few clicks, thereby saving time and improving operational efficiency.
But how does it work? Choose a relevant upsell strategy based on whether the guest is at the pre-arrival, check-in, or in-stay stage. Set triggers to upsell your preferred guest segment at the right time and stage through the preferred guest communication channel to increase the chances of conversion.
Whether it’s early check-in or late check-out requests, cab rentals, room upgrades, on-site dining reservations, etc. — with Guestara’s Guest App, your guests can browse through and place requests with just a few easy steps. The Guest App feature not only lets your guests personalize their stay with ease but also enhances the guest experience by considerably reducing wait times.
What’s even great is that your guests can access the integrated Guest App through a link without having to download external software.
In order to ensure clear workflow management, Guestara’s Task Board feature gives you a quick glimpse of all the guest requests in one place. It also allows you to manage, track, and schedule all your upsell requests on a single dashboard.
But most importantly, you can keep your team in the loop by notifying them about missed or delayed service requests, prompting them to take immediate action.
As a hotel manager or owner, you must set up a clear and concise Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). In fact, strategically curated SOPs have a significant impact on your hotel’s quality standard and key performance metrics.
But how does Guestara help? Guestara’s SOP Management helps you define service delivery timelines i.e. ‘on time’ or ‘delayed’, determine performance benchmarks, set up automated alerts, etc. SOPs act as guidelines that your staff must adhere to, thereby ensuring service quality and efficiency.
With the help of Guestara’s Upsell Analytics Dashboard, get a glimpse of the best-performing upsell campaigns that drove the highest conversion and revenue during a specified period.
Moreover, get an overview of your guest preferences and the most requested upsell offers across different stages of the guest journey. Following this, promote your most requested offer to further increase your ancillary revenue.
Revenue fluctuations, overhead costs, low occupancy rates, etc are a few common challenges that every hotel faces. But how effectively you manage your upselling is certain to maximize your revenue potential.
Transform your upselling strategy by booking a personalised demo with our experts today!
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