A number of hotels we work with use HotelFlex in parallel with an upselling programme. They realised that they could earn more revenue using both services together. There are a few key features that lead to this.

‍1. Availability - While upselling programmes are great for offering additional items like trips, breakfasts or drinks on arrival, these products are not dependent on availability. However, the availability of early check-ins and late check-outs is strictly based on your occupancy and should only be offered to guests if available.

As a result, the following approaches offer suboptimal results:

‍a. Upselling at the front-desk as you’ll only capture a limited number of guests, create friction for the guest and create work for staff.
b. Upselling at booking or 3-5 days before as you have no visibility on your occupancy so you cannot offer the guest any certainty.

The best way to offer guests an ECI/CLO is in real-time, based on availability. When you know that you can fulfil demand, you have happy guests, happy staff and more revenue.

‍2. Click Through Rates - With a clear pain-point and call-to-action, conversion rates are higher with HotelFlex.

‍3. Intelligence. As HotelFlex specialises on purely early check-ins and late check-outs, we are constantly using data to increase conversions based on three factors:

‍a. Message - how do guests react to subject line, email layout and booking flow
b. Pricing - we constantly experiment with pricing to find the best price for each room category for your hotel
c. Timing - when’s the optimal time to reach your guests

Most hotels send pre-stay messaging 3-5 days before the guest arrives. HotelFlex makes contact the day before arrival, so all communications are spread out.

Our service is also very targeted, not all guests will be contacted by HotelFlex. We only message guests if there is availability in their room category.

All messages are sent on behalf of the hotel and will match your branding.

If you are concerned about the volume of emails sent, we can reach guests by SMS as an alternative.

We process your guest’s personal data in strict compliance with GDPR and your own Privacy Policy. The key points are that:

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1. You remain the Data Controller and thus have full control over any data that you send to us.

2. We are the Data Processor and purely process your data according to your instructions.

3. We help you to process the booking for which you have already gained consent from the guest.

4. All personal data is encrypted and deleted as soon as the guest checks out of the hotel.

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We would be very happy to review your Privacy Policy and analyse the key clauses that cover third-party services like HotelFlex.

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Using the HotelFlex service doesn’t mean that you have to charge all guests to check-in early or check-out late. It simply charges your guests to guarantee their early check-in or late check-out the day before.

Not all guests will be willing to pay for the service, but many guests are willing to pay for the certainty that they will have their room available. For business travellers and families with young children, having access to their room when they arrive is essential. They see the offer as an element of service, rather than an extra cost.

By allocating rooms to those willing to pay for the service, you ensure that those with the greatest need (eg the families and business travellers), have their expectations met. It also means you won’t leave a family with young children camped out in your lobby.

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No, the service has been designed not to have an impact on your housekeeping operations. As we only use empty rooms from the night before for early check-ins, the room will be clean, inspected and ready to go. Your housekeeping team doesn’t need to change anything.

Yes, most hotels that run an average annual occupancy of over 85% still have days or weeks with lower occupancy. At these times, we will act as a safety net to support your revenue.

When you're sitting at ~90% occupancy the software won't do anything, however, if you hit a lower occupancy period, the software automatically clicks in and makes the rooms available for early check-ins and late check-outs to guests that have already booked in the hotel.

As we only charge money on the extra revenue earned, you won’t pay during high occupancy periods, and you are guaranteed a positive ROI.