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