11 Hotel Pricing Strategies To Stay Ahead Of The Game
Hotel pricing strategies refer to the methods that hotels use to set the prices for their rooms. The goal of these strategies is to increase occupancy rates and boost revenue by attracting as many guests as possible while still maintaining profitability.
There are many different hotel room pricing strategies that can be used and by implementing them effectively, you can create a sustainable hotel business.
If you are one such business owner looking to implement a powerful pricing strategy for your hotel, then you have landed on the right page.
There is a huge importance of hotel pricing strategies for success in the hospitality industry.
So, let’s check out the best hotel pricing strategies which you can adopt right now to increase your bookings.
Best Hotel Pricing Strategies To Implement For Maximizing Your Bookings
1. Competitor-based Pricing Strategy
Undoubtedly, one of the smartest ways to set competitive prices for your hotel is by keeping an eye on what your rivals are charging. You can easily do this by using hotel rate shopping tools that let you compare prices with other hotels in the area.
By using such tools, you gain valuable insights to help you make informed decisions about how to price your rooms. This way, you can stay competitive without undervaluing your offerings.
An excellent tool that can assist you to get insight into your competitor’s pricing is Makcorps Hotel Price API.
It’s pretty reliable as it provides real-time hotel pricing data from more than 200 online travel agencies.
So, you’ll always have the most up-to-date information at your fingertips to make the right pricing choices.
To learn how to set competitors-based pricing for your hotel rooms using Makcorps API, check out this blog.
2. Forecasting-based Pricing Strategy
Another effective pricing strategy for hotels is to use forecasting.
By analyzing the historical hotel rates data of your competitors and current market trends, hotels can make informed predictions about the most effective pricing strategy for their rooms.
This can involve looking at factors such as the time of year, local events, and the overall health of the economy.
By carefully considering these factors, hotels can set price positioning that is both competitive and profitable.
3. Length-Of-Stay Strategy
A third powerful pricing strategy for hotels is to offer discounts or incentives for longer stays.
By encouraging guests to book multiple nights, hotels can potentially increase their overall revenue and occupancy rates.
For example, a hotel might offer a discount for guests who book three or more nights or include additional amenities such as free breakfast or late checkout for guests who stay longer.
4. Rate-Parity Strategy
A rate-parity strategy involves ensuring that the rates for your hotel rooms are consistent across all distribution channels.
This means that the rate for a particular room type should be the same regardless of whether a guest booked directly with the hotel or through an online travel agent.
By maintaining rate parity, hotels can potentially increase their occupancy rates by winning customer’s trust. To know more about, how to price a hotel room without losing money or customer’s trust, check out the blog.
5. Segment-based Pricing Strategy
Another effective pricing strategy is to offer different rates to different guest segments.
For example, a hotel might offer a lower rate to business travelers during the week, when demand is typically higher, and a higher rate to leisure travelers on weekends.
By segmenting the market in this way, hotels can potentially increase their revenue and occupancy rates.
6. Occupancy-based Pricing Strategy
Another powerful pricing strategy for hotels is to adjust rates based on the current occupancy rate.
When occupancy is low, hotels may choose to lower their rates in order to attract more guests.
On the other hand, when occupancy is high, hotels may choose to raise their rates in order to capitalize on the increased demand.
By closely monitoring occupancy rates and adjusting pricing accordingly, hotels can potentially balance hotel revenue management and profitability.
7. Loyalty-based Pricing Strategy
A further pricing strategy for hotels is to offer special rates or discounts to loyal customers.
This might involve creating a loyalty program that rewards guests for each stay or offering discounted rates to guests who have stayed at the hotel multiple times in the past.
By rewarding loyal guests, hotels can potentially encourage repeat business and achieve a competitive advantage.
8. Upselling
Upselling is a powerful pricing strategy for hotels that involves encouraging guests to upgrade to a higher room category or add additional amenities to their reservations.
By offering a range of options at different price points, hotels can potentially increase their revenue and profitability. Implementing an effective upselling strategy becomes effortless for hoteliers with software solutions like Oaky which automate the process.
By segmenting customers and targeting relevant guests with personalized offers, Oaky can boost metrics like TRevPAR and RevPAR and increase the efficiency of the hotel staff while saving time and elevating the guest experience.
For example, a hotel might offer guests the option to upgrade to a suite, add on a package deal that includes tickets to local attractions, or purchase additional amenities such as in-room massages or private airport transfers.
9. Cross-Selling
Cross-selling is another efficient way of hotel price positioning that involves encouraging guests to purchase additional products or services during their stay.
This might include things like restaurant meals, spa treatments, or tickets to local attractions.
By offering a range of options at different price points, hotels can potentially increase their revenue and profitability.
10. Package Deals Pricing Strategy
By bundling together a range of products and services, such as room nights, meals, and activities, hotels can offer guests a discounted rate while still potentially increasing their overall revenue.
Package deals can be particularly effective for attracting guests who are looking for a more comprehensive vacation experience.
11. Best Available Rate Pricing Strategy
Bar pricing strategy ensures fairness and competitiveness.
Hotels set their lowest, non-negotiable nightly rates, promising guests the best possible rate at any given time.
It boosts direct bookings, maintains rate integrity, and creates customer confidence, fostering both transparency and loyalty.
To know how to set the best available rate pricing strategy, check out the blog.
Now that you know the top 11 hotel pricing strategies to boost your revenue and attract more guests.
Make sure to check out the essential points we’ve mentioned below before setting your room prices.
Things to Research Before Determining Hotel Rooms Price Positioning
There are certain things that you must keep in mind and get well acquainted with while determining your hotel room fare strategy.
Thus, we have come up with different things that you can research to increase the efficiency and success rate of the strategy formulated.
1. When Do Hotels Usually Offer Better Rates?
This is quite useful information that you can turn pages for to make your pricing dynamic in nature.
When hotels usually offer better rates will help you to understand market conditions in a better way and also to understand what type of strategy works best under such conditions.
You can keep an eye on your competitor’s rates to understand this better as they are majorly operating in the same location with similar types of amenities.
2. How Much Do Hotels Cost Per Night?
Also, you can analyze how much hotels in your nearby locations with similar amenities cost per night.
This will help you to conduct a hotel competitive analysis and gain an understanding of what different strategies others are adopting to attract more customers and also maintain profitability.
3. What Is A Reasonable Price For A Hotel Room?
Reasonable pricing for a hotel room can be obtained by analyzing your breakeven rate.
It is the minimum amount that you need to charge to overcome your running operational costs. Understanding this will help you to suitably pick a minimum reasonable price that you need and can charge.
4. Do Hotels Lower Their Rates?
Usually, you might see that hotels offer lower pricing during the off-season with lower occupancy rates to attract more customers and maintain their occupancy percentage.
This is usually done to optimize their hotel room charges strategy in such a way that the total revenue earned throughout the year is even while maintaining a suitable occupancy percentage.
The vice versa is done in the case of high-demand seasons when hotels usually perk up their rates to maximize profits.
5. When Do Hotel Prices Go Up?
Hotel Prices gradually increase with the increase in demand for hotel rooms and limited availability of supply.
This generally happens in the seasons when there is a significant rush in the number of travelers.
Once you have figured everything out, implement a suitable pricing strategy for your hotel rooms to skyrocket bookings.
Make sure to utilize the hotel room rate calculator when assessing the optimal pricing, as it generates accurate results by employing a comprehensive specifically designed hotel room rate formula.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, there are many powerful hotel pricing strategies that can help to increase occupancy rates and boost revenue.
By tracking competitor rates, and hotel price trends, forecasting demand, offering incentives and discounts, and utilizing dynamic pricing softwares, hotels can effectively set prices that are both competitive and profitable.
Additionally, strategies such as upselling, cross-selling, and offering package deals can help hotels to maximize their revenue per guest.
By carefully considering these strategies, hotels can effectively increase their bookings and drive growth.
Frequently Asked Questions By Hoteliers:
Which Methods Of Pricing Are Commonly Used In The Hospitality Industry?
There are many different methods of pricing that are commonly used in the hospitality industry, including – Competitor-based pricing, forecasting-based pricing, Length-of-stay pricing, and much more.
You can choose either a singular or a mixture of different pricing strategies as per your business need and advantage.
What Are The Factors That Affect Hotel Room Pricing?
Several factors affect hotel room pricing and can help you better understand why prices fluctuate. Some of the major factors are listed below.
1. Seasonality:
Based on the geographical location of your property, different seasons determine the flow of travelers throughout the year.
It is quite possible that you either receive more booking requests in a specific period of the year according to the best time to visit the significant place.
So, at a time when the demand for property significantly rises, the prices also get leveled up to maximize profits. Similarly, during off seasons you might want to lower your room rates to attain higher occupancy rates.
2. Star Rating:
The type of property also decides its rates. For example, the pricing for a 5-star property would be different from that of a 3-star property. Thus, the level of your rating will largely affect your pricing.
3. Amenities Offered:
Another vital factor is the services that you offer that set you apart from the competition and help you earn higher profits.
The better the services offered to the customers, the more pleasant their stay-in experience would be. This can leverage your room rates significantly.
4. Local Market Trends and Competition:
This is a factor that is subject to change as per the change in the local market. The trending pricing rate in your nearby locations will affect your pricing as well.
So, you need to keep a check on your competitor’s pricing using reliable hotel data intelligence solutions to ensure that you are not leaving behind. Lesser pricing offered by your competitor can instantly become the center of attraction for customers and will leave your occupancy rates getting diminished.
