Luxury hotels were encouraged to unbundle their room rates to make way for an ancillary sales style booking at a hotel group conference yesterday.
Kristie Goshow, vice president marketing at Sabre Hospitality Solutions told delegates at the Preferred Hotel Group Global Sales & Marketing Conference that although added value had helped hotels gain guests in the last 10 years, it has hindered development within the luxury hotel sector.
“Hotels have added so much value to their room rate that soon competitors will have to differentiate on price,” she explained.
She added that unpackaged hotel rates would allow a stay to become more personalised as travel agents would pre-book the requirements that clients want. Furthermore Goshow urged hoteliers to create third party relationships to help sell experiences, with potential tie-ups with fashion houses or limited edition packages. The stories in hotels were also mentioned as a possible ‘personal currency’ and draw for clients, which could be aided by QR codes dotted around hotels to indicate where a celebrity has stayed or a place where history had taken place.
If adopted by hotels, items such as restaurant reservations, concierge services, WiFi or even toiletries could become added extras, similar to the model used by budget hotel brands and the airline industry.