Hotel ancillaries, often known to travelers and travel businesses as the extra items — like rental cars, hotel room upgrades, spa visits, and tours — that are bundled along with their rooms, already play an essential role in the sector’s merchandising, marketing, and revenue considerations. But even though ancillaries have always been an effective strategy to boost sales, they are no longer seen by hotel executives as a mere supplement to other travel products. Today, they are increasingly the main event.
Following the lead of the airline industry, which in 2017 earned an estimated $82 billion worldwide from sales of ancillary products, hotel executives are realizing that they are no longer simply selling access to just rooms and beds. Instead, they are now travel gatekeepers and tastemakers, selling access to a universe of related experiences connected to dining, entertainment, spas, tours and activities, retail, local services, and more. Taking this more expansive view of hospitality offers hotel businesses a variety of business benefits, including increased revenue, a more detailed understanding of the wants and needs of their customers, and an ability to drive more repeat business and create loyal customers.
How will hotels achieve this new vision for the future of ancillaries? What consumer trends confirm the potential of this new strategy? And what hotel brands are already finding success with this new approach? Skift and iSeatz will explore all of these questions plus much more in this report.
IN THIS REPORT
- Why more hospitality brands are trying to expand their role in the traveler journey beyond just the hotel room
- Why changes in traveler behavior are creating an opportunity for hotels to offer guests a wider range of ancillary products and services than they sold in the past
- Why hotels must evolve their strategies related to personalization and loyalty in order to take full advantage of the emerging power of ancillaries
- How hotel brands like IHG, Marriott, and Accor are successfully adopting a new approach to ancillary merchandising, marketing and sales
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