Upselling Techniques in Luxury Hotels

They want to feel welcomed and have the best time during their stay. 

At the same time, while you want to provide the best-in-class experience to your customer, sales within the hotel can be challenging. 

We know for sure it is easier to pitch a product to an existing customer than to find a new customer for the product and it is the same when upselling your hotel services. 

Upselling is offering extras to your customer to uplift their initial and pre-decided experience. 

It is a great opportunity for your hotel to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty through personalisation of products and services. 

Upselling products like special occasion packages, upgraded room services and guided tours of the area add value to a customer’s stay at your luxury hotel. 

Your customer will be inclined to spend more on services than initially planned if they believe that your products are adding significant value to their stay at the hotel. 

In return it increases profitability through increased guest spending, deepens your knowledge of the guest via personalised data and allows for greater utilisation of the property’s amenities. 

In any kind of sales, it is very important to identify your target market. 

While upselling the services and products that your hotel offers, you should first be able to understand the type of customers who are more likely to spend an extra budget while on their trip to your hotel. 

Say for example, you have noticed a trend of extra rooms being booked by a wedding party close to their arrival or customers celebrating special occasions like honeymoons, anniversaries or birthdays order a bottle of champagne or wine for their hotel room. 

It is never a good idea to upsell these products to the guests who might not be interested in them. 

For example, a solo traveller staying at your hotel for the night on the way to her destination is unlikely to be bothered by any extras as she is only looking for only accommodation for the night. 

You have a wide range of customer data available at your hand with your CRM systems. 

This data not only includes the dates and time that a customer has stayed at your property but can also give you insights on what are their purchasing behaviours. 

You can create different customer segments through the data collected over the years and test upselling and cross-selling techniques on these customer segments. 

Your hotel’s website is the first thing a customer will visit when they decide to stay at your hotel. 

Make use of the web presence and advertise offers for upselling products on your website. 

Try using different ‘calls to action’ for promoting these products on different pages of your website.

These options should not interfere with the customers browsing experience on the website as this can cause an increase in bounce rates, however you can try A/B tests on these to understand what works best for your customer. 

An example of a website offer could be adding an option to add “dinner for 2” in your luxury hotel restaurant. 

When a customer visits your city as a tourist and it is known that they will be exploring the city, it is the best opportunity for the hotel to upsell local packages to the customer. 

For example - guided city tours, local water sports services, visit to local museums, galleries, etc. 

This way you’re not only upselling the local products in your city but also adding value to the guest’s stay at your property. 

This is a great technique to increase guest loyalty because you are offering an interesting experience to your guests with arrangements all under one roof. 

One of the biggest advantages of book direct options on your website is having your guest data available before their arrival in the hotel. 

You can send out emails to your customers confirming their stay at your hotel and with these emails you can send out offers for upsell. 

These emails can include an option to fill out a form if the customer is celebrating a special occasion at your property. 

If so, you can upsell products like champagne bottles and private dinners by the pool. 

Train your staff to understand the customers’ needs while they are checking in to the property. 

The staff should be warm and welcoming to the guests. 

Staff should be aware of soft selling techniques as opposed to any forced sales. 

Try having a conversation with the guest on their arrival to build loyalty and rapport. 

Ask them if they would like any special arrangements made during their stay at your hotel. 

This is a good time to inform your guests about any spa services, special dinner arrangements or guided tours available at your property. 

You have made the best effort for your guest to have a wonderful experience at your hotel. 

Now the time is to build a relationship with your guest for keeping them loyal to your brand when they visit the next time. 

Again, it is the time for your front desk staff to be comfortable with the guests, asking them about their stay and if they have any feedback. 

You can use the customer detail collected via your CRM systems to send out departure emails to the guests offering them a discount on their next stay.

While upselling can be highly beneficial for a hotel’s revenue model, it is also important that it is done right. 

You need to be sure that the staff at your hotel is fully aware of the techniques, you should gather the right information from the right sources for your guests and finally be able to provide an exceptional experience to your guests.