Summary: In the past 12 months, as hotels try to recoup losses sustained from the pandemic, revenue managers are under greater pressure to find revenue wherever they can. Stay extensions can offer a quick and easy way to add incremental revenue and considerably increase the bottom line.

Traditionally, when it comes to hotels and stay extensions people would normally and duly assume it to mean adding an extra day or days to a guest stay. In more recent years early check in and late check out have also been call of stay extensions but are often not monetized. Why?

Charging for early check-in and late check out for some hotels is controversial. Hoteliers don’t want to be seen as ‘nickel and diming’ their guests on the phone or in-person. But given that early check-in and late check out are recognizably “room rent” or an extension of a reservation, they both should be yielded just like normal rates are.

Oddly, there is a feeling amongst revenue managers that people just won’t pay for either early check in or late check out. But the opposite is true. Offering guests the option of early check in and late check provides the flexibility they want.

While some upselling software solutions exist, one of the biggest issues is that most do not forecast actual room-by-room inventory usage. So even if a guest purchases early check-in, if availability is not verified, the sale may not be fulfilled, leading to a poor customer experience.

In our current time of low demand and lower-than-usual occupancy, hotels should look at what they already have and focus on maximizing the value. Instead of rooms just sitting empty, they should be used to offer early check-ins or late check-outs to your existing guests. When done right, automated stay extensions are a quick and effective way to achieve additional high margin revenue.

Read the full article here.