8 Strategies to Grow Hotel Revenue Across Sales, Marketing, and Revenue Management

With shifting demand, rising costs, more channels to manage, and the pressure to get each decision right at breakneck speed, every part of your commercial strategy has to work harder.

That means growing revenue today isn’t just a revenue manager’s job. 

It takes alignment across sales, marketing, and revenue to ensure your commercial goals are met. With so much in motion, knowing where to focus isn’t always obvious. 

And when everything feels urgent, small decisions can make a big difference.

To understand what really works, we sat down with Adam Dick, Senior Director of Revenue Strategy Services at Lighthouse. Adam and his team work with hotels around the world to analyze performance data, pinpoint where revenue is being lost, and help teams take practical steps to improve everything from pricing to positioning and distribution.

He shared eight practical, data-backed strategies that are already being used by top-performing properties. Each one delivers real impact across sales, marketing, and revenue, without adding unnecessary complexity to the day-to-day running of your commercial strategy.

1. Reassess room type premiums to capture missed revenue

Room type pricing is often treated as a set-it-and-forget-it exercise. But even small misalignments between the rates you set and what guests actually pay can quietly chip away at your revenue. 

Start with a detailed look at how each room type is performing, not just in terms of occupancy, but in the ADR it’s actually achieving. Compare the expected price differences between room types to what’s coming through in real bookings. If the numbers don’t match, investigate why.

Look closely at:

• Free upgrades: Are these being offered too freely, especially on high-demand dates? If they’re not tracked properly, they can distort your room type ADR and make it harder to assess the true value of your inventory. One way to shift this from lost revenue to captured value is by putting a structured upsell program in place, ideally one that starts pre-arrival. Whether it’s offering suite upgrades or bundling add-ons like early check-in, even small pre-arrival offers can drive incremental revenue when timed and priced well.

• Business mix by room type. Which segments are booking which room types? If negotiated corporate accounts are consistently placed in higher-tier rooms, is the premium being captured or absorbed?

• Static negotiated rates. Should these have access to premium inventory at all? In many cases, restricting them to standard room types can protect your margins.

Next, benchmark your room type premiums against your comp set using Rate Insight. Pay close attention to day-of-week variation. Leisure and transient guests often book differently on weekends compared to weekdays. Also consider seasonality when reviewing your competitive positioning.

“You might think your suite upgrade is priced competitively, but if your comp set is only charging half that premium on Sundays or during shoulder season, you’ll lose business without realizing why,” Adam says.

Finally, question the structure of your premiums. Are they consistent across the year? Are there times when you could increase the gap or narrow it to boost conversion? The goal isn’t to standardize everything but to be deliberate and informed in how you price each room type.

Tools to help with this analysis:

• Rate Insight to benchmark comp set pricing by room type, day of week, and season

• Business Intelligence to track actualized ADR by room type, business mix, and account performance

2. Capture corporate demand at the front desk

A steady stream of business travelers may already be staying at your property, but without a process to capture that data, it’s difficult to act on. 

“Begin with a simple operational shift at check-in: ask each guest for their company name or reason for stay, and make sure that information is consistently entered into the PMS”, explains Adam. “This helps identify potential new negotiated rate opportunities, especially when the same companies appear frequently without an agreement in place. Once logged, Business Intelligence tools can surface patterns that are easy to miss manually.” 

Look specifically at:

• Which companies are showing up most often

• What their booking patterns look like (length of stay, lead time, frequency)

• Whether their stays overlap with high-demand periods or shoulder dates

Once this data is reviewed, your sales team can approach these companies with tailored rate plans. That strengthens your base business, reduces reliance on last-minute transient bookings, and gives you more flexibility in pricing without risking occupancy.

Tools to support this approach:

3. Enhance OTA visibility with PPC

Visibility on Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) has a direct impact on bookings, particularly during periods of softer demand. When you slip down the rankings, bookings drop.

“Keep a close eye on your property’s placement on major OTAs, especially as low-demand dates approach. If you notice a drop during slower periods or for specific dates, consider using pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns to improve your ranking. Even a small investment, applied at the right time, can move your listing higher and attract more bookings,” says Adam. “Avoid blanket spending. Instead, use your demand forecasts and pickup reports to pinpoint where a visibility boost will make a difference. Once the campaign is live, monitor how your rankings change and whether that exposure leads to incremental bookings. You will want to see not only clicks but conversions, at a rate that justifies the spend.”

Tools to support this approach:

4: Evaluate negotiated account profitability systematically

Long-standing corporate agreements can anchor occupancy, but they can also erode rate if they are not reviewed regularly. Adam recommends a data-first review of every negotiated account to be sure each one still earns its place.

“Start by looking at production. Is the account delivering the number of room nights agreed to? Are those stays falling on low-demand dates, or are they regularly displacing higher-rated business on peak nights?”

Also consider the structure of the agreement. If the account is on a “Last Room Available” (LRA) rate plan, you may be obligated to offer availability even when demand is high. In some cases, moving to a “Non-Last Room Available” (NLRA) structure can protect your inventory during compression periods without losing the account entirely.

“Another option is to limit inventory access”, suggests Adam, “Assign a fixed number of rooms to certain accounts to create more space for transient guests during high-demand windows. This allows you to maintain the relationship while giving revenue management more flexibility”.

Tools to support this analysis:

5: Strategically adjust qualified discounts

Qualified discounts – such as  Advanced Purchase, Semi-Flex, AAA, AARP, senior, or military rates – are often left running in the background without much oversight. But these rate types play a meaningful role in how your property competes for price-sensitive guests, especially during lower-demand periods.

Adam recommends regularly reviewing how these discounts are performing. “Again, start by analysing production,” he explains, “Which discount types are converting? When are they being booked? And are they driving additional volume, or simply undercutting your BAR?”

Benchmark your current discount levels against your competitors to gauge your market competitiveness. If your comp set is offering deeper discounts for the same qualified segments, it could be affecting your conversion. 

Based on demand forecasts, consider flexing your discount percentages more strategically. This can help improve your positioning during specific need periods, especially if you’re falling behind on pace.

Tools to support this approach:

“Which discount types are converting? When are they being booked? And are they driving additional volume, or simply undercutting your BAR?” Adam Dick, Senior Director of Revenue Strategy Services at Lighthouse

6: Price competitively against brand loyalty rates

In markets with a high concentration of branded hotels, loyalty programs can be a major factor in booking decisions. Adam recommends tracking loyalty discounts closely and responding strategically, both in how you compete with those offers and how you manage your own redemption bookings.

“Start by reviewing brand loyalty rates in your comp set. During low-demand periods, they may flex loyalty discounts more aggressively to stay visible to price-sensitive members. If you’re not doing the same, you risk being filtered out or overlooked entirely.”

In addition to base discounts, review how your comp set is pricing point packages. If they’re bundling loyalty points with only a small upcharge, consider whether you can offer a similar package with a slightly lower premium. 

“That way, you capture market share without cutting into your base rates or weakening your positioning.”

Finally, make sure redemption bookings are handled correctly. These are stays where guests use loyalty points instead of paying cash, and the hotel is reimbursed by the brand. 

To ensure that revenue is captured accurately, confirm that your property is meeting any required thresholds and that the reimbursement is posted on the day of stay. If not, your ADR and forecasting can quickly become unreliable.

In some cases, it may be worth flexing your rates slightly to help meet those thresholds, particularly if the reimbursement value outweighs the short-term rate drop. The goal is to protect long-term revenue, not just preserve daily pricing.

Tools to support this approach:

7: Strategic use of length-of-stay pricing

Length-of-stay (LOS) pricing can be a powerful way to increase both revenue and operational efficiency, if it’s used with intention. Adam advises approaching LOS pricing with a clear understanding of your own patterns and a regular view of how your competitors are using it.

Start by reviewing your property’s average length of stay. If, for example, your average LOS is already three nights, offering a discount at that threshold likely won’t shift behavior. In this case, rather structure your LOS discount to apply at four nights or more: “That’s when you’re actually influencing booking behavior rather than rewarding stays that would have happened anyway.”

Next, analyze how your competitors are pricing LOS discounts across different durations, two-night, three-night, and five-night stays, for example. This helps you understand how your comp set is using LOS pricing and where you might differentiate. If competitors are discounting aggressively at shorter stays, that might be a signal to focus your value elsewhere.

The goal is not just to drive volume, but to shape demand in a way that supports both revenue and operations.“Longer stays mean fewer check-ins and check-outs, more time for guests to spend on property, and more chances to capture ancillary revenue through things like dining, spa, or parking,” Adam says.

Tools to support this approach:

8: Dynamic content personalization on direct channels

Leverage data and technology to personalize the content and offers displayed on your direct booking channels (your website and potentially your app). This could include tailoring room recommendations, highlighting specific amenities based on past booking behavior or declared interests, and offering targeted packages or promotions.

“If someone regularly books family suites, don’t show them standard rooms on their next visit,” Adam says. “Put the product they care about front and center, along with the extras that matter to them.”

Similarly, if a user searches for a romantic getaway, your booking engine should respond by showcasing couples’ packages or spa credits – turning lookers into bookers. This makes direct bookings more relevant, enhancing guest experience and driving conversions. 

Tools to support this approach:

Final thoughts

These eight strategies show that meaningful revenue growth comes from a series of clear, purposeful steps rather than a single “big move.” 

More often, it’s the result of many well-aimed adjustments made by people who share the same goal. 

Start by choosing one area – room type premiums, corporate capture, OTA visibility, or whichever tactic exposed the biggest gap – and put a simple action plan around it. 

Measure the results. Learn from what works, and then move to the next item on the list. When sales, marketing, and revenue move in sync, small decisions build on one another and create lasting momentum. The discipline is in choosing the right levers, acting on reliable data, and sticking with the process long enough to see results.

As Adam reminded us, the data is already there. The information you need already sits in your systems. The properties that outperform are the ones that turn those numbers into action.

Turn these strategies into real results; our Revenue Strategy Services team will work with you to identify your biggest revenue opportunities and create an action plan.

Reach out to learn more or to explore the tools referenced in this article.

Joe Hanly

Joe Hanly is a writer and content creator at Lighthouse, helping hoteliers navigate industry trends with clear, engaging storytelling. He believes the best insights come from real experiences – that’s why when he’s not writing about travel and hospitality, he’s out exploring it firsthand. It’s all research. Sort of.

About Lighthouse

Lighthouse (formerly OTA Insight) is the leading commercial platform for the travel & hospitality industry. We transform complexity into confidence by providing actionable market insights, business intelligence, and pricing tools that maximize revenue growth. We continually innovate to deliver the best platform for hospitality professionals to price more effectively, measure performance more efficiently, and understand the market in new ways.

Trusted by over 65,000 hotels in 185 countries, Lighthouse is the only solution that provides real-time hotel and short-term rental data in a single platform. We strive to deliver the best possible experience with unmatched customer service. We consider our clients as true partners – their success is our success.

This article originally appeared on Lighthouse.