Hourly bookings are marketable to a variety of guests and increase hotel revenue by filling rooms that might otherwise go unsold. They provide an opportunity to generate an income from hotel spaces outside of your guest rooms. Hourly bookings can be lucrative and set your property apart from the competition. All it takes is the right approach—and the right kind of booking system.
Read on for ways to attract guests who aren’t necessarily in it for the long haul but can still boost your bottom line.
Hourly bookings appeal to multiple guest segments, i.e., companies, remote workers, travelers looking to relax between flights or before an event, locals, and road warriors (they can pull off the highway for a quick nap!).
In addition to bringing in new guest segments, hourly bookings enable otherwise empty rooms and spaces to generate revenue. As of May 2024, the global hotel occupancy rate was 68 percent, which meant that 32 percent of rooms were sitting empty. There’s space for hourly bookings, though you should take your demand and seasonality into account.
Selling rooms by the hour provides a way to offer an affordable price point without devaluing your rooms. In addition, it raises your ancillary revenue by giving guests the chance to use your amenities for the day.
Hourly bookers seek comfortable spaces and quality amenities. However, each hourly guest segment has unique requirements, so know your audience and tailor amenities to them.
Business Travelers
Post pandemic, global business travel is on the upswing with an increase of 30 percent between 2022 and 2023. A significant portion of business travel involves meetings, conferences, and events, which require rooms and spaces that can be reserved by the hour.
Meeting and event spaces should have strong Wi-Fi, comfortable seating, and user-friendly AV equipment (no one wants to spend 15 minutes figuring out what plugs in where). They should also be accessible to all, either on the ground floor or near the elevator. If you offer catering options, consider sourcing local food vendors and include choices for people with dietary restrictions.
With one quarter to one half of the American labor force working remotely at least part time, there’s an opening in the market for coworking spaces as well. These spaces attract workers seeking an office environment without the 90-minute commute. Whether you provide a shared coworking space or a private guestroom, the ability to book by the hour is especially appealing to those who don’t have a quiet place to concentrate at home.
Ensure business travelers have everything they need to be productive, including fast, secure Wi-Fi, plenty of outlets, access to a printer, and ergonomic desks. If you have the budget, consider turning it up a notch with sound-proof call pods and games guests can use for a brain break. Shuffleboard, anyone?
Nappers
Renting a room for a nap appeals to roadtrippers and tourists who want to rest between flights or sightseeing. Hourly room bookings are also convenient for both personal and professional day-use purposes, allowing guests to take advantage of your property’s other facilities too, like your pool.
If your hourly guests are paying to catch some zzz’s, make sure they get their money’s worth with top-quality mattresses and bedding as well as blackout curtains or blinds. Bonus points for sleep tourism amenities such as pillow menus, soothing scents, and white noise machines.
Locals
It’s easier for guests to come back again if they live in the area, so don’t overlook the locals! Consider staycation offerings like wellness sessions (see below) and family packages. The kids can do arts and crafts while the parents enjoy a spa treatment. Local remote workers may be interested in your coworking spaces and amenities too.
Event Goers
The Eras Tour may be over, but the music lovers amongst us may still need a place to crash for a few hours before a concert or special event. Keep up with events happening in your area and tailor your packages and offerings accordingly. The chance to refresh in your pool or take a nap in one of your luxurious beds before a long night of dancing is even more enticing if it includes an official band t-shirt!
Caveat: If the event is very popular, and demand is high, you’ll want to sell full-night bookings at a higher rate.
Wellness Seekers
Wellness tourism is still on the rise, with the market expected to reach $1.35 trillion by 2028. Guests seek everything from physical fitness to spa services and cryotherapy, but there’s no need to worry if that cryotherapy chamber is out of your budget.
Promote access to your gym, pool, restaurant, yoga classes, and spa treatments to hourly room bookers to sweeten the deal.
Foodies (aka Everyone)
Every guest loves a good meal, and 86 percent of vacationers even say that this plays a critical role in getting them to return to a previous destination. Give hourly bookers access to your restaurant, cafe, and room service and be creative. What about offering a snack basket full of local goodies or fresh baked cookies to welcome guests in the door? And those road warriors could definitely use a cup of coffee…
Market hourly bookings and amenities across your website, social media channels, and OTAs. There are even third-party booking platforms that specialize in hourly reservations, such as Dayuse and HotelsByDay.
To manage hourly bookings efficiently and effectively, you need the right software. From tracking availability to coordinating housekeeping to communicating with guests, the administration of hourly bookings should be properly integrated into your operations. An Excel spreadsheet won’t be enough. Overseeing these reservations through your property management system, as you do with regular bookings, is best.
Bookings
WebRezPro allows properties to manage hourly reservations from a designated hourly calendar, which displays all units that have been set up as bookable by the hour. To make a reservation, clerks simply select an available room and time slot on the calendar. Clerks can also view and edit existing bookings directly from the calendar.
In addition, you can choose to display existing hourly bookings on the main tape chart along with overnight reservations, giving you a full picture of availability.
Housekeeping
Offering hourly bookings comes with additional operational considerations, though the right software streamlines these as well. For instance, housekeeping has to increase if the room is occupied multiple times in the same day. (That nap feels a lot less relaxing if there’s someone else’s hair on the pillow!)
WebRezPro’s housekeeping functions enable staff to stay on top of the workload with checklists available for each room type, ensuring standards are maintained across the property. The housekeeping report can be organized into zones, filtered, and sorted, helping housekeepers prioritize effectively. The mobile-optimized report makes it easy to access and update information on the go, boosting productivity. Fully integrated with reservations, housekeeping updates are immediately visible to front desk clerks so they know which rooms are ready to check guests into.
Self Check-in
Self check-in is a boon for guests on a tight schedule. With it, they can skip the line and breeze to their room to relax. WebRezPro offers a full suite of self check-in features and integrations, including digital guest registration, payment processing, and mobile keys.
With the right technology and amenities in place, you can seamlessly integrate hourly bookings into your hotel operations to generate more revenue and offer guests additional services that help you stand out from the competition. Contact us for a free demo to see how WebRezPro can make managing hourly bookings a breeze at your property!
