17 effective ways to increase hotel sales in 2025

Every hotelier has been there: Staring at the numbers and wondering how to bring in more revenue without hiking prices, slashing margins, or working your team into the ground.

The truth? More sales don’t have to mean more stress. With the right mix of strategy and technology, you can boost revenue, protect profitability, and keep your team focused on delivering the kind of guest experience that gets people talking (and booking again).

In this guide, we’ve rounded up 17 proven hotel sales strategies you can start applying right away.

1. Start with a revenue road map

Before you can start building your revenue strategy, you need to know where your business currently stands, from your bottom line and revenue streams to marketing efforts and online review scores.

Knowing the fixed cost of an available room is essential to calculate how to set the right rate plans, dates for promotions and group sales, and which OTA channels to be active on. With this information, you can create an accurate and personalized road map that will help guide your sales team in the right direction.

Your road map doesn’t have to be formal, but it should accurately reflect your business’s status in terms of finances, reservations, revenue, and costs so that you can plan appropriate goals for the future. Additionally, your road map or hotel business plan will need to be reviewed and revised every year by your sales manager to achieve optimal results.

2. Know your most profitable guests

A key component of hotel marketing is defining your target audience and tailoring your sales process accordingly. You need to understand who your guests are, why they’re choosing to book with you, their booking process, and their main reason for travel, so you can build an effective marketing strategy. The answers to these questions will help you develop guest segments and optimize your marketing and sales activities.

To illustrate, you might notice that your accommodation mainly attracts business travelers between the ages of 35 and 45 and that these guests choose to stay at your property because of your proximity to a convention center that hosts corporate events. Knowing this, you can run unique marketing campaigns and paid ads that promote your property’s optimal location and directly target business travelers.

You may notice you have different guest demographics depending on the season. If this is the case, you can add another guest persona and create appropriate marketing campaigns to target that group. Segmenting your guests and building targeted campaigns is strategic and will provide new ideas for increasing your hotel revenue.

3. Sell the experience over the transaction

In the saturated travel marketplace, it’s essential for hotel properties to showcase what makes them unique. As a hotelier, you need to put your property’s unique value proposition at the forefront of your website and social media accounts so potential guests can imagine their experience before they arrive.

You may think this is hard to do if you have a basic accommodation, but the real differentiation is between offering a transaction and an experience. For example, have your front desk staff greet each guest by name and address them using it for the duration of their stay. These small initiatives can turn a transaction into an experience and boost guest satisfaction. 

Providing a unique guest experience can become a part of your hotel’s value proposition. Staff should address your customers’ unmet needs and problems and make an effort to make them feel special. You’ll also need real-world evidence or customer reviews to help promote the unique offer that you provide. If you can find something to set your accommodation apart, you’ll, in turn, attract more hotel guests and boost revenue.

4. Maximize your reach without losing control

The days of manually updating rates and availability across multiple OTAs are over, or at least, they should be.

A hotel channel manager connects your PMS to every major booking channel in real time, so no matter where a room sells, it instantly updates everywhere else. No more double-bookings or rate inconsistencies, just a clean, automated flow that keeps your inventory in sync.

For hotels, it’s more than just “being everywhere,” but strategically using online travel agencies (OTAs) while protecting margins. With the right mix of direct and third-party channels, then pull them into your own ecosystem for the next stay. Let OTAs introduce you and then make sure you own the relationship.

5. Build your direct channel

You can use a booking engine to counterbalance the reservations you get through OTAs and boost direct bookings that are commission-free and processed via your hotel website. A booking engine will allow visitors to book their reservations directly on your website or on social channels like your Facebook page. Optimize your hotel website pages for SEO to drive as much direct traffic to your website as possible.

With an integrated booking engine, potential guests have a seamless way to book their reservations or add-ons (room upgrades, late checkout, breakfast, and more). Always take advantage of cross-selling opportunities on your website.

Be sure to follow up a direct booking with a confirmation email to assure guests that your hotel is legitimate, and send communications closer to check-in as a welcome with detailed instructions.

6. Make your network part of your sales team

Building strong relationships with other businesses in the local community is another great way your hotel can generate more revenue.

To get started, research local businesses and who may benefit from a co-marketing arrangement. Many businesses and organizations can refer your accommodation, such as travel agencies, tour operators, conference centers, schools, and more. See if you can make a deal where they recommend your property in exchange for a commission fee.

Next, enhance your hotel’s package offerings. For example, you can advertise partnerships with local tour companies and offer add-ons. Co-creating clever packages in collaboration with local providers can lead to new upselling sources.

7. Dynamic pricing as your default

In today’s market, static pricing is revenue left on the table. Demand changes by the hour, not the quarter, and your pricing strategy should move just as fast. Dynamic pricing is now the backbone of a high-performing revenue strategy.

This is where sales and revenue management need to work hand in hand. Your sales team knows the groups, events, and partnerships in the pipeline; your revenue team knows how to price for maximum profitability. Together, they can fine-tune rates in real time to capture demand at the right price, in the right channel, for the right guest segment.

The best way to pull this off is with revenue management technology that integrates directly with your PMS. A smart system can track market shifts, competitor rates, and booking curves automatically, then recommend (or apply) the optimal price instantly.

8. Think mobile-first

Making your website responsive and adaptive for mobile is no longer an option; it’s a necessity. Data from Booking.com shows that almost half of room nights (48 percent) were booked on its mobile app, an all-time high. 

Simply put, if you want to get more bookings and increase hotel revenue, having a mobile-ready site is a necessity.

The widespread nature of mobile technology is also changing consumers’ expectations. It’s not enough to have a shrunken version of your website as your mobile page. Your mobile site needs to have a unique design. Millennials and Gen Z expect a speedy, sleek, and personalized mobile experience. If you don’t optimize your site for mobile, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity to grow your hotel’s occupancy rate.

9. Up your digital marketing game

Make sure you cover all the fundamental digital marketing channels. Firstly, ensure that your information is accurate and up-to-date wherever potential guests find you.

From your social media networks and website to your Google My Business listing and OTA profiles, travelers will research your business online to check reviews or find specific information. Look up your property name on any search engine to see it through their eyes.

Secondly, you can use digital marketing tools to your advantage. You can create engaging social media campaigns, try a new social channel such as TikTok, or automate email campaigns aimed at returning guests or corporate partners.

To get the most out of your different social channels, ensure you are tracking specific metrics such as engagement, impressions, and reach to identify what strategies work well. Continually test and iterate on these to run successful digital marketing campaigns.

10. Let your visuals do the selling

Few things will captivate travel planners more than high-quality images.

Images of your property have the potential to visually tell a story and entice travelers to make a booking. Research has shown that 67% of consumers consider clear, detailed images to carry more weight than a long description (54%) and customer ratings and reviews (53%). Not to mention that many OTA sites will reject low-quality images, making it difficult to get your listing approved.

Your photos should help potential guests imagine themselves at your property. This emotional appeal will engage people more with your listing and help increase your revenue. A study from Expedia discovered that hotel listings with high-quality photos have a 63% higher click-through rate than those without. So, when it comes to images, it’s good to remember that the higher the quality, the higher the likelihood of conversion.

11. Go big on group business

Depending on your property, you could attract large groups who prefer to book at larger hotels or smaller groups looking for a more personalized experience. Here’s how you can target these three types of group bookings:

Intimate weddings – many people have smaller wedding gatherings with fewer than 30 guests. Use photos from past events to showcase your property’s potential.

Family reunions – develop reunion-specific packages that may include custom menus and group room-rate discounts. These groups can often be a great opportunity for repeat business if it’s an annually hosted event. 

Corporate groups – connect your property to a global distribution system (GDS) that will get your inventory in front of business travelers and their booking partners. Be sure to advertise your meeting spaces and coworking facilities if applicable. 

To win group business, you’ll have to invest in prospecting and become an expert at the RFP process. We’ve put together a comprehensive guide on group business to help you master this market segment.

12. Use revenue intelligence to act

The most competitive hotels don’t just watch the market; they anticipate it, using analytics and automation to act before demand shifts, not after.

Revenue management technology, especially when powered by causal AI, goes beyond tracking competitor rates and booking curves. It analyzes the “why” behind demand patterns, helping you understand which factors truly drive bookings so you can make pricing and inventory decisions with confidence.

With the right system, you can:

• Monitor competitors’ rates, occupancy, and distribution in real time.

• Forecast demand using forward-looking data, not just historical trends.

• Avoid costly errors like overpricing low-demand nights or underpricing peak dates.

• Automate price updates with rules that reflect your strategy

13. Stay restrictions to protect peak nights

Rather than hiking rates or selling out quickly on busy nights, consider adding stay restrictions, such as closed-to-arrival or a minimum length of stay, to boost occupancy on shoulder nights.

Stay restrictions can be beneficial if events are going on in your city, such as concerts, conferences, or festivals, and over periods such as holiday weekends or spring break.

14. Maximize every inch of inventory

Identify your different room types and categorize them to increase your revenue per available room (RevPAR). Charge premiums for not only suites and popular rooms but also for value-added features like larger rooms, a better view, preferred bed configurations, and attributes like balconies, fireplaces, wet bars, and pool access.

In addition to room inventory, properties must be aware of their secondary inventory or any other items they are providing guests. This ranges from toiletries to gift shops and restaurants on-site. Carefully monitor this inventory to ensure that you aren‘t being wasteful and ordering more than necessary.

15. Capture ancillary revenue

In the hospitality industry, there are many additional ways to increase guest spending through upsells and sales of room amenities, room service, incidentals, and special services. Consider adding in other services such as:

• Airport transportation
• Mini-bar stocked with drinks and snacks for purchase
• In-house laundry
• Paid breakfast
• Co-working spaces
• Guided tours

16. Turn reviews into your strongest pitch

Reviews matter more than almost anything in today’s world. More than just winning over travelers, reviews are also a significant ranking factor for AI-driven travel recommendations. 

In the Signals Behind Hotel AI Recommendations Report, we found that 100% of properties recommended by GenAI platforms had strong guest ratings and high review volumes across major platforms, with an average sentiment score of 75 out of 100.

Therefore, it’s important to have a reputation management strategy in place to collect and respond to guest reviews. A proactive reputation management strategy should include:

• Collecting feedback early in the stay via surveys to identify and resolve issues before they become public reviews.

• Following up post-stay to encourage reviews on platforms like Google Business, TripAdvisor, and OTAs.

• Actively responding to both positive and negative feedback to demonstrate engagement and care.

Strong, consistent reviews don’t just build trust with guests—they increase your odds of being surfaced by AI, boost your SEO rankings, and protect your rates by proving your value.

17. Build loyalty that drives repeat revenue

No matter how a guest stumbles upon your property, it’s up to you to foster that relationship to encourage recommendations and repeat stays.

Ensure that you collect relevant details, including email, phone number, birthday, reason for staying, and communication preferences. Using this information, you can reach out mid-stay via guest messaging technology to offer upsells and add-ons, along with implementing remarketing tactics post-stay to build loyalty and entice guests to return.

It’s important not to bombard guests with communications. Instead, develop a loyalty program (it doesn’t have to be complicated) with ways you can add value through personalized offers and outreach. For example, on a guest’s birthday, send them a special happy birthday message along with a discount code and a free offer (like a spa treatment). These timely and relevant offers can build loyalty and increase hotel sales.

From strategy to reality

The right mix of sales strategies can transform your hotel’s revenue without adding chaos to your day. The key is execution, and that’s where the right technology changes everything.

With a unified platform, your sales, marketing, and revenue teams can work from the same data, act on real-time insights, and seize opportunities the moment they appear.

Whether it’s optimizing your channel mix, building loyalty, or staying visible in AI-powered travel planning, you don’t have to tackle it all manually. The right tools do the heavy lifting so you can focus on delivering the kind of guest experience that keeps revenue climbing.