Up- and cross-selling: An interesting conversation with Booking.com!
Hotel guests want the smoothest possible booking process where they can order all the necessary products or services in one place for an unforgettable trip. Hotels and B&B's also benefit from a smooth booking process in order to make upselling and cross-selling as easy as possible. But what exactly is up- and cross-selling and how do hotel owners benefit from this? We talked to Dieter Jacobs, account manager at Booking.com.
What's the difference between up- and cross-selling?
Upselling means selling a more expensive room type, in other words recommending a more expensive product within the same type of product. Cross-selling means that within the product range that you offer as a hotel, you start selling other services next to your rooms. For example, adding a breakfast option to a booking.
What are the advantages of up- and cross-selling for hotel owners?
Upselling has the advantage that a hotel can sell more expensive room types, allowing it to always keep the most sold room, which is usually also the cheapest room, available on the market and therefore generate more visibility.
When guests book a more expensive room, it is often the case that these guests will also write a better review, which is good for the online presence.
Cross-selling relies on the fact that a hotel has several products to offer. Hotel owners are not only getting their income out of the room reservation, but this income will be divided over the different departments that are present in the hotel.
"Upselling has the advantage that more expensive room types are sold so that the cheaper rooms always remain available and there is more online visibility."
What are the current trends in cross-selling?
We see different technologies emerging. Such as ‘concierge desk’ where a tablet is placed in the hotel room. This is specifically for the hotel business in order to be able to cross-sell, but we also see that more and more companies are interested in offering other services in a hotel, such as nearby activities. From the moment the guest is present in the accommodation those activities can be booked. Another example is restaurant reservations.
How do you see the future of up- and cross-selling for hotel guests?
Looking at the future, it should be made possible to do cross- and upselling as seamlessly as possible. There will be a great deal of technology involved. It should be possible that a guest can add an extra product or upgrade their booking from any device at any time and that all this automatically ends up with the right retailer. Guests should easily be able to add the necessary products to their trip.
Do you want to get started?
Would you like to know more about up- and cross-selling and start applying it to your own sales? Don't hesitate to ask a question using the form below.
