A Case Study: Finding New Revenue Streams for a Big Box Hotel – SSP

June 28, 2021

A computer screen - Unsplash Austin Distel

A Case Study: Finding New Revenue Streams for a Big Box Hotel

A 417-room big brand resort in Orlando, Florida was stagnant on generating new hotel revenue streams.

The property had long enjoyed being the leader in group business in its market, based on having more meeting space than average and a stellar event reputation.  However, two new competitors opened nearby, challenging the subject property’s ability to rely on its previous strong group base of business.

Like many group houses over the last year, the resort that could previously rely on 70% of group business was suddenly faced with:

  • New competitors that have depleted group occupancy.
  • Food and Beverage revenues in decline as a result of fewer banquet events.
  • Ancillary revenues declining with occupancy loss.
  • Leisure and transient business strategies inadequate for changes in demand.

The Strategy: Create New Initiatives & Find New Hotel Segments

Leadership had to rethink overall market segmentation strategies to continue to promote RevPAR and TRevPAR growth, so we walked through the following items in detail:

  • Production by channel compared to the market
  • Competitive market segmentation
  • Ancillary spend by segment
  • Distribution costs variables of each channel and market segment
  • Leadership’s perceived limitations based on history  

Each of the above items was heartily discussed, and the team came up with a new strategy by segment and by channel including:

  • Addition of previously unneeded channels, such as base wholesale and opaque
  • A robust digital marketing strategy to promote the resort and drive traffic to brand.com
  • Re-strategizing seasonality and pricing based on new market dynamics
    • Alignment with new properties and brands in the market
    • Repositioning for weekdays
    • Re-alignment of the sales team to focus on the group segments that were experiencing demand
  • Adjusted room type names and descriptions
    • Created guest value for views and balconies
    • Created revenue opportunities for room sales
    • Retrained the Front Office team on upselling strategies

The Results: Brand New Markets & Portfolio Revenue Success

We went to work with the new strategies and quickly deployed each of the initiatives listed above.  The tracked results through the first 120 days were outstanding!

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