A reservations process might not feel like a profit lever. It is. When the process for converting enquiries into bookings is not performing, the missed revenue is invisible. There is no invoice, no complaint, no obvious signal. Just bookings that did not happen.
The challenge
A regional hotel chain was seeing revenue growth slow across its properties. The chain operated at medium to high occupancy with a weekend peak and some strong weekday periods. The financials were tested against benchmarks and the reservations process stood out as underperforming for a group of this type. The process of converting enquiries into bookings was not as effective as it should be.
What we did
We ran a Profit Boost Review across the group. Two years of financials, benchmarked against hotel-specific standards for a group of this size and type. We ran a discovery process with the client and the front office team across the properties to understand how enquiries were being handled, where bookings were being lost, and what the team thought could be done differently.
The recommendations focused on changing the reservations process. A conversion rate target was set, tracked through quarterly reviews over 12 months.
The result
- Additional revenue secured: $205,000 per year, a 2.9% lift in revenue, after the cost of the changes
Achieved within 18 months. The $205,000 is net of what the changes cost to put in place. A process change, a conversion target, and a tracking cycle: review it, quantify it, report it – business then implement it.
