In this series of UP2 publications, we will cover a few rules around up-selling ‘productively’ – and by that we mean:
converting upsells at exceptional ratios,
making your guests happy (because you offered them something they actually wanted)
helping your operations staff (because they now have time to prepare for the guest’s needs), and
ensuring your revenue is experiencing an appropriate uplift through ancillary sales.
There are few golden rules we always follow. As there is a lot to say on the subject, we will break this set of rules into several communications, giving you time to consume the ideas and ask questions as needed. We know that you will find them as useful as we have! For those of you who may have missed it, the post about our first rule can be found here.
Rule 2. It’s all about timing
There are numerous ways of examining the timing of what you are selling. Purely for reasons of simplicity (and clarity of the message we are trying to convey) we will split these into five ‘buckets’:
At the time of the booking. We understand this as at the time of the booking of a room, (however narrow this definition may be),
immediately after a room has been booked (on the confirmation pages of the booking engine),
the days after booking and before arrival (A.K.A. Lead-In Time),
during arrival (let’s call this ‘day of arrival’ to encompass more than just the guest standing in front of the reception, as e-commerce savvy hoteliers are now challenging that process quite successfully), and
post arrival (with all the sub-categories that one can assign to this time-frame, such as during-stay, pre-departure, post departure etc.).
The frame of mind of the guest, the time available to you in which to communicate, and the different means of delivering your message, should define your ancillary messages!
During the booking -
Ancillary sales at the time of the booking come with a very narrow process, that is heavily dependent on your booking engine provider (IBE) and their take on what is important/what converts better. The space and opportunity you have to sell here, is narrow. So narrow in fact, that in some circles on-IBE ancillary sales is gaining what I can only describe as notoriety. The thinking (explained roughly) is that if you offer too much choice, you distract the visitor from booking. Ergo, ancillaries are considered a ‘conversion killer’.
In our experience, it is right to be cautious, but there are limits. Selling ancillary ‘stuff’ during the booking of a room, indeed has the potential to distract from the goal (assuming the room booking is your primary goal). One must respect the critical path to conversion, and only tinker with it mindfully.
“One must respect the critical path to conversion, and only tinker with it mindfully.”
A example that comes to mind is asking for restaurant reservations, allergies, exact timings of arrival for the table reservation, how many people will be in the party and so on. Most guests will not be ready to go into that yet. Our recommendation? Keep it generic, provide opportunities for guests to enter the booking from a different angle if they want more than a room (e.g. support a packages or ancillary booking section), and only offer something during the booking of a room if you know it is very likely to sell (as per the previous article on this point).
Immediately after the booking -
An area of ancillary sales where booking engines have (mostly) caught on, is immediately after a reservation is done, directly on the booking engine confirmation pages. (I should mention here that all self-respecting ancillary software providers should offer a very good solution for this if your booking engine hasn’t caught up yet).
Now, this stage has its own opposing voices, recommending caution. Critics talk about confirmation page up-sells as ‘not working’ and the process producing interfacing complications for the internet booking engine provider. I have also heard that it all comes across as ‘penny pinching’ for the guest.
All these points can be valid (if you just slap some stuff on your IBE and hope for the best). Having said that, we now know that the mindset of the booker changes exactly on that page! I cannot highlight this point enough. Confirmation pages is exactly where bookers transform, and become guests! This is an emotional, well-measured and evidenced transition (when I first saw it, I couldn’t believe my eyes). This means that – if tackled cautiously – this page can convert plenty of bookers to happy guests. Plenty!
“Confirmation pages is the point where bookers transform to being guests”
A few of our hotels are using this page to engage the guests by asking for their preferences. Asking what customers prefer, ‘how they would like to experience your hotel’ is congruous with a hotelier who cares; a hotelier who is keen to listen and then deliver. For me, this is the perfect timing to ask these questions, as the ‘dialogue’ (provided the guest does answer) also signals them giving you implicit permission to then propose personalised preference-centric add-ons at the next stage (add-ons must be aligned with the guest’s preferences).
Lead-In Time (LIT) -
There is a lot to unpack here. The LIT is the perfect time to offer all the add-ons that will show your hotel is about more than just a roomnight. This is the right time to explain what is happening in your locale, what are the USPs of the stay. Mindful of timing, and armed with a coherent strategy, you can see what your future guests booked already, identify their preferences (maybe immediately post reservation?) and now offer them something they will want, always aware of their actual arrival date. This last point may need a small additional explanation:
Reservations with two-month LITs should probably be handled differently than those booked two days out. The LIT alone suggests if your guest is planning ahead or not, and can frame the urgency of the content and the ‘dialogue’ around ancillaries. This is a precious, productive timeframe and can really play well for everyone involved. It is during the Lead In Time that money spent is money forgotten (so discretionary spend increases), and the point when you have the opportunity to delight, by selling something more.!
When a hotel becomes our client, this is something we absolutely focus on. We discuss different strategies around different LITs, in combination with sources of bookings, load-balancing, and what the guest has told us already (either directly, by expressing preferences, or indirectly – for example with the type, timing and price of the room they booked).
24 from arrival -
It should be obvious that this is the point for you to offer time-sensitive helpful options and information. Think of your last trip to any hotel, for any reason. How did you feel during the day? Travel is stressful! This is the time to help your guests with useful offers. Examples?
How about early check-in? Especially if your availability is good… your ancillary sales software should be able to look at that, and conditionally offer early check in when the numbers look good!
Contactless check-in/pre-check-in?. Your ancillary sales software should be offering you that too (as it is by far the most efficient way for it to know – and use the information – if a pre-check-in has been completed).
Post arrival -
Again, the options here could not be more obvious. Where is the guest from? Are they traveling far? Maybe a couple of days before departure (for longer than two-night stays) is a good time to offer information about their ‘exit strategy’? It is probably late to talk about in-room preferences, but a perfect time for late check-out offers!
I cannot highlight enough the need for a timing-aware ancillary sales strategy. Ask what you already know about the guest, what more you need to know, and what you need to offer to each group, depending on answers. This can be very good fun to put together, and it becomes even more fun when you start seeing the results!
Naturally, your ancillary sales will not be successful because of timing alone. (In e-commence, almost nothing positive happens because of only one reason - although one mistake can be more than enough for small catastrophes). We strongly recommend
Careful planning of your timing asking questions and then offering add ons,
segmentation of the messages in time-bound categories, and
an ancillary sales software that can help you interpret guest behaviour and convert it to actions.
Thank you for reading,
Joy Killmar
Senior Product Director
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