Stayntouch, a global leader in cloud hotel property management systems (PMS) and guest-centric technology, recently made Attribute-Based Selling (ABS) technology available to hoteliers everywhere through the release of UpsellPRO, a dynamic pricing/ABS solution that enables hotels to unbundle room reservations and market individual room features to guests during the booking process.
This follows a report released in partnership with NYU SPS Jonathan M. Tisch Center of Hospitality, which concluded that approximately “half of all respondents with a booking window of more than one month would spend more during booking to have access to attribute-based selling.”
To continue the conversation, Stayntouch assembled a panel of experts to assess the current and future benefits of ABS technology. Among other insights, the experts keyed in on the following benefits for hoteliers:
- Expanded control over the booking process, allowing for targeted delivery of the hotel experience directly in line with guest expectations.
- Increased visibility of property attributes and automated inventory management, allowing for more significant upselling opportunities and operational efficiency.
- Increased price transparency, dynamic pricing, and improved personalization.
Experts weighing in on the discussion included: Flo Lugli, Founder and Principal at Navesink Advisory Group; George Roukas, AI Business Application Advisor for DataArt and president of GAIPAN; John Burns, President of Hospitality Technology Consulting; Klaus Kohlmayr, Chief Evangelist at IDeaS; and Nichole Dehler, VP of Product at Stayntouch.
Here is a summary of their insights:
- ABS is giving hoteliers greater insight into guest preferences and has the potential to influence hotel decision-making, from purchasing strategies to design.
- Hotels that are investing in ABS are creating new differentiators for both investors and travelers due to their ability to deliver a higher level of guest satisfaction alongside increased revenue and upselling opportunities.
- Hotels leveraging ABS see greater engagement with all on-property services and amenities thanks to improved visibility and awareness of all upselling options.
“The greatest benefit for hotels on the cutting edge of ABS is their ability to gain more insight into the guest preferences and offer more personalization opportunities to travelers. For ABS to gain traction, however, the hospitality industry must come to a consensus on how to speak about the technology and better define what it is. Doing so is a necessary step toward having all parts of the hospitality tech stack aligned in identifying and inventorying attributes across the hotel, such as the hotel bed, the guestroom view, its location on property, and more. As the industry matures with ABS, it will be critical to take learnings from the airline industry’s effort in unbundling the product to avoid damaging consumer relations and create ‘shopping fatigue’ from an overabundance of choices.”
Flo Lugli, Founder and Principal at Navesink Advisory Group
“Hotels that can implement ABS and begin delivering experiences based on it will have a significant advantage when attracting new bookings. Consumers naturally want to purchase goods and services this way, and they gravitate toward any delivery system capable of providing this experience. From food to haircuts to cars, we enjoy adding and removing elements until we build the product we want. Innovators today are experimenting with providing ABS capabilities outside of the central reservations system. I hope ABS developers will continue to innovate and the concept continues to gain traction in the near future.”
George Roukas, AI Business Application Advisor and President of GAIPAN, LLC
“Hotels and hotel brands are in just the first of what will be multiple stages in ABS evolution and implementation. As time passes, guests will increasingly be offered the opportunity to ‘create’ their hotel reservation in any sequence, not necessarily starting with reserving accommodation first. The ABS format and the smart building mechanics behind it will allow hotels to offer a much broader array of options to the guests. These elements will be guided by AI-powered tools that draw on a guest’s profile to deliver highly relevant booking options to guests that strongly appeal to traveler desires. To reach this point within our industry, we must develop a clear, industry-wide, and agreed-upon definition of ABS.”
John Burns, President of Hospitality Technology Consulting
“Attribute-Based Selling is giving travelers a degree of control over their hotel stay that they never thought possible, and hoteliers can deliver this experience without overwhelming themselves with unmanageable processes. The best part about today’s ABS deployments is they can be delivered directly through the hotel PMS, automating inventory and room management without relying on a convoluted network of connected systems. Now, any hotel can leverage upselling capabilities to improve their service delivery and revenue growth strategies in an organic way that guests love.”
Nicole Dehler, VP of Product at Stayntouch
“Generally, implementing ABS will increase engagement with your hotel’s shopping cart as more attributes are listed for purchase. While this means hotels with more diverse offerings currently have more ways to benefit from ABS, we are quickly learning about new attributes guests value and new ways to deliver existing attributes in a way that improves the guest experience. A no-frills experience may come with a lower price tag for business travelers willing to stick to the basics, while leisure travelers can sculpt the trip of their dreams without finding an unexpected upcharge during checkout. This technology no longer requires a complicated tech stack, and its potential for revolutionizing hotel profitability is staggering.”
Klaus Kohlmayr, Chief Evangelist at IDeaS
Click here to access Stayntouch’s 2022 report: Traveler Sentiment on Attribute-Based Selling.
