By Noelani Schroy, VP of Commercial Strategy, LodgIQ.
Break the Mold: Lessons from the Savannah Bananas
Unpopular opinion: I don’t like baseball. At all.
That said, I can’t wait to see the Savannah Bananas in action. If you haven’t heard of this minor league baseball team, they’re famous for breaking all the rules of traditional baseball and succeeding because of it. Their owner, Jesse Cole, built the Bananas around a simple philosophy: don’t do what everyone else does.
Now, what does this have to do with revenue leadership? Plenty.
In the hospitality industry, we love talking about how we’re different: our hotel’s unique story, brand, or experience. But when it comes to setting pricing strategies, many revenue teams still fall into a trap I call “Comparisonitis.” This is the over-reliance on competitor rates to guide decisions at the expense of truly understanding your guests.
The Problem with “Comparisonitis”
It sounds logical: keep a close eye on what your competitors are charging, and adjust accordingly. But is it really the best strategy?
Think about it:
- What if your competitor’s pricing strategy isn’t working?
- What if they raised rates by $50 when they could’ve gone $70 higher and now you’re both leaving money on the table?
- What if your guests would’ve paid more for your unique value, but you undershot by following the crowd?
The truth is, focusing too heavily on competitor benchmarks leaves you vulnerable to their mistakes. Worse, it distracts from what really matters: how your guests behave and respond to your pricing.
It’s time to shift focus. Instead of copying your comp set, focus on your consumers: their buying habits, your historical data, and forward-looking insights from the wider market.
Focus on Your Consumers, Not Your Competitors
Here’s a challenge: When setting pricing, how much are you relying on your guest data versus following the herd?
Many revenue leaders look at their competitor hotels’ published rates and assume they’ve got it right. But what if you could see exactly what your consumers were willing to spend and responding accordingly?
This is where consumer-centric data comes in. Instead of just tracking a handful of hotels in your comp set, forward-thinking leaders analyze:
- Hotel pacing data: How fast are your rooms selling relative to market demand?
- Market-level pacing trends: What does the wider market (not just eight competitors) tell you about demand and pricing elasticity?
- Consumer behavior insights: How are buyers behaving across industries, like airlines, and how can that inform your strategy?
By putting your guests at the center of your decisions, you gain insights that competitors simply can’t offer.
Why Copying Competitors Is Risky Business
Over-reliance on competitor rates isn’t just inefficient, it’s risky.
1. Missed Revenue Opportunities
When you base decisions on competitor moves, you’re betting that they know the market better than you do. But what if they’re playing it safe? By not analyzing consumer data, you might be missing untapped demand or pricing opportunities unique to your property.
2. Price Fixing Concerns
Here’s a hidden danger: focusing on comp sets that include hotels within the same brand as yours could leave you vulnerable to accusations of price fixing. Legal concerns aside, this strategy stifles creativity and keeps your revenue potential capped.
3. Competitive Disadvantage
Hotels that embrace AI-driven insights and consumer-centric data will outpace those stuck in the status quo. While others play copycat, these leaders capture more market share by setting prices that reflect real-time demand and consumer willingness to pay.
Don’t risk falling behind. Choose tools that give you a full view of consumer trends and actionable insights.
Break Down Barriers: Stop Working in Silos
Here’s the kicker: even if you want to make better decisions, fragmented data can hold you back.
Revenue teams often work in silos, disconnected from sales and marketing. Manual processes slow everything down, making it hard to respond quickly to market changes. What’s worse, legacy systems with outdated interfaces don’t deliver the AI-driven recommendations needed to adapt to fast-moving trends.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Platforms that consolidate siloed data into clean, actionable insights make it easier to align across teams, spot trends faster, and optimize revenue in real time.
Be a Leader, Not a Follower
At the end of the day, being a revenue leader means setting the standard, not copying it.
Stop assuming your competitors are smarter or better informed than you. Go “Bananas” and focus on your consumers, not the crowd!
Ask yourself:
- Are you analyzing your hotel’s pacing data along with the market’s?
- Are you studying consumer trends and booking behaviors across industries?
- Are you giving your teams the tools they need to unify data and make better decisions?
By focusing on forward-looking insights and actionable data, you’ll build a strategy that stands out, one that’s optimized for your guests and your property, not your competitors’.
Break Free from Comparisonitis
To make smarter decisions, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel, you just need a better roadmap. Tools like LodgIQ give revenue leaders the clarity and confidence to set pricing based on real consumer data, not just the competition.
So go ahead. Break the mold. Be bold. And lead the way with smarter, consumer-focused decisions.
FAQs
What is Comparisonitis in revenue management?
It’s the tendency to over-rely on competitor pricing when setting rates, often at the expense of focusing on consumer data and demand trends.
Why is focusing on consumer data better than competitor benchmarking?
Competitor strategies are often conservative or misaligned with your unique guests. Consumer data gives you insights into actual buying behavior, allowing you to optimize pricing more effectively.
How can LodgIQ help?
LodgIQ provides AI-driven insights and tools that consolidate data, deliver actionable recommendations, and help revenue teams make smarter, faster decisions.
