10 Minutes News for Hoteliers 10 Minutes News for Hoteliers
  • Top News
  • Posts
    • CSR and Sustainability
    • Events
    • Hotel Openings
    • Hotel Operations
    • Human Resources
    • Innovation
    • Market Trends
    • Marketing
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Regulatory and Legal Affairs
    • Revenue Management
  • 🎙️ Podcast
  • 👉 Sign-up
  • 🌎 Languages
    • 🇫🇷 French
    • 🇩🇪 German
    • 🇮🇹 Italian
    • 🇪🇸 Spain
  • 📰 Columns
  • About us
10 Minutes News for Hoteliers 10 Minutes News for Hoteliers 10 Minutes News for Hoteliers
  • Top News
  • Posts
    • CSR and Sustainability
    • Events
    • Hotel Openings
    • Hotel Operations
    • Human Resources
    • Innovation
    • Market Trends
    • Marketing
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Regulatory and Legal Affairs
    • Revenue Management
  • 🎙️ Podcast
  • 👉 Sign-up
  • 🌎 Languages
    • 🇫🇷 French
    • 🇩🇪 German
    • 🇮🇹 Italian
    • 🇪🇸 Spain
  • 📰 Columns
  • About us

Most Hotels Don’t Have a Strategy —They Have a “Fill the Beds” Mindset

  • Anders Johansson
  • 12 August 2025
  • 3 minute read
Total
0
Shares
0
0
0

This article was written by Demand Calendar. Click here to read the original article

image

It’s the equivalent of a restaurant saying its strategy is “serve as many plates as possible.” It tells you nothing about who you’re serving, why they should choose you, or how you’ll make them want to return.

Roger Martin, one of the world’s most respected strategy thinkers, is crystal clear: strategy starts with the customer. In our world, that’s the guest. And here’s the truth most hotels avoid — if you don’t build your strategy around a clearly defined guest segment, you’ll end up chasing anyone and everyone. You might fill rooms, but you’ll never fill hearts or build loyalty.

The One Strategy That Works in Hospitality

A hotel only needs one strategy:

Find and target the guests you can deliver the most value to — and make them so satisfied they can’t wait to recommend your hotel to others and return.

That’s it. Everything else is tactics.

Why? Because when you know exactly who you’re for, you can design every touchpoint — from marketing to housekeeping — to serve them better than anyone else. And when you do, you win twice: higher guest satisfaction and higher profitability.

Trending
8 Ways to Strengthen Collaboration Between Hospitality Marketing & Revenue Management Teams

Guests Change — So Should You

Guest needs aren’t static. What delights them today might bore them tomorrow. That’s why strategy can’t be a once-a-year PowerPoint — it must be a living, breathing process that evolves as guests do.

The goal isn’t to meet expectations. It’s to exceed them with positive surprises that make them talk about you, post about you, and book again without hesitation. That requires paying attention, listening, and adapting — continuously.

The Guest Journey: Your Tactical Framework

With the strategy set, the guest journey becomes the perfect way to organize your tactics:

1. Attract – Find the Right Guests

Tactic: Identify where your ideal guests are, understand what they value, and position your hotel to speak directly to them.

  • Define your ideal guest profiles using both demographics and psychographics.
  • Align marketing channels to where these guests naturally spend time.
  • Craft messaging that speaks to their motivations and emotional triggers.

2. Capture – Convert Interest into Bookings

Tactic: Use the proper channels and offers to convert interest from your target audience into direct bookings.

  • Optimize your direct booking engine for simplicity and trust.
  • Offer exclusive direct booking perks that matter to your target guests.
  • Balance pricing between perceived value and profitability — not just market averages.

3. Prepare – Build Anticipation Pre-Arrival

Tactic: Personalize pre-arrival communication and align the experience with the guest’s expectations and desires.

  • Send tailored pre-arrival emails with relevant add-ons (e.g., dining, activities).
  • Gather guest preferences to customize their experience.
  • Coordinate internally so all departments know guest details before arrival.

4. Deliver – Fulfill the Brand Promise

Tactic: Train and empower staff to meet and exceed the needs of the target audience at every touchpoint.

  • Ensure consistency between the promise in marketing and the reality in service.
  • Build signature moments that create memorable, shareable experiences.
  • Give staff the autonomy to respond to guest needs in real time.

5. Review – Learn & Improve

Tactic: Collect feedback and data to refine targeting, processes, and offerings for the target audience.

  • Actively request reviews and make it easy to give feedback.
  • Monitor guest feedback across all channels and respond personally.
  • Use insights to improve targeting, processes, products, and services.

The Choice for Hotels

You can keep chasing anyone with a credit card, fighting price wars, and living month-to-month on occupancy reports.

Or you can choose a single, focused strategy: know your guests, serve them better than anyone else, and make them happy through every stage of their journey.

One path fills rooms.

The other builds a brand.

Which future are you creating?

Please click here to access the full original article.

Total
0
Shares
Share 0
Tweet 0
Pin it 0
You should like too
View Post
  • Hotel Operations

Building Trust & The Network Effect in Hospitality – Andrew Arthurs

  • Josiah Mackenzie
  • 5 October 2025
View Post
  • Hotel Operations

Doug Kennedy’s Next Staff Training Webcast: Hotel Spa Reservations Sales Training

  • Automatic
  • 3 October 2025
View Post
  • Hotel Operations

How to create emotional ROI in hospitality | Oliver Corrin posted on the topic | LinkedIn

  • Oliver Corrin
  • 3 October 2025
View Post
  • Hotel Operations

Total revenue management: Hotel upselling across guest touchpoints

  • Automatic
  • 3 October 2025
View Post
  • Hotel Operations

𝗟𝘂𝘅𝘂𝗿𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝗴𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻. They lose reasons to travel. 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗵𝗶𝘁𝘀, the pace report thins, and the reflex is… | Nicolas Vorsteher | 129 comments

  • Nicolas Vorsteher
  • 3 October 2025
View Post
  • Hotel Operations

Luxury is not a vibe. It’s a discipline. We talk a lot about luxury experiences like they just happen. But do you know what they’re actually born out of? Repetition. Training. Sweat. Discipline… | Natalia Jaramillo

  • Natalia Jaramillo
  • 3 October 2025
View Post
  • Hotel Operations

6 differences between a hotel and a resort

  • Automatic
  • 3 October 2025
View Post
  • Hotel Operations

Age Discrimination Against Veteran Hoteliers: The Brand Experience Paradox

  • Automatic
  • 3 October 2025
Sponsored Posts
  • Winning the World Cup of Demand: A Revenue Management Playbook for Major Events – LodgIQ

    View Post
  • The Practical Guide to Hotel Automation

    View Post
  • 2025 SOCIETIES Quaterly 3

    View Post
Latest Posts
  • STR Weekly Insights: 21-27 September 2025
    • 6 October 2025
  • Leonardo Hotels driving forward growth in Europe in robust fashion
    • 6 October 2025
  • City and Hilton Officials Commemorate Milestone as Signia by Hilton Indianapolis Tops Off at 38 Stories
    • 6 October 2025
  • The guest has arrived. The card hasn’t.
    • 6 October 2025
  • Philippines in focus: Future Hospitality Summit spotlights dynamic Asian tourism and hospitality market with dedicated Country Pavilion
    • 6 October 2025
Sponsors
  • Winning the World Cup of Demand: A Revenue Management Playbook for Major Events – LodgIQ
  • The Practical Guide to Hotel Automation
  • 2025 SOCIETIES Quaterly 3
Contact informations

contact@10minutes.news

Advertise with us
Contact Marjolaine to learn more: marjolaine@wearepragmatik.com
Press release
pr@10minutes.news
10 Minutes News for Hoteliers 10 Minutes News for Hoteliers
  • Top News
  • Posts
  • 🎙️ Podcast
  • 👉 Sign-up
  • 🌎 Languages
  • 📰 Columns
  • About us
Discover the best of international hotel news. Categorized, and sign-up to the newsletter

Input your search keywords and press Enter.