How Three Hotel Brands Used eCommerce to Generate Revenue at the Height of COVID-19

A year ago, at the very depth of COVID misery, three hotel brands realized that they needed to change the way they thought about revenue generation if they were going to survive. With the help of the eCommerce platform Hotel Treats, Hard Rock Hotels, Fairmont,  and Kimpton were able to create three different marketing strategies that ended up providing very positive results.  

For four Hard Rock Hotels in the Caribbean, international tourism was collapsing around them, but these hotels figured out that just because tourists are too anxious to travel does not mean they are too anxious to prepay for their stays. So, the hotels started selling open-dated accommodation vouchers with extended validity.  Knowing their vouchers could be used anytime during the next 18 months, consumers were perfectly happy to pay for them upfront. So what was the result? The four Hard Rock Hotel properties sold $1.5 million worth of vouchers between the months of June and September!

The Fairmont in Barcelona found a different solution to the same problem. Realizing that it had a very large population of residents to draw upon, the hotel decided to sell day passes to its spectacular open-air pool, which is situated within a vast, perfectly manicured garden. Locals turned out in force with more than 2000 people paying to access the pool during the first 10 weeks of the summer. This marketing plan netted the hotel more than $60,000 just in day passes. However, the hotel also made money on auxiliary purchases made by the locals including food, beverages and even massages.  

Meanwhile, the Kimpton Vividora realized that its property has more of a business feel and it would need a strategy that played to this particular strength. So it decided to sell both private and co-working spaces. Locals, who found themselves struggling to focus while working from home, were happy to pay for a quiet sanctuary within the hotel. 

While we all hope a return to normal is just around the corner, these hotels will likely continue to use these marketing strategies to bolster revenue for the foreseeable future. Why? The instant cash flow generated by selling hotel experiences, vouchers and short-term rental space is both easy and sustainable. This begs the question, what will your hotel think of to sell next?