Collaboration is key for hotel revenue, marketing and sales executives

Hotel commercial teams work best when they have a "feedback loop" between the disciplines so that their strategies are aligned

As more hotel companies integrate their sales, marketing and revenue management teams into a unified "commercial" department, leaders in these areas emphasize the importance of understanding the unique strengths and weaknesses of each role and how they can best complement each other.

Key takeaways

• Different roles across the customer journey: Each discipline - sales, marketing and revenue management - plays a critical role at different stages of the customer booking journey, from inspiration and research to planning and booking. Marketing, in particular, has the greatest impact at the top of the funnel;
• Misattributed business credit: While most business credit is given to the booking stage, which typically lasts only one day, the preceding stages (inspiration, research and planning) average about 71 days of the customer journey;
• Importance of early marketing engagement: When hotels only engage in marketing efforts during the booking window, they miss critical opportunities. To achieve substantive, long-term commercial strategy goals, hotels must focus on the entire planning window, not just the final booking stage.

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