Front Desk Upselling: How Hotels Earn More Beyond the Room

Most hotels price their rooms with great care and then leave everything else to chance. Breakfast, a better room, a table at the bar, a spa treatment: guests often buy these only when they happen to ask. Front desk upselling is the most direct way to change that, because reception is the one place every guest passes through, and a well timed suggestion there can lift revenue while making the stay feel more personal.

Pablo Torres, a hospitality consultant who began his career at reception and later worked as a front office manager, has spent more than a decade training hotel teams on ancillary revenue. His view is that hotels have barely started. In his experience, some airlines earn up to 50% of their revenue from ancillary sales and cruise lines around 35%, while hotels sit at roughly 8%.

Why revenue beyond the room matters more now

Hotels traditionally had healthier margins than low cost airlines, so they never needed to work hard on revenue outside the room. Torres argues that this is changing. In some destinations the average rate is already stretched, guests are starting to worry about how high prices are, and the growth in rates has slowed. When you cannot push rates any harder, the remaining lever is what each guest spends during the stay.

That is why he looks past RevPAR, revenue per available room, toward TRevPAR: total revenue per available room or guest, meaning how much each person spends on your premises. The extra is mostly profit, because the cost is already there. Moving a guest from a standard room to a suite changes the hotel's cost very little, while the margin on the difference is high. In a restaurant, he estimates that a suggested starter or an extra cocktail can raise the average ticket by around 10% and in some cases 15%.

What front desk upselling asks of your team

According to Torres, two things hold hotels back: training and technology. Upselling and cross selling are where ancillary revenue usually comes from, and both depend on culture more than on tools. If the team, from the general manager to the receptionist, does not embrace the habit of suggesting the right upsell to the right guest every time, even good software will not move the numbers. The same holds for reservation agent training on the phone.

Many hospitality professionals also dislike selling. Torres has often heard staff ask why they should not simply give the suite away for free to earn a good review. His answer: then you are buying the review. A guest should praise you for great service and facilities, not because they feel they owe you something. The alternative is to sell to needs rather than to push products. He uses airlines as the example: a first class seat between London and Dubai can cost ten times more than economy for the same seven hours, and people pay for comfort, rest and status, not for the champagne.

“If those needs are fulfilled, then the price tag is not really an issue for customers.”

Pablo Torres, 7:58

Seen this way, front desk upselling is a service skill. The receptionist listens, understands why someone is travelling, and offers the option that makes that trip better.

Incentives: the part many hotels get wrong

Sales teams usually earn part of their salary as a bonus, for example on hotel lead generation and closed deals. Yet hotels expect receptionists, waiters and spa therapists to sell as well, often without any reward at all.

“Thing is you cannot expect your team to sell and not get anything back.”

Pablo Torres, 14:39

He describes a property within a large global group that paid its team very low incentives, and its upsell results were poor. Once a clear incentive structure in line with the industry standard was in place, the results multiplied by four, because the team felt their extra effort was recognised.

A second case shows what a complete programme can do. A resort with no upsell culture started from scratch, focusing on reception. Because it offered half board, full board and all inclusive options, the desk had many possibilities. With restructured room and food and beverage packages, training, management buy-in and an incentive programme, it went from zero to a million euro in the first year.

First steps for front desk upselling

For a general manager who wants to start, Torres suggests one room related step, one step outside the room, and a reward for the team:

• Review your room inventory. Even if your website lists only standard rooms, junior suites and suites, you know internally which rooms are better: a corner unit, a higher floor, a better view. Give those a different price that the desk can offer.
• Sell breakfast at check-in. Many guests arrive without breakfast booked and do not know the area, so they will probably eat at the hotel anyway. Committing them at check-in also helps the kitchen plan how many people to expect, so every department wins.
• Set a fair incentive. Give the team a clear reward for what they sell, then build on the results.
• Add technology as you grow. Larger hotels can send pre-arrival messages so guests upsell themselves, and use tools linked to the PMS that tell reception which offer suits which guest at that moment.

The aim across the whole guest journey is that everyone knows what is available. Torres still hears guests say they did not know the hotel had a spa or a restaurant. Whether they use it is their choice, but nobody should leave without the right information.

Beyond reception: food and beverage

Asked about the most underestimated ancillary stream, Torres names food and beverage. Empty glasses that nobody refills, waiters who avoid eye contact while guests look for them: each is a missed chance for both the experience and the revenue. He asks why menu items must cost the same on every day and at every hour, and whether a restaurant knows what each chair or table earns per hour. Applying such KPIs, he says, lifts results without extra effort.

His mantra for the teams he trains connects the desk and the restaurant:

“The customers leave the premises more satisfied than they expected, having spent more money than they had in mind.”

Pablo Torres, 12:43

Where front desk upselling is heading

Torres sees two trends. The first is mobile first: guests check everything on their phones, so every offer must work there. A hotel guest app carries that offer into the stay. The second is data. Hotels collect many data points per guest from the booking and from check-in, and that information in the PMS should shape the offer. A business traveller staying alone from Monday to Thursday should not receive a romantic package. Further ahead, he expects a split between lower tier hotels run mostly by technology and luxury hotels where human talent, from doorman to concierge, becomes the real premium. For the complete discussion, watch the full conversation.

Frequently asked questions

What is front desk upselling?

It is the practice of offering guests a better room, breakfast or another service at reception, usually at check-in. Done well, it starts from the guest's needs rather than from a sales target. The receptionist listens to why someone is travelling and suggests the option that improves that particular stay.

How much revenue do hotels earn from ancillary sales?

In Pablo Torres's experience, hotels earn roughly 8% of revenue from ancillary sources, compared with around 35% for cruise lines and up to 50% for some airlines. He sees that gap as a large growth opportunity, because hotels have historically focused almost only on selling the room itself.

Should hotel staff get incentives for upselling?

Yes, in Torres's view. Sales teams normally earn part of their salary as a bonus, so receptionists, waiters and spa therapists who are expected to sell should be rewarded too. At one property he worked with, a clear incentive structure in line with the industry standard multiplied the upsell results by four.

What is the easiest first step to grow revenue beyond the room?

Torres suggests two quick moves. Review your room inventory and give the best rooms in each category, such as corner rooms, higher floors or better views, their own price for the desk to offer. Then sell breakfast at check-in, since many guests arrive without it and will probably eat at the hotel anyway.