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From rooms to relationships
The traditional hotel model treats guests as commodities. Financial success is tied to how many rooms are sold and how much additional revenue can be squeezed from each booking. This narrow focus undervalues what really drives long-term growth: loyalty, affinity and repeat engagement.
The future of hospitality lies in reframing the “unit of revenue” from the room to the guest. Every interaction a guest has with a property – whether they book a room, grab a coffee in the lobby, attend an event, or use a coworking space – should be treated as part of their overall experience and an opportunity to deliver value. By tracking the total impact of each guest across all touchpoints, you can capture revenue in ways that go far beyond traditional room sales.
Imagine a hotel where the experience is the primary product, and staying overnight is just one part of it. That shift in perspective opens doors for investors and operators alike.
Unlocking community value
Hotels don’t exist in isolation. They are part of communities, and their spaces can be designed to serve more than overnight guests. Restaurants, bars, gyms, coworking areas, and wellness centers can attract local residents and day visitors, creating new revenue streams while deepening the property’s ties to its surroundings.
In the lobby at Staypineapple’s Boston property, a popular community bar called the Trophy Room takes center stage. This transforms the lobby from a check-in space to a vibrant public hub. Locals and travelers alike come to eat, work or socialize. Many may never book a room, yet they contribute to revenue and, crucially, to the hotel’s reputation and reach. Expanding beyond the room doesn’t just diversify income – it strengthens the property’s role as a community asset.
Similarly, lifestyle hotel brands like Ennismore are generating over 60% of revenue from sources outside accommodation, including F&B, coworking and event spaces. These brands demonstrate that when hotels prioritize guest experience over room occupancy, they unlock both profitability and loyalty.
Measuring what matters
Reorienting revenue models around customers instead of rooms requires new ways to measure success. Traditional KPIs like RevPAR are limited because they tie value exclusively to room bookings. Customer-centric metrics, such as revenue per available guest (RevPAG), track the total revenue generated across a guest’s interactions with a property, whether or not they book a room.
RevPAG allows operators to understand a guest’s lifetime value and capture revenue from experiences, amenities and services that go beyond the night’s stay. It’s a more holistic view of a property’s performance, reflecting the growing expectation that hotels deliver value at every touchpoint.
Implementing these metrics isn’t without challenges. Hotels need integrated systems to unify data from their PMS, RMS, CRM, POS and other platforms to track guest activity and measure total revenue accurately. Standardization, simplicity and cultural adoption are key to making this shift sustainable. But when done right, the result is a measurable, scalable impact on both guest satisfaction and financial performance.
Watch Mews CEO, Matt Welle, explore the value of RevPAG in more detail.
Technology the enabler
Technology isn’t the end goal – it’s the tool that makes customer-centric hospitality possible. Integrated systems allow staff to anticipate guest needs, personalize experiences, and manage diverse revenue streams without adding friction to operations.
Swiss Hotel Apartments, for example, has fully connected their PMS, CRM and concierge services. Staff can track guest preferences, coordinate services across multiple locations, and deliver a seamless experience from check-in to departure. Similarly, Strawberry uses a flexible PMS and AI chatbots to manage check-ins, housekeeping and bookings for multiple experiences, ensuring guests are treated as individuals, not just room numbers.
When technology and human-centered service work together, the result is a hospitality experience that feels personal, intuitive and memorable – and a business model that is both resilient and profitable.
Turning mindsets into results
Adopting a guest-first strategy requires more than technology; it needs a cultural shift. Hotels must train staff to think beyond room occupancy, measure success in guest value, and design spaces and services with flexibility in mind.
Paradise Resort Gold Coast demonstrates how this works in practice, using a unified guest profile to sell experiences like water parks, ice skating and spa services. By doing so, the resort increased revenue, improved operational efficiency, and strengthened customer loyalty – all without relying solely on room sales.
Read more about their success story.
The future of hospitality investment
The message is clear: hotels that continue their narrow focus on rooms are leaving revenue, loyalty and growth on the table. The most forward-thinking operators and investors are now asking different questions: how can a property serve its community? How can we create meaningful connections with guests? How can technology and design work together to make every interaction count?
By treating guests as the base unit of revenue and properties as multi-functional community assets, hospitality brands can unlock new income streams, build long-term loyalty, and deliver experiences that truly matter. This is the future of profitable, sustainable hospitality.
To explore these insights in depth and learn how your property can thrive in a guest-centric world, download the full Skift x Mews report here:
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