Effective Strategies to Increase Room Service Revenue: Innovative Ways to Boost Your Profits

For guests, room service symbolizes convenience and luxury in the hospitality industry for centuries. It allows delivery of food, beverages, and many other amenities to guests in the comfort of their hotel rooms. It takes an incredible strategy to turn room service into a profitable business division. As a hotelier, you must know how to increase room service revenue to pool maximum revenue from all the operational costs involved.

Room service is an umbrella that covers more services such as the delivery of clean and crisp linen, new toiletries, newspapers, complimentary items like milk, chocolates, etc., and even picking up food trays after eating, among many others. The idea behind all this is to make the guest's stay as pleasant and comfortable as possible. In short, it is all about delivering everything to the guest rooms, whatever they want and whenever they want. 

Current Trends In Room Service

The dynamic world of the hospitality industry has seen engrossing trends in hotel room services. These trends go a long way to attracting more customers, giving them more comfort, saving operational costs, and earning more revenue. Here are some of the latest trends that you need to check out to increase revenue in room service. 

• Room service apps: To be very precise, this is already happening. It allows guests to raise room service requests via their smartphones. The best part is that it enables hotels to keep track of those requests for timely completion. Room service apps are excellent tools for hotels to improve their guest service level to earn their trust. 
• Voice-enabled in-room technology: It allows hotel guests to place room service orders through simple voice commands, eliminating the need for phone calls or physical menus. This technology not only enhances the guest experience but also improves efficiency and reduces costs for hotels. Plus, the system's ease of use and speed can help hotels earn more room service revenue, as guests are more inclined to order additional items when the process is effortless. 

How to Increase Room-Service Revenue?

A well-thought-out room service strategy is sure to take you places. We have you covered if you want to discover the secret mantra for amplifying room service revenue. Here is a compilation of the best hotel room revenue strategies to help you achieve your room-service revenue goals!

Audit the items on your room service menu

If you want to know how to increase room service revenue,  then begin with an audit of the room service menu. Eliminate the items that are unpopular among guests, optimize the most-ordered ones, and add new items that you think can enhance sales. Only proper data analysis can help you accomplish this task. Data collected from apps, room service receipts, and hotel record bases are crucial sources.  Also, you cannot ignore customer feedback and survey analyses to garner all the data you need. There are plenty of ideas to increase revenue from food and beverage. 

Here is how you should go about it!

• Study the past year's food and beverage menu and identify the best and worst-selling items 
• Understand seasonality and figure out what sells best in which season
• Evaluate external data from competitors and find out what items are gaining popularity
• Research and figure out the most in-demand items and put them up on your menu with special offers

Provide personalized room service

Guests' preferences evolve continuously, and so should your room service. Contemporary hotels have resorted to added facilities rather than mere in-room dining. We are now witnessing juice dispensers and coffee brewers in rooms. Added facilities like an in-room spa can add to your guests' relaxation experience. Bring on a little extra to make them feel special, such as cake and flowers for birthday and anniversary guests. Focus on improving room service sales with personalized services, and revenue will follow suit. 

Improve efficiency and processes

There is no point in strategizing a lucrative room service plan if you are not able to execute it properly. It all depends on how perfectly and quickly you deliver the orders. Responsiveness to customer queries is surely an uptick in your performance. You must work with a focus to improve hotel services. 

Additionally, opt for decentralized room service, splitting your room service team from the main kitchen. Allocate a special team to oversee it if you are a large hotel; you can even have individual pantries for each floor. 

A hotel app or in-room tablets can be used by guests to place orders and communicate with room service staff. This will ensure customer convenience, effective communication, and the elimination of room service delays.

Understand your guests’ needs

A recent review on TripAdvisor read, "I recently had the unfortunate experience of ordering room service at (hotel name), and I must say, it was quite disappointing. The entire process was a hassle and left much to be desired.

The menu had limited options, and when I called to inquire about alternatives, the staff seemed disinterested and unhelpful. I reluctantly had to resort to ordering the item on the menu, the delivery of which was delayed. To add to my woes, the food was cold and the quality subpar. This experience was frustrating, especially after a long day of travel when I was looking forward to a quick and convenient meal. 

Overall, my room service experience at (hotel name) was pathetic, and I am unlikely to consider visiting it soon."

Now, ask yourself the following questions so you can get it right:

• Can guests place an order quickly and easily?
• Can guests easily communicate with the staff?
• Are food and beverages delivered without any mess and at the right temperatures?
• Is the staff friendly and responsive?
• Can you facilitate offering customized guest orders? For example, it's their anniversary and you may offer something extra
• Is customization possible on your menu items?
• Are food and beverages presented well with superior quality taste and appearance? 
• Do your products go well with your brand and theme?

Analyze where you stand with these questions. Improve on the areas that need to be worked upon. Room service is more than just the complimentary breakfast tray. It encompasses a wide array of facilities that ensure a guest's comfort, convenience, and luxury. You must take it beyond the room to enhance the feeling of comfort for guests.

Promote your room service for maximum impact

Promote your room service for maximum impact

If you have everything in place such as room service, an updated menu, digital ordering methods, efficient staff, and instant customization facilities, but you are still not getting the revenue you expect, it could be because you are not promoting your services enough. To increase your revenue, you need to make potential guests aware of what you have to offer.

It would help if you run promotional campaigns to make the most of all the investment, effort, and time you put into upgrading your room service. 

Here is all you can do: 

• Promote your room service offers on your app
• Distribute samples of your best items in your lobby or other busy areas of your property
• Place QR codes and welcome notes in rooms
• Stick advertising leaflets and posters in stairways or elevators
• Share positive comments and reviews about your room service on social media
• Advertise your room service offers at the time of booking on booking engines or your website

Excellent promotional initiatives will surely attract more guests, giving you ample chances to upsell. Say, for instance, you can offer complimentary room service if they choose to upgrade their room or provide additional services such as spa, luxury dining, travel guides, etc, at special packages. 

Room service strategies are bound to evolve with time and guests' changing preferences. As a hotelier, you need to know how to increase room service revenue to stay in the game and reap its rewards. To be a pro at this game, you must adapt to market trends and understand customer needs. But one thing is critical here - improving guest experience by offering top-notch services.