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We don’t know our most profitable guest mix

The house is full and revenue looks fine — but which guests bring the profit and which merely fill beds, nobody knows for sure.

Typical for: resort hotels with half board and long stays · city hotels mixing corporate, groups and OTA · properties that only track occupancy and average rate

Documented by Hospis

Updated: 9 September 2026

How you recognize it

  • We don’t know the contribution of an OTA guest versus a direct booker after commission, F&B and effort
  • Segments such as corporate, groups, regulars and families aren’t consistently tagged in the PMS
  • Special terms for groups and partners date from earlier years and were never re-evaluated
  • In high season cheap segments occupy the house while high-value enquiries are turned away
  • Length of stay and ancillary spend per segment are unknown
  • Decisions about allotments are made by gut feeling, not by numbers

Matching Hospis

OT

Olivia Torrente-Dorninger

Sales · Revenue · Marketing — Palma de Mallorca
Works with protel · Mews · Mews POS · Smart Host
AdviseImplement

Works through profit per segment with independent hotels and turns it into steering rules the front desk can apply.

Mapped to root cause
Revenue is measured, not profitHistoric terms with no expiryNo mix rules for steering
View profilePersonally vetted · independent match
JW

Josef Walch

Digitalisation · AI in operations · Systems — Lech am Arlberg
Works with protel · Mews · Mews POS · Smart Host
AdviseImplement

Makes sure segments land cleanly in the PMS and reports run without manual spreadsheet work.

Mapped to root cause
Segments aren’t captured cleanly
View profilePersonally vetted · independent match

Which path fits your situation?

01

Diagnosis

390 € fixed price

A vetted Hospi analyses your situation in a structured way — in conversation and with a written result. Every statement clearly labelled: FACT, BENCHMARK, HYPOTHESIS or CONCLUSION. You get a concrete path, not a sales meeting.

  • A legitimate outcome is also: no engagement needed.
  • If an engagement follows, the diagnosis fee is fully credited.
02

Urgent support

Acute situation? Your case is reviewed with priority — response within 48 hours.

Cause fields — how to tell them apart

An unknown guest mix is usually a data problem disguised as a pricing problem. Before touching rates, it has to be clear what it really hinges on.

These fields are complete, and many properties get there on their own — that is what this page is for. The cost simply does not appear on an invoice: internal hours, a few attempts, and a season that keeps running in the meantime.

01

Segments aren’t captured cleanly

How you spot it

The PMS has segment or source codes, but front desk picks them by habit or not at all. A third of bookings end up as “other”.

The way out

Define a small set of clear segments, build the tagging into the booking process and recode the last twelve months once. Only then are reports reliable.

02

Revenue is measured, not profit

How you spot it

Reports show occupancy, average rate and RevPAR. What remains per segment after commission, half-board cost, cleaning and service effort — nobody calculates.

The way out

Calculate a simple contribution per segment: rate minus distribution cost minus variable cost per night. The ranking of segments almost always surprises.

03

Historic terms with no expiry

How you spot it

The coach operator has had the same price for years, the ski club its allotment, the company its rate. Nobody has looked at costs or alternative demand since.

The way out

Put every special term on one list and rate each by contribution and occupancy period. Whatever displaces profit in peak weeks gets moved or renegotiated.

04

No mix rules for steering

How you spot it

Even when numbers exist, there is no rule for when a segment is accepted, slowed or declined. Every enquiry is decided individually.

The way out

Simple rules per season phase: which segments take priority, from what lead time groups are accepted, when allotments are released. Rules relieve front desk more than gut feeling does.

Frequently asked

Do we need a revenue management system for this?
No. Guest mix can be analysed with clean PMS data and a spreadsheet. A system only helps once the segment logic is in place.
Our regulars matter to us — should we really re-evaluate them?
Evaluating doesn’t mean dropping them. Usually regulars turn out to be among the best segments thanks to length of stay and ancillary spend. Then you know why you look after them.
How long until the mix visibly improves?
The analysis takes weeks. The mix itself changes with booking cycles — for resort hotels usually not before the next season.

Describe your situation

The problem context is automatically included — you do not need to repeat anything.

Problem
We don’t know our most profitable guest mix

Related situations

We steer for occupancy instead of yield

Full house, too little profit per room.

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OTA commissions eat into a profitable summer

Strong occupancy, weak margin — the channel mix is bleeding the P&L.

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Our guest data is scattered and unused

No 360-degree view of the guest.

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See all problems