One of the most expensive things in hospitality isn’t bad service or a broken AC, it’s internal silos and it’s killing revenue.
Marketing launches promos based on calendar dates and not pace reports. E-Commerce runs Meta campaigns and website banners without knowing what segments Revenue is trying to yield.
Sales builds “irresistible” packages that undercut BAR and throw distribution into chaos. Revenue gets blamed when rates feel inconsistent or don’t convert. And Operations? They’re left handling a frustrated guest whose expectations were never aligned with reality.
Here’s what that looks like in the real world.
At a beachfront resort in the Philippines, the Marketing team pushed a "Rainy Season Escape" promo two weeks before a long weekend. The offer was positioned as a value-added deal with spa discounts and food credits, but the room rate was thirty percent lower than what pace reports indicated guests were willing to pay. Revenue flagged it, but by the time the conversation happened, hundreds of room nights had already been sold at that low rate. Those rooms could have yielded twenty-five percent more with a direct upsell strategy and proper segmentation. Instead, the promotion created a guest expectation of discounts, not experiences. Net revenue was flat, and the campaign was declared a “success” because of volume. No one mentioned the opportunity cost.
In another case, a branded city hotel in Vietnam had a corporate group walk-in inquiry for thirty room nights over a trade show period. The Sales team, eager to close, offered a twenty percent discount over the already published rate on OTAs. They didn’t know that Revenue was holding rates steady based on compression data and a spike in pickup from direct channels. The discounted contract was signed, and the rooms were pulled from inventory. Five days later, that same room type was selling online at a fifteen percent premium. The business was already taken, at a lower rate, for a lower margin. No one connected the dots because Sales considered it a win.
E-Commerce, meanwhile, had been running a Google Ads campaign targeting staycationers in Manila. Click-throughs were high, but conversions were low. Revenue noticed a surge in lookers with no bookings. Upon investigation, it turned out that the offer landing page still featured an outdated package with blackout dates during school holidays. The marketing team hadn’t updated the offer copy, and no one verified if the inventory was even open for the advertised period. A hundred thousand pesos in ad spend gone. And the team chalked it up to “weak demand.”
Operations had no idea any of this was happening. What they did know was that guests were showing up asking for inclusions no one had briefed them on. Front office was improvising. F&B had to explain why the “free buffet” wasn’t part of their rate. The spa team was squeezed into giving services that weren’t commissioned. No one told them because no one thought to.
And Revenue? Revenue sits in the middle of this chaos. Expected to fix everything without owning the tools, the budget, or the final decision. When performance lags, fingers point at Revenue for pricing too high or too low. Yet no one asks what the actual business mix looked like, or whether the decisions that affected demand were even made with Revenue in the room.
When hotels operate like this, they don’t just lose revenue. They lose strategic clarity. They chase volume instead of profit. They confuse movement with progress. And they end up stuck in a loop of campaigns, contracts, and crisis management.
If this feels familiar, it’s because it’s everywhere. Across resorts in Thailand, city hotels in Dubai, beach destinations in Mactan or Danang. It’s the norm. But it’s not sustainable.
Hotels must stop working in isolation. Forecasts should be shared beyond the Revenue team. Marketing calendars should be built around booking pace and pickup trends, not festive dates alone. Sales needs to understand rate fences and channel impact. E-Commerce must align with real conversion goals, not just clicks. Operations needs visibility into what’s being promised before they are asked to deliver it. And Revenue should no longer be the department of “last approval.” It must be part of the first conversation.
The next time someone asks why RevPAR isn’t growing, don’t start with rates. Start with structure. Start with the silos. Because until those walls come down, the revenue will keep leaking out.
Sunish S. - Follow
Vice President of ECommerce, Digital and Revenue Management @ Chroma Hospitality | Revenue Management
