Let’s be honest: modern hoteliers have become transactional, we’ve lost the plot and somewhere between managing distribution channels and optimizing the flow of reservations, we lost sight of the essence of hospitality.

We stopped caring who was sleeping in the room, as long as someone was. The hotel is busy, occupancy is high, and we call it a win. However, this mentality isn't just lazy; it's actively killing your profitability.

The "heads in beds" trap occurs when you focus on filling every room at any cost; you might seem busy, but you’re not generating profit. You're leaving a lot of money on the table by competing for everyone and, as a result, pleasing no one.

It creates a vicious, expensive cycle:

• Your messaging becomes generic because it has to appeal to everybody.
• You are forced into endless price wars with your competitors because "price" is the only thing a generic guest can use to compare you.
• Your Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) skyrockets as you pay a fortune to attract low-margin, one-time guests.
• Worst of all, you become completely disconnected from the genuine spirit of hospitality.

The only way to break this cycle is to fundamentally change your commercial mentality. You must stop thinking about volume and start thinking about value.

This transformation begins at the very first stage of the Commercial Guest Journey:Attract.

The goal is not to attract more guests. The goal is to attract the right guests.

Why the "Right Guest" Is a Two-for-One Win

The single biggest pitfall in hotel marketing is the belief that you must "serve everyone." The moment you decide to be the hotel for everybody, you guarantee generic messaging, attract price-shoppers, and doom your team to an unwinnable war competing on price. You end up attracting guests who will never be truly satisfied or profitable.

When you pivot from this "all things to all people" approach to attracting a specific, defined target audience, you simultaneously win on two fronts: Guest Satisfaction and Productivity.

The Guest Satisfaction Win

When you attract the right guest, they arrive happier and leave happier.

• Relevance from the First Click: Your messaging, visuals, and offers align perfectly with their reason for travel. The prospect immediately feels, "This hotel gets me. This is for me."
• Built-in Expectation Alignment: You deliver exactly what you promised because you built the promise for them. This alignment is the silver bullet for cutting complaints and boosting your NPS and online reviews.
• Stronger Pricing Power: The guest's "willingness to pay" increases dramatically. Why? Because your hotel is no longer just a random room, it's the perfect solution for their specific mission. You stop competing on price and start competing on value.

The Productivity (Profit) Win

This is where the strategy pays for itself. Attracting the right guest is more efficient.

• Dramatically Lower CAC: You stop wasting money trying to attract "anyone" and invest your budget only in "your" ideal guest. Your ad spend becomes an investment, not an expense.
• A More Efficient Funnel: This high-quality, high-intent traffic converts faster on your booking engine, reducing your reliance on costly discounts and OTA commissions.
• Clarity and Operational Focus: Your entire team—from housekeeping to the front desk—can perfect the services that matter most to this specific audience. This focus creates a cleaner P&L flow-through and higher margins.

The bottom line is this: Focused attraction is not "narrowing the market"; it is "choosing profit."

It means delighting the guests you were built for while eliminating the massive waste, time, and cost associated with chasing the ones you are not.

The Only Principle: Define Your IGP Before You Spend €1

Here is the iron rule of the Attract stage: If you haven't decided who you want to win, every campaign, image, and offer is guesswork.

Your entire commercial strategy rests on this foundation. Before you buy an ad, write a blog post, or approve a promotion, you must first define your Ideal Guest Profile (IGP).

An IGP is not a vague demographic, such as "millennials" or "families." It's a clear, recognizable profile of the guest your hotel is perfectly designed to serve—a profile your entire team can understand, recognize, and design for.

To do this, you must go beyond basic trip details and use the F-E-S Lens to understand their true motivations.

• Functional (F): This is the reason for the trip, the logistical needs. What must-haves do they have? What are their constraints? (e.g., budget, must-have amenities like strong Wi-Fi, parking, or a pet-friendly room, proximity to a conference center).

• Emotional (E): This is the feeling they are chasing or trying to avoid. What is their desired emotional state? (e.g., a sense of escape and calm, a feeling of status and recognition, the efficiency of a frictionless trip, or removing the stress of travel).

• Social (S): This refers to the identity they are fulfilling and the connections they are forming. Who are they on this trip? (e.g., a couple bonding, a solo traveler seeking discovery, a manager building team cohesion during an offsite, a family creating memories).
  

When you see your guest through the F-E-S lens, you can stop being vague and start being viable.

VAGUE: "We target leisure guests and business travelers." (This is useless. It tells your team nothing and leads to generic marketing.)

VIABLE IGP 1: "The 'Two-Night Couples' Escape' from within a 3-hour drive, focused on spa access and in-house fine dining. They are seeking escape (Emotional) and bonding(Social)."

VIABLE IGP 2: "The 'Weeknight Business Traveler' visiting the financial district. They require frictionless sleep, fast Wi-Fi, and a quick, high-quality breakfast (Functional) to maximize efficiency (Emotional)."

Once you have these one-sentence definitions, everything changes. You now have a filter for every commercial decision you make.

Continue to read about the 3 Key Actions to take to improve your business.