Instinct-driven
Structured
System-assisted
Strategic
Owner or C-level
Director
General Manager
Revenue Manager or part of an RM team
Front office or reservations
Something else
In the ANZ market, four in ten hoteliers (40%) run a spreadsheet-based process, and 14% operate strategically.
Canadian hoteliers sit close to the global mix, with one standout: they're the most likely of any market to track GOPPAR (48%).
In the DACH market, nearly half of hoteliers (46%) are in the Structured tier, more than any other market, and 8% operate strategically. DACH hoteliers are also the most likely to name finding revenue talent as a challenge (40%).
In Mexico, 28% of hoteliers operate strategically, joint highest with the US, and 66% track EBITDA.
In Spain, 44% of hoteliers are System-Assisted, joint highest with the US. Spanish hoteliers are also the most likely to find their pricing information fragmented or incomplete (46%).
UK hoteliers sit close to the global mix: 22% operate strategically and a third (33%) run a spreadsheet-based process.
The US has the smallest share of Instinct-Driven hoteliers of any market (8%), and 58% forecast demand monthly or more, the highest of any market.
Which of these sounds most like how pricing works at your property today?
If it's a mix, pick the one that describes most of your pricing, most of the time.
We set prices by hand, based on experience, gut feel or fixed seasonal rates.
We review prices regularly using spreadsheets and past performance, with not much automation.
A revenue management system updates our rates, and we use its data to make decisions.
We use a revenue management system, and revenue management is a strategic function for us: focused on profit, shared across departments and built on forecasts that plan for different scenarios.
Before you change your prices, how easy is it to pull together the data you need, like competitor rates, your past performance, upcoming demand and local events?
Pulling pricing data together
Hard. I often decide without the full picture.
Messy. It's spread across too many places.
Doable, but it takes time.
Easy. Everything's in one place.
How often do you forecast demand for the weeks and months ahead?
Forecasting
Once a year or less, or not really at all.
A few times a year (every three to six months).
At least once a month.
At least once a month, and we plan for more than one scenario (for example a strong, expected and weak month).
How often do you review your pricing strategy? Not just tweak a few rates, but actually check whether your overall approach is working.
Strategy reviews
Once a year or less, or only when something goes wrong.
A few times a year (every three to six months).
At least once a month.
At least once a month, and it's part of our wider business reviews with other teams.
Which of these do you track regularly? Pick as many as apply.
What you track
ADR (average daily rate)
EBITDA
GOPPAR
Occupancy
Profit per available room
RevPAR
Total revenue
None of these regularly
Who has a say in pricing decisions at your property? Pick as many as apply.
Who has a say in pricing
The owner
The General Manager
Front office or reservations
A dedicated revenue manager
A revenue management team
An external consultant
How often do your wider teams (front office, reservations, operations) talk about revenue performance together?
Revenue in the wider team
Never or rarely. It stays with whoever sets the prices.
A few times a year.
Monthly.
Weekly or more, and what they see on the ground feeds back into pricing.
How much does revenue management shape what your marketing and sales teams do?
If one person covers several of these roles, answer for how those decisions connect.
Not really. Marketing and sales run on their own plans.
Now and then. We ask for a promotion when a slow period is coming.
Regularly. Marketing and sales see our forecast and need dates, and we agree campaigns and group rates together.
It's one commercial plan. We share targets, and the forecast decides where marketing spends, which guests we go after and which group business we take.
You're running on instinct. It's working… for now.
You're in the 14% of hoteliers pricing this way.
Only 24% of hoteliers here review their pricing strategy monthly, vs 47% at the top stage.
Instinct-Driven hoteliers aren't managing pricing information badly. There's just very little of it to manage, which is a different kind of easy. Half say the owner has the final say on pricing, and a quarter forecast once a year or less. Even so, 35% already say a dedicated revenue role is very or absolutely essential. The belief is starting to move ahead of the habit.
Swap fixed seasonal rates for three demand levels.
Set a low, standard and high rate for each room type, then decide in advance which dates get which: weekends, holidays, local events. It's the simplest way to stop underpricing your busiest nights.
Book a quarterly pricing strategy review.
One hour, four times a year: check last quarter's occupancy and average rate, look at what your three closest competitors charged on your busiest and quietest dates, and decide what changes for the next three months. A quarter of Instinct-Driven hoteliers review their strategy once a year or less.
Check your booking pace once a month.
For each of the next 90 days, compare the rooms already booked with the same point last year. Ahead of last year, hold or raise rates. Behind, act early with a small rate change or a targeted offer, not a last-minute discount.
Free Guide: Hotel Pricing Strategies
from seasonal rate cards to demand-based pricing and stay rules. Also the report's pick for this tier.
Rev Up Your Revenue: Revenue Management Essentials for Independent Hotels
the basics of pricing, inventory and the metrics that matter.
Free Guide: Forecasting Made Simple
a step-by-step way to build a demand forecast from your own data.
You've built a system. Let's make sure you work less.
You're in the 29% of hoteliers pricing this way, the second-largest group.
You're also the stage most likely to call your pricing information fragmented or incomplete (39%). That's not a coincidence.
This is the transition worth getting right, not skipping past. Structured hoteliers find it harder to gather pricing information than Instinct-Driven hoteliers do: 18% call it quick and straightforward, against 33% for Instinct-Driven. More manual tracking without a system to carry it makes things harder, not easier. More than half (55%) also say their teams lack confidence reading revenue data.
Map your data before you add to it.
List every place you pull information from for a pricing decision: PMS, OTA extranets, competitor rate checks, spreadsheets, emails. If it's more than three, that's your case for an RMS connected to your PMS and channel manager, so the data comes to you. Structured hoteliers are the most likely to call their information fragmented or incomplete (39%).
Add RevPAR to your weekly report.
Put it next to occupancy and average rate. It shows whether a full house actually earned more, and Structured hoteliers are the least likely of any tier to track it (22%).
Swap twice-a-year forecasts for a monthly pickup check.
Each month, compare what's on the books for the next three months with last year's pace, and adjust rates and stay rules where you're ahead or behind. 47% of System-Assisted hoteliers forecast monthly or more, against 31% in your tier.
10 Steps to Choose the Right Revenue Management System for Your Hotel
what to look for beyond features, including reports and ROI.
The Essential Tech Trio: PMS, Channel Manager and RMS
how the three systems work together so rates and availability stay in sync.
RevPAR vs TRevPAR vs GOPPAR
what each metric tells you and when to use it.
The system's doing its job. Ask more of it.
You're in the largest group: 36% of hoteliers price this way.
You've brought gut-feel pricing to its lowest point of any stage: only 17% call it very influential.
Automation is already doing the heavy lifting. What separates you from the Strategic tier isn't more automation. It's what you do with the time and headspace it creates: more profit visibility, planning for more than one outcome and more people in the conversation.
Add GOPPAR to your monthly review.
Take gross operating profit from your P&L, divide it by available rooms and review it next to RevPAR. If RevPAR rises while GOPPAR falls, costs are eating the gain. 43% of Strategic hoteliers track GOPPAR, compared with 34% in your tier.
Manage channels on what you keep, not what you sell.
Work out your net average rate per channel after commission and fees. Then act on it with your system's rules: minimum stays on OTAs over peak dates, and closing the lowest-value channels when demand is high.
Start a 15-minute weekly revenue meeting.
Revenue, front office and sales look at pickup, rates, upcoming events and group requests together. 47% of Strategic hoteliers discuss revenue with the wider team weekly or daily, compared with 39% in your tier.
Hospitality Engineer Report 2026
the data quality and trust issues that stop hoteliers acting on what their systems tell them.
OTA vs Direct Booking: Pricing Tactics to Protect Net ADR
how to calculate net rate by channel and shift your mix.
Six Ways to Build a Stronger Hotel Revenue Management Team
including how to run a revenue meeting that stays useful.
You're already in rare air. Here's how to stay there.
You're in the top 21%.
You're the stage most likely to track GOPPAR (43%), nearly three times the Instinct-driven rate (15%).
There's no finish line. Half of Strategic hoteliers forecast monthly or more, well ahead of Instinct-Driven hoteliers at 29%, and you're the tier most likely to say forecast accuracy is still a real challenge (38%). It's what happens when you take forecasting seriously enough to notice where it still falls short. Ergo: that's why you also need to stay flexible.
Plan three scenarios in every forecast.
Build an expected, a strong and a weak case each month, and agree in advance what you'll do in each: rates, stay rules, marketing spend and staffing. Decisions get faster when the plan exists before the market moves.
Track forecast accuracy by segment and channel.
Compare forecast with actual every month, broken down by segment and channel, and look into the biggest misses first. You're the tier most likely to call forecast accuracy a challenge (38%), because you rely on the forecast most.
Set targets on net revenue and profit by segment.
Review which segments and channels deliver the most after acquisition costs, and use that to set sales and marketing targets, not just room rates.
2026 State of Revenue Management in Hospitality
see how your habits compare across every chapter.
Hotel Profitability: Why Revenue Is Only Half the Story
profit metrics, acquisition costs and length of stay by type of business.
RoomPriceGenie Webinars
conversations with revenue leaders on what's changing next. Also the report's pick for this tier.
United States
The most data-driven market
Review pricing at least quarterly
Worried about finding revenue talent
United Kingdom
Right on the global pulse
Run a spreadsheet-based process
Treat revenue management as a profit-focused, cross-team function
DACH
Structured, but stuck
Set prices by hand or with spreadsheets
Treat revenue management as a profit-focused, cross-team function
Spain
Using AI, not trusting it
Use AI in some form
Distrust AI
Canada
Keeping a close eye on profit
Track GOPPAR
Say they're maximizing their revenue potential
Mexico
The most AI-confident market
Trust AI enough to act on its advice
Treat revenue management as a profit-focused, cross-team function
Australia & New Zealand
Hands-on pricing, open to AI
Run a spreadsheet-based process
Trust AI enough to act on its advice
All markets
US
UK
DACH
Spain
Canada
Mexico
Australia & New Zealand
Country
UK
US
Canada
Mexico
DACH
Spain
Australia / New Zealand
Property type
Hotel chain
Independent hotel group
Resort / leisure property
Pub(s) / pub groups
Hostel / budget accommodation provider
Serviced apartments or short-term rental operator
Holiday parks
Other
Rooms
5–49
50–99
100–199
200–499
500–999
1,000+
Job title
Owner / C-level
Director
General Manager
Revenue Manager
Location
Major city / urban centre
Resort / tourist destination
Small town / suburban area
Rural / remote location
Decision-making
Primary decision maker (individually or as part of a group)
Key contributor (individually or as part of a group)
Employment
Employed full-time
Employed part-time
Your answers vs other hoteliers
Three things to try
Guides for your stage
Your habits match: this is where you are.
You describe your pricing as {a}. Your habits look more like {b} hoteliers. That's where your next gain is.
You're doing more than you give yourself credit for.
50% of Strategic hoteliers strongly agree revenue management should influence marketing and distribution, against 26 to 28% in the other three tiers.
The research
About RoomPriceGenie
Thank you
Findings
Your stage
Chapters
Viewpoints
Markets
What's next
Methodology
Introduction
{n}%
Findings
Your stage
Chapters
Voices
Markets
What's next
Methodology
Get the full report
01 Pricing with purpose
02 Automate, review more
03 The forecasting paradox
04 A changing role
05 RMS goes mainstream
06 The AI trust gap
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About you
Where is your property (or most of your portfolio) based?
Select a location
Australia
Austria
Canada
Germany
Mexico
New Zealand
Spain
Switzerland
United Kingdom
United States
Somewhere else
Which best describes your role?
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Most hoteliers know that they're leaving money on the table if nobody actively manages their revenue. But a hotel with 30, 50, or 80 rooms rarely needs a full-time revenue manager. External revenue management gives them a regular seat at the table: to question the numbers, spot opportunities, and adjust strategy as things change.
Melanie Staub,
hotel boost
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About RoomPriceGenie
You make your hotel special. We help put your revenue strategy into action.
RoomPriceGenie is a specialist revenue management system for independent hotels and groups. It puts your strategy into action as demand changes, keeping prices within the boundaries you set and highlighting when something may need your attention. You can see what’s behind pricing decisions, with revenue management experts ready to help you shape or refine your approach. So you spend less time adjusting rates and more time on the decisions that move your business forward.
Book a free demo
Meet RoomPriceGenie
Clarity, not complexity.
Prices that move with demand, and a plain-language reason behind every change. You always know why.
Real people, real expertise.
Our revenue experts stay with you from onboarding onward. You're never left figuring it out alone.
Results you can see.
In a study of 567 hotels across nine countries, room revenue rose 19% on average, year over year.
hotels and groups
countries
integrations
Best RMS
2026 HotelTechAwards
Thank you
This report exists because many people gave us their time and expertise. Thank you to our contributors, without whom this report would not be possible.
Research partner
Sapio Research
Content & Editorial
Juliet Strong · Ewa Gabara · Ari Andricopoulos · Daniel Craig · Chas Scarantino
RoomPriceGenie Team
Marketing & Partnerships Team · Loyce Witherspoon · Harley Araujo · Gustavo Peña · Tim Boersma
Industry voices
Pablo Torres · Matthias Getto · Melanie Staub · Martijn Barten · Alina Otyan · Selina Wendl · Matthias Perathoner · Trevor Grant · Roz Hunter · Charles Pinard · Chris Peppers · Chris de Closey · Oliver Wolf · Emily Byrne · Christian Fiedler · Annemarie Gubanski · Paolo Torchio · Sandrine Zechbauer · James Bishop · David Mate · Christian Hürlimann · Andy Menear
And to the 450 hoteliers who took the time to answer honestly. This report is, at the end of the day, yours.
In Australia and New Zealand, we often see owner-operators leave money on the table from trying to do it all. They wear so many hats that revenue becomes an afterthought, and changing price once or twice a week isn’t nimble enough for a market that moves every day.
History helps us formulate the future, but if you only focus on the past, that’s where you’ll stay when the rest of the market moves on. Look at the history, but factor in the current market and how your competitors are pricing. And don’t hold back on price for fear of losing guests: operators who do end up behind the market.
Once operators understand the wider market forces and put the right pricing technology in place, they find those valuable missing dollars.
Chris de Closey,
Switch Hotel Solutions
