When your sales team and revenue management are not aligned, the hotel pays for it in ways that show up slowly and then all at once. Here is what that disconnect actually costs you.
In too many hotels, sales and revenue management operate like two separate departments with two separate goals. Sales wants to fill rooms. Revenue management wants to protect rate. And somewhere in the middle, the hotel loses business it should have won and accepts business it should have turned away.
This disconnect is one of the most common and most costly problems I see across hotel portfolios. It does not always look like conflict. Sometimes it just looks like a lack of communication. But the impact on ADR, occupancy, and total revenue is real.
What the Disconnect Actually Looks Like
Here is a scenario that plays out more often than it should. A corporate account manager submits an RFP for a negotiated rate. The sales team wants to close the account and quotes a rate that undercuts the revenue strategy. Revenue management pushes back, but by the time the conversation happens, the client has already moved on to a competitor who responded faster and with more clarity.
Or consider this: the revenue team sets a high rate strategy for a peak weekend. The sales team, unaware of the strategy, continues to push group business at a discounted rate that displaces higher-value transient guests. The weekend ends with decent occupancy and disappointing revenue.
Neither team is wrong in isolation. The problem is the gap between them.
The ADR and Occupancy Cost
When sales and revenue are not aligned, you almost always see one of two outcomes. Either the hotel chases occupancy at the expense of rate, or it protects rate at the expense of occupancy. Neither is optimal. The goal is to maximize total revenue, which requires both teams working from the same playbook.
- Corporate rates that are too low because sales negotiated without revenue input
- Group business that displaces higher-rated transient demand
- RFP responses that do not reflect current market positioning
- Pricing decisions made without understanding the sales pipeline
Practical Steps to Close the Gap
The fix starts with communication. Sales and revenue need to be in the same conversation, not just the same building. That means regular joint reviews of the booking pace, segment mix, and rate strategy. It means sales understanding the revenue calendar before they go out and sell. And it means revenue management understanding what is in the pipeline before they set restrictions.
On the RFP side, the process needs to be structured and fast. Every corporate inquiry should have a clear response timeline, a rate strategy that reflects both the market and the account value, and a follow-up plan that keeps the conversation moving. That does not happen by accident. It happens because someone owns the process.
"The goal is to maximize total revenue, which requires both teams working from the same playbook."
Corporate prospecting also needs to be informed by revenue data. If you are building new accounts, you should be targeting business that fits your rate strategy, not just business that fills rooms. That requires sales and revenue to agree on what good business looks like for your property.
Where Remote Support Fits In
One of the advantages of working with an outside revenue and sales partner is that you get someone who sits at the intersection of both disciplines. I do not work in a silo. When I am managing RFPs, I am thinking about rate strategy. When I am prospecting for corporate accounts, I am thinking about segment mix. That integrated approach is what closes the gap between sales activity and revenue performance.
If your hotel is running sales and revenue as separate conversations, it is time to change that. The results speak for themselves.
Alisha McKenzie
Hotel Revenue and Sales Consultant · That's Just Alisha Consulting
