Hotel AI Upselling:
Benchmarks, Categories and What Actually Works
How hotels use AI and guest messaging to lift ancillary revenue — the categories that convert, the tools involved, and how to implement it. For a verified customer result, read the Sunday Morning Collection case study.
What AI upselling produced in practice
Sunday Morning Collection, Pyhä, Finland — measured on Butler AI with Mews
- Upsell revenue generated
- €9,081
- Guest contact coverage
- 35% → 91%
- Automated messages delivered
- 1,782
AI-Powered Upselling: Recent Trends and Developments
Upselling goes digital and data-driven: Hotels have moved beyond the old model of a front-desk agent offering an upgrade at check-in. Today's upselling is omnipresent across the guest journey – from booking, to pre-arrival emails, to in-stay messaging – all powered by AI algorithms.
Personalized offers at scale
AI systems crunch booking patterns and guest profiles to suggest highly relevant upgrades or services for each guest. For example, a frequent business traveler might automatically receive an offer to upgrade to a room with a larger work space, while a leisure guest is shown a discounted sunset cruise experience.
This hyper-personalization was not feasible manually for thousands of guests. Hotels now report that AI-driven upsell campaigns can significantly boost revenue – for instance, boutique chain Zoku Hotels generates about €11,500 in extra revenue per automated upsell campaign by using personalized recommendations.
Real-time & dynamic pricing
Just as AI has transformed room pricing, it's now optimizing upgrade pricing. Hotels are using revenue management systems (RMS) with AI to dynamically price room upgrades, early check-ins, late check-outs, and other add-ons based on demand and availability.
Hilton and Marriott, for example, apply machine learning to adjust not only room rates but also the price of ancillary offers in real time, which has helped drive 5–10% RevPAR lifts at those companies. Duetto (a leading RMS provider) found that integrating upgrade pricing with their AI-driven system can increase upsell revenue by as much as one-third.
Integration across touchpoints
Recent years have seen AI upselling integrated into mobile apps, emails, and chatbots. Hotels are meeting guests where they are: via automated pre-arrival emails, in-app notifications, and even messaging platforms.
In 2024, Hilton began expanding its on-property messaging platform (e.g. in-app chat) across all 7,000+ properties, allowing AI to suggest enhancements during the stay. Likewise, many European hotels leverage WhatsApp or webchat bots: Kabannas (a U.K. hostel/hotel brand) sends automated WhatsApp messages with personalized upsell offers (powered by an AI chatbot integrated with upsell platform Oaky), achieving a remarkable 71% open rate on these messages.
Focus on total guest spend
Upselling is part of a broader shift from maximizing RevPAR (revenue per room) to TRevPAR (total revenue per available room). Brands like Accor have explicitly focused on "profit per guest" – using AI not just for room pricing but to optimize total spend, from room upgrades to on-property services.
This trend is visible in both luxury and mid-scale segments. For example, Marriott's Bonvoy app uses AI to recommend on-property amenities, hotel restaurants, or local experiences based on a guest's profile (e.g. suggesting a wine tasting if the guest dined at the upscale restaurant on a previous stay). By tailoring these suggestions, hotels tap into experiential upsells (spa packages, tours, dining) that today's travelers crave, especially Millennials and Gen Z who value unique experiences.
Meeting guests where they are
Modern AI upselling reaches guests through their preferred channels – whether it's a mobile app, chat, or email. The key is personalization and perfect timing.
"Gone are the days of analysis paralysis... Now, personalization is automatic." — Hospitality tech consultant
Upsell Categories Enhanced by AI
AI is being applied across all types of upsell offers to maximize revenue opportunities
Room Upgrades
This is the classic upsell – offering a guest a higher-category room or suite. AI makes it far more effective by analyzing inventory and guest likelihood to accept.
Amenities and Services
These include add-ons like breakfast, parking, late checkout, spa access, or Wi-Fi bundles. AI upsell systems use guest data to promote the right amenity to the right guest.
Guest Experiences
Upselling isn't limited to what's on the hotel's property. Many hotels now use AI to promote local or on-site experiences – from city tours and museum tickets to dining experiences and events.
Food & Beverage Upsells
AI is also boosting F&B revenues through smarter upselling of meals and drinks. Hotels often send pre-arrival emails asking if guests want to add breakfast or club lounge access.
Why AI makes upselling more effective
Personalization at scale
Tailors offers to individual guest preferences and history
Perfect timing
Presents offers at the optimal moment in the guest journey
Dynamic pricing
Optimizes pricing based on demand, availability, and guest value
Tools and Platforms Powering Hotel Upselling
In the last two years, many AI-enabled platforms have been adopted by hotels to automate and optimize upselling
Oaky
Pre-stay and check-in upselling platform
A leading upsell platform specializing in pre-stay and check-in offers. Oaky uses machine learning to recommend the "perfect upsell" for each guest and integrates with property management systems (PMS) for real-time inventory.
Success story
Clarion Hotel Sign in Stockholm implemented Oaky's front desk upselling and saw a 381% increase in upsell revenue within a few months.
Revinate
CRM and email marketing with personalized upselling
Originally known for its CRM, email marketing, and guest feedback solutions, Revinate has expanded into upselling via personalized campaigns. The platform leverages its rich guest data profiles to insert tailored upsell offers into pre-arrival emails and other channels.
Performance data
According to Revinate's 2025 Hospitality Benchmark, hotels using its upsell email features earned around $941 on average in upsell revenue in 2024, with North American hotels leading at ~$1,208 vs. ~$836 in Europe.
Duetto
AI-driven revenue management and dynamic pricing
A revenue management software provider that incorporates AI for pricing and also partners for upselling. Duetto's GameChanger RMS uses machine learning to set optimal room rates and can extend this to open pricing for room upgrades – meaning a hotel can price the upgrade differential dynamically rather than a flat fee.
Revenue impact
By joining forces with upsell platforms (like the Duetto–Oaky integration in 2022), hotels can automate upsell offers that adjust to real-time demand. Hotels using an RMS plus upsell software have seen upsell revenues rise substantially, often cited as ~30% or more.
AI Chatbots
Conversational AI for guest engagement and upselling
Conversational AI has emerged as a subtle upselling tool. HiJiffy (used by brands like Kabannas and some Accor hotels) and Go Moment's Ivy (acquired by Revinate) are chatbots that handle guest inquiries and can proactively push upsells. They use natural language processing to understand when a guest inquiry signals a sales opportunity.
Use case example
At Kabannas, the HiJiffy bot integrated with Cloudbeds PMS and Oaky upsells helped convert many inquiries into sales. For example, if a guest asks "Is there a spa?" the bot can reply with available spa treatments and prices, essentially upselling the spa, contributing to high engagement rates (92% of questions answered by AI).
Seamless integration ecosystem
PMS integration
Real-time inventory and pricing data
CRM integration
Guest profiles and preferences
Messaging integration
Email, SMS, and chat platforms
The most successful AI upselling implementations leverage integrated systems where PMS data, CRM profiles, and communication channels work together, allowing for personalized, timely, and relevant upsell offers throughout the guest journey.
Implementation: How Hotels Use AI for Upselling
Hotels that succeed with AI upselling follow some common implementation approaches
Deep integration with systems
A critical step is integrating the upsell platform or AI engine with the hotel's Property Management System (PMS) and CRM. This enables real-time data flow – the AI knows what rooms or services are available right now and the guest's profile/history.
When Quality Hotel Globe connected Oaky with their Mews PMS via two-way integration, front-desk agents could instantly see upgrade recommendations and availability without juggling systems.
Personalization & segmentation
Implementing AI for upselling is all about using guest data smartly. Hotels segment guests by type (transient vs group, business vs leisure, loyalty tier, etc.) and train AI models or set rules to target offers.
The general approach is: feed AI all the data (from PMS, CRM, past responses) and let it predict what each guest is likely to buy. This shifts upselling from gut-based suggestions to data-based recommendations.
Optimal timing
AI helps determine when to present an upsell offer. Hotels implement triggers based on the guest journey, from booking stage to pre-arrival, check-in, during stay, and even pre-checkout.
According to Revinate, 66% of pre-arrival emails with upsells (from their customer data) are sent by hotels in North America and Europe, showing how common this practice has become. The key is contextual upselling – using AI to read signals and offering something relevant in that moment.
Training and change management
Implementing AI upselling isn't just a technology project – hotels often need to retrain staff and adjust processes. Revenue managers start thinking beyond room rates to total revenue management, front-office teams learn to trust AI suggestions for upsells.
Many hotels set up incentive schemes to encourage staff to engage with the upsell system – as seen with Clarion and Quality Hotel Globe, where showing staff their performance and commissions in real time via the tool kept them engaged. The approach is AI + human hospitality, not AI in isolation.
Upselling opportunities across the guest journey
Booking
Room upgrades, packages
Pre-arrival
Hotel services, transfers
Check-in
Last-minute upgrades
During stay
F&B, experiences, spa
Check-out
Late checkout, future stays
Successful hotels implement upselling touchpoints across the entire guest journey, with personalized offerings at each stage based on guest preferences and behavior.
Impact: revenue uplift and guest satisfaction
Total revenue uplift at Hilton due to AI-personalized pricing/offers
Growth in upsell revenue at Clarion Sign after adopting AI tools
Average conversion rate on AI-powered upsell offers
Importantly, upselling with AI is enhancing guests' experience when done right. Hilton observed that customers were happier when they received offers aligned to their needs. Many hotels report that guests appreciate the convenience of being able to customize their stay in advance rather than asking last minute.
In the Hard Rock case, the team noted improved guest satisfaction scores, attributing it to guests getting the "ultimate experience" they desire via upsells. Personalization also boosts loyalty: guests are more likely to join loyalty programs or re-book if they feel the hotel "gets them."
Conclusion
AI-driven upselling has quickly moved from a novelty to a must-have strategy in the hospitality industry over the past two years. Major hotel brands in North America and Europe have proven that AI can unlock new revenue streams by selling more to guests in a way that feels personalized and convenient.
From boosting room upgrade take-rates and ancillary service sales, to tailoring offers for individual guest preferences, AI allows hotels to maximize the value of each booking without compromising guest satisfaction – in fact, often enhancing it.
Hotels implementing these solutions have seen measurable revenue lifts (5–10% or more in many cases) and stronger guest engagement with the brand. Equally important, AI upselling helps hotels adapt to changing guest behavior: today's guests are digital-native and expect things to be easy and relevant. An AI that instantly answers their question and offers to take care of an extra request (for a fee or as a perk) meets those expectations in a modern way.
Looking forward: 2025 and beyond
Real-time Personalization
Even more real-time personalization, possibly using generative AI to create on-the-fly content and offers tailored to each guest's context.
Broader Adoption
Broader adoption across hotel segments, as even smaller independent hotels access AI upsell tools via cloud platforms.
Loyalty Integration
Integration of upselling with loyalty programs, making sure that upselling strategies complement guest loyalty (for example, offering bonus points as part of an upsell package).
Service-Selling Fusion
Continued blurring of the line between service and selling – the best upsells will feel like great service. AI's ability to sift through data and anticipate needs will be crucial here.
"Gone are the days of analysis paralysis... Now, personalization is automatic"
— Hospitality tech consultant
In conclusion, the recent success stories from Marriott, Hilton, Accor, IHG and numerous individual hotels show that AI is not hype in this context – it's materially increasing ancillary revenues through smarter upselling. Hotels that have embraced AI upselling are seeing higher revenues, more satisfied guests, and a stronger competitive position in a challenging market.
In the hospitality industry's pursuit of both high-tech and high-touch, AI-powered upselling has proven to be a strategy that delivers on both fronts – driving incremental revenue while delighting guests with the right offer at the right time.
Put this into practice
Hotel upselling software
How Butler AI recovers guest contact data, times offers and posts charges to the folio.
Sunday Morning Collection case study
€9,081 in upsell revenue and guest contact coverage from 35% to 91%.
Guest journey automation for hotels
The trigger engine that decides which guest gets which offer, and when.