Back to Basics: Taking a Step Back to Move Forward

For days, I have been turning something over in my mind, and I have decided to share it, trusting that it will be understood from the constructive perspective in which I am presenting it.

In conversations with various hotel industry colleagues—some with distinguished careers—they agree on a diagnosis that many of us probably share in silence. During the years of economic prosperity, the rise of new distribution channels, the emergence of low-cost airlines that democratised travel, and the steady growth in demand, hotels were able to meet targets, generate profits and, ultimately, maintain widespread optimism. The belief that the market was limitless led to the opening of new hotels in many cities, creating oversupply in some cases—a prospect that caused no concern at the time. Demand kept pushing forward and, if it weakened, it was enough to lower prices, increase commissions for intermediaries or pressure tourism bodies to step up destination promotion. Today, the landscape is different. 2025 confronts us with a level of complexity that calls for a different perspective:

1. Rising costs: Raw materials, energy and supplies have increased our operating expenses. Essential products such as fresh food, textiles and cleaning products have seen cumulative price rises exceeding 20% in some cases.
2. Tax pressure: Increases in municipal charges, environmental taxes and labour costs leave hoteliers with less room for manoeuvre, limiting our ability to respond quickly.
3. Geopolitical conflicts: The war in Ukraine continues to disrupt the energy market and supply chains. Meanwhile, tensions in the Middle East are creating uncertainty, affecting traveller confidence and altering key air routes, which impacts transport costs and connectivity from certain source markets.
4. Fragmented, price-sensitive demand: Travellers are scrutinising their budgets closely. Inflation and economic instability in several European countries are leading many to choose lower-category options or shorten their stays. We are seeing an increase in last-minute bookings, but also in cancellations.

And what is the greatest challenge? This situation has exposed something we already suspected: many hoteliers have forgotten how to sell. For years, we have relied on intermediaries to do the work for us in exchange for commissions. Now, in the midst of the storm, we realise that we lack the knowledge, tools and commercial mindset needed to take control of our direct sales. That is why, today more than ever, we must return to the essentials: Back to Basics. And that means:

1. Understanding today’s customer: Their habits have changed. We must analyse what they are looking for, what they value and how they make decisions.
2. Assessing our positioning: How does the market perceive us? What are our strengths and weaknesses compared with the competition? Online reputation and reviews carry more weight than ever today.
3. Mastering our sales channels: Understanding where our bookings come from, which channels are most profitable and where leakage occurs. Are we optimising our direct sales? Are our website and booking engine ready to convert visits into bookings?
4. Segmenting precisely: Not all customers are the same. It is essential to analyse the behaviour of each profile, its value to the business and its true profitability after deducting acquisition costs and additional services.
5. Adopting a data-driven approach: Analysing pick-up, cancellation patterns, seasonal trends and preferences by market. Intuition has its place, but data leads the way.
6. Optimising intermediary costs: Identifying which customers could have come directly and assessing how much we could save by reducing our dependence on third parties.
7. Planning a commercial strategy: Creating a digital marketing plan focused on:
   • Increasing direct sales.
   • Reducing acquisition costs.
   • Improving ADR without entering price wars.

We may discover that our website needs updating or that our booking engine is not optimised. Perhaps we need to invest in SEO and paid campaigns. All of this will require financial investment, but the intermediary costs we have paid over the years demonstrate that investment in direct sales is far more profitable in the medium term. This return to basics is neither glamorous nor likely to feature in speeches about innovation, but it is what makes the difference between resilience and being eternally dependent on third parties. Only then, once we have mastered the essentials, will we be able to take on more ambitious projects. In the meantime, it is time to reconnect with the essence of our business: knowing the customer, controlling our sales and optimising our profitability. Because, in an environment of rising costs, tax pressure and international tensions, selling well is more necessary than ever.