In the hotel industry, there’s been a significant shift—a shift that’s redefining how hotels approach revenue, sales, and marketing. It’s a movement towards a unified commercial strategy, where these traditionally siloed departments come together under a single leader. This trend isn’t just about restructuring; it’s about rethinking how we approach the business of hospitality.
Heidi Cosio, with her extensive experience in revenue strategy, seventeen years with Aimbridge Hospitality, has been at the forefront of this change. In a recent interview with Jason Emanis, she shared her insights on the evolving landscape of commercial strategy, highlighting both the progress made and the challenges that remain.
Heidi’s journey in hospitality has been deeply intertwined with the concept of commercial strategy. Since 2019, she’s witnessed the gradual blending of revenue, sales, and marketing into a more cohesive unit. But as she pointed out, understanding the need for a unified strategy is just the beginning. The real challenge lies in execution—how to bridge the gap between the tactical, day-to-day operations and the broader, more strategic vision.
She emphasized that many hotel teams struggle with this transition. While the mindset shift has started, the industry is still figuring out what it means to execute a commercial strategy effectively. It’s not just about knowing that sales, marketing, and revenue should work together; it’s about understanding how to make that collaboration work in practice.
One of the key issues Heidi highlighted is the misallocation of resources. Often, hotels spend heavily on areas like sales salaries, while neglecting crucial investments in digital marketing or wholesale partnerships. The commercial strategy, as she sees it, is about gaining control over the entire budget and ensuring that every dollar is spent in the most impactful way.
But it’s not just about money; it’s also about data. In Heidi’s experience, many hotels still operate in silos, with fragmented data systems that make it difficult to get a clear, unified picture of the business. She argues that the future of commercial strategy lies in better data integration and automation—using technology to bring together insights from across the organization and enable more informed decision-making.
For those working in revenue management, Heidi offered a crucial piece of advice: the time has come to break out of the traditional revenue management box. It’s not enough to be good at managing inventory and pricing. To succeed in a commercial strategy role, you need to embrace a broader perspective, one that considers the entire business and the interplay between all its moving parts.
The road to a fully unified commercial strategy is still being paved. But with leaders like Heidi Cosio pushing the industry forward, there’s hope that hotels will not only adapt but thrive in this new era of hospitality.
