How to make the most of your Market Insight free trial?

Traditionally, forecasting demand relied on historical data - looking at last year’s bookings - or seeing what’s already on the books. But the travel landscape is more dynamic than ever before, meaning that relying on past trends, gut feel and previously held assumptions can leave you a step behind.

Fortunately, hoteliers no longer need to rely on guesswork and historical data to understand the state of demand in their market. That’s where tools like Market Insight have come in.

By analyzing forward-looking search data, Market Insight provides real-time insights to help you capture demand before competitors even see it coming.

Whether you’re a hotel owner, a revenue manager, or part of a sales or marketing team, this blog will give you some ideas on how you can make the most of Market Insight, providing your team with the insights they need to take both immediate and long-term actions that position your property for success.

What is Market Insight and how does it help hoteliers?

Market Insight is the hospitality industry’s first predictive market intelligence tool designed to help hoteliers uncover revenue opportunities by analyzing real-time booking intent and forward-looking data.

It consolidates billions of data points from sources like Online Travel Agencies (OTAs), flight searches, local events, and even short-term rental trends, into an insight-laden dashboard giving you the most accurate, up-to-date picture of market demand. 

Key features include:

• Demand heatmaps: Visualize high- and low-demand periods across the next 365 days mapped across your market.

• Smart Compset: Dynamically benchmark against the most relevant competitors.

• Instant alerts: React quickly to sudden demand shifts or pricing opportunities.

• Feeder market insights: Identify where demand is coming from (and for how long they are planning to travel) to target high-value travelers.

By leveraging these features, hoteliers can align strategies with real-time demand trends and make proactive decisions to stay ahead of market shifts. 

Whether it’s targeting travelers during peak periods or filling gaps in quieter times, Market Insight ensures your property is positioned to capture every opportunity. 

In fact, research by Lighthouse shows the power of this data: hotels using Market Insight achieved 2.3% higher RevPAR and 4.7% higher occupancy compared to those not using Market Insight in the same market, and experiencing the same market conditions. For a 100-room hotel with a $50 RevPAR, that’s an additional $66,198 per year. 

Lighthouse research also shows an up to 20% improvement in forecasting accuracy when used to inform your occupancy forecasting model for dates in the next 30 days, and a 9% accuracy improvement for dates between 90 and 365 days in the future.

How hotel teams use Market Insight to capture demand

With Market Insight, every member of your commercial team - whether in revenue management, marketing, or sales - can act on real-time demand data to fine-tune pricing, target the right markets, and uncover opportunities that position your property to capture its fair share of bookings.

Market Insight for revenue managers: Turning data into smarter pricing decisions

Revenue managers are at the heart of driving profitability, and Market Insight helps you identify, plan, and act on opportunities with more precision and confidence. 

It extends your window of opportunity by highlighting even the most subtle change in demand, giving you time and flexibility to be proactive and act decisively in the short term while equally equipping you with the right data to build strategies that sustain long-term growth.

React quickly with real-time alerts

Market Insight’s instant alerts ensure you never miss a demand opportunity or competitive pricing shift. Whether it’s a sudden surge in searches or an unplanned dip in bookings, these alerts allow you to act immediately:

• Adjust pricing to capture additional revenue.

• Adapt and modify promotion strategy to better align with LOS and feeder market search trends.

Refine strategies for high- and low-demand periods

High-demand periods:

• Maximize ADR:
  For dates where Market Insight’s demand heatmaps show consistent spikes, you can raise your rates early and adjust your room category pricing to prioritize premium inventory.
  
  It also gives you the confidence to turn down that group booking for a peak date, making sure you have availability for higher-paying transient bookings.

• Ensure pricing competitiveness:
  Market Insight’s Smart Compset dynamically adjusts to reflect the most relevant competitors - those aligned with your property’s location, star rating, review scores, and pricing patterns. 
  
  This allows you to make informed, data-driven decisions, whether you’re refining your pricing strategy or adjusting promotions to remain competitive and capture more revenue. 
  
  Alerts provide a clear view of your pricing competitiveness against your competition, enhanced with demand insights to ensure your property is always strategically priced.

• Apply LOS restrictions strategically:
  Use Market Insight's hotel and OTA search data to understand how long guests are planning to stay and align your restrictions with this behavior. 
  
  For instance, setting a two-night minimum stay during peak weekends ensures maximum revenue per booking.

Low-demand periods:

• Create offers aligned with guest behavior:
  Market Insight’s segmentation tools help you identify stay patterns, such as longer stays in shoulder seasons. Using this data, craft targeted offers like extended-stay discounts to attract bookings.

• Leverage feeder market data for targeted pricing:
  Use Market Insight to identify regions where travelers are still actively searching and offer geo-specific discounts to fill gaps in occupancy.

Build confidence in your long-term strategy

• Budgeting and forecasting:
  Market Insight’s 365-day forward-looking data allows you to plan annual budgets with a strong foundation. By identifying high and low periods early, you can allocate resources like staffing and marketing spend, efficiently. 

• Plan promotions around market demand:
  With Market Insight, you can clearly see the high-demand dates well in advance, meaning you can already lock in your blackout dates, plan promotions in advance, or renegotiate rates for the next year. 
  
  For example, a “Book Early and Save” campaign can drive revenue for dates where demand is expected to peak.

Market Insight for marketing teams: targeting the right travelers with precision

Marketing campaigns are most effective when they are aligned with demand patterns and audience behavior. Market Insight provides the crucial data to help you refine your campaigns, optimize budgets, and focus your efforts on the travelers most likely to book.

Turn data into timely campaigns

• Capitalize on feeder market trends:
  Market Insight’s feeder market data reveal where demand is stemming from, allowing you to target your campaigns effectively. 
  
  For example, if searches from Germany are increasing during the European winter, for your destination’s summer season, create geo-targeted ads emphasizing local summer experiences and warm hospitality.

• Align campaigns with key booking windows:
  With flight and hotel search data, Market Insight helps you time your campaigns to reach travelers during their booking journey. There’s an average 7-week window between searching and booking flights and a 3 week window for hotels - lots of time for you to put in place the right offer. 
  
  For instance, launch promotions for summer stays early in the year when flight searches begin to spike, ensuring your property is visible when travelers are planning their trips.

• Optimize your ad spend:
  Feeder market insights and segmentation tools show which regions and traveler types are most active for your property. Focus your budget on high-performing regions and cut back on areas with lower conversion potential. This approach ensures you maximize ROI and reach audiences ready to book.

Stay competitive during high-demand periods

High-demand periods require a shift in strategy to ensure your property stands out:

• Promote urgency:
  Use heatmap data to identify peak demand dates and create campaigns that emphasize scarcity, such as “Limited Availability for Festival Weekends.”

• Event-specific offers:
  Leverage event tracking to create packages tied to major local events. For example, bundle accommodations with free parking or late checkout for attendees of a music festival or sporting event, or a free shuttle service to and from the venue.

Drive bookings in low-demand periods

When demand softens, creativity and precision become essential:

• Focus on regional travelers:
  Target nearby regions with campaigns promoting quick getaways, flexible cancellation policies, and perks like free breakfast or discounted parking.

• Optimize your pay-per-click campaigns
  Reduce costs associated with campaigns in geographical areas of low source demand, eliminating some of the trial-and-error in the process.

• Boost OTA visibility:
  Partner with OTAs to improve your property’s ranking during low-demand weeks. Exclusive offers can help your property gain more visibility and secure bookings.

Plan for the long-term

Market Insight also provides important data to support your long-term marketing strategies, so you can plan ahead and prepare campaigns that align with broader trends:

• Seasonal campaign planning: Use the demand heatmap to map out seasonal promotions well in advance. For example, plan a “Spring Escape” campaign during the quieter winter months to capture early bookings for the upcoming season.

• Sustainable budgeting: Allocate advertising budgets strategically based on annual feeder market data. By focusing on the regions and traveler types that consistently drive demand, you can ensure a more predictable and sustainable marketing ROI throughout the year.

Market Insight for sales teams: Building partnerships and driving group business

Sales teams play a pivotal role in securing group bookings and partnerships that complement transient revenue.

Market Insight equips your team with data to target opportunities effectively, whether it’s filling gaps during quieter periods or enhancing revenue during high-demand times.

Target high-potential markets

• Secure corporate and group bookings:
  During slower periods, identify times when your property may underperform compared to market demand. Target corporate accounts or leisure groups to bridge these gaps with midweek or off-season bookings.
  
  For instance, offer discounted meeting packages for business travelers or special extended-stay rates for group trips. In quieter months, enhance group packages with added value such as complimentary meeting space, dining credits, or room upgrades. These incentives can set your property apart, driving bookings that might not otherwise materialize.

Maximize revenue during high-demand periods

• Align group rates with transient demand:
  High-demand periods require careful balance. While group bookings can secure early revenue, transient guests often yield higher ADR. Use demand insights to price group contracts competitively without undervaluing your inventory.

• Collaborate with event organizers:
  Use event tracking to identify conferences, festivals, or sporting events driving demand. Partner with organizers to offer tailored packages for attendees, such as all-inclusive group rates or transportation options.

Plan partnerships for the long term

• Build relationships in key markets:
  By analyzing year-round feeder market data, you can identify regions with consistent interest in your destination. Develop long-term partnerships with OTAs, wholesalers, and travel agencies in these regions to ensure a steady flow of business.

• Coordinate with revenue and marketing teams:
  Use shared Market Insight data to align group sales strategies with pricing and promotional efforts. For example, if a high-demand period is forecasted, work with revenue managers to reserve inventory for transient guests and the marketing team to target feeder markets, while you engage with partners on the supply side.

Bringing it all together: Aligning Hotel Commercial teams

Market Insight’s comprehensive data enables seamless collaboration between your revenue, marketing, and sales teams. 

By working from the same demand-driven insights, your commercial teams can create strategies that maximize revenue, fill gaps, and ensure you stay proactive and flexible for future high and low-demand dates.

• Revenue Teams: Set pricing and restrictions based on demand heatmaps and Smart Compset data.

• Marketing Teams: Plan campaigns that target active feeder markets and align with booking windows.

• Sales Teams: Focus on new business markets, group opportunities and partnerships that align with the demand trends.

Weekly alignment meetings using Market Insight data ensure every team is contributing to shared goals, whether it’s capturing peak-season demand or stabilizing revenue during quieter periods.

Drive success with Market Insight

Success in today’s hospitality industry demands more than reacting to market changes - it requires anticipating them. With Market Insight, your commercial team gains access to forward-looking data that fuels every decision, whether it’s setting competitive rates, creating targeted campaigns, or securing valuable group business.

By turning search trends into actionable insights, Market Insight helps you position your property to thrive in any market condition. From pinpointing emerging demand to aligning your team’s strategies for peak efficiency, Market Insight gives you much-needed clarity so that you can make decisions confidently.

Take the guesswork out of forecasting, planning, and strategy. 

Start your free trial and discover how Market Insight can transform your property into a leader in your market, capturing opportunities long before they reach your competitors.