The wave of live performance bulletins by worldwide music acts this 12 months has stirred pleasure not simply amongst followers, however hoteliers. The mad rush for tickets to see the likes of Coldplay, Oasis and Kylie Minogue has triggered a pointy demand for lodge rooms wherever these artists are performing. And, this phenomenon has prolonged past live shows. Main public gatherings just like the photo voltaic eclipse viewing within the US and sporting occasions just like the UEFA Euro in Germany have additionally drawn vital consideration to motels, as native and worldwide travellers flock to attend these occasions.
Occasion-driven journey is undeniably booming, with its affect seen in lodge occupancy and room charges. As Allied Market Analysis reviews, the worldwide occasions trade is projected to succeed in US$2 trillion by 2032 – practically doubling its 2019 measurement of US$1.1 trillion – suggesting that occasions are set to grow to be an much more vital income supply for the hospitality trade.
Whereas occasions have lengthy been a dependable driver of lodge bookings, their rising significance within the hospitality trade is now being pushed by shifting dynamics of provide and demand. As Fabian Bartnick, Founding father of income administration options Infinito and PerfectCheck, factors out: “All people is now trying to monetise occasions … and somebody is controlling their provide.” In different phrases, key gamers – be it governments, airways or occasion organisers – now play an important function in deciding when, the place and the way occasions occur and are made accessible, typically creating shortage amid rising demand.
Citing the Singapore leg of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour for instance of managed shortage, Bartnick explains how the native authorities successfully managed the availability of Swift’s live performance in Southeast Asia by securing an unique contract with the artist, creating a novel market the place the occasion’s restricted availability enabled different enterprise sectors to cost greater costs.
“You and I would assume $700 for a ticket is loopy,” says Bartnick. “However in case you are a Swifty dwelling in Thailand or the Philippines and have the possibility to see her in your yard, you’re going. So, the whole spectrum of income administration that’s taking place [for events] has widened from simply ticket gross sales. Airways and motels have capitalised on the pattern.”
Altering attitudes to journey
The rise of occasion journey can be intently linked to the inflow of travellers arriving en masse at these occasions, as seen with Swift’s tour. Bartnick notes that this shift factors to a deeper change in attitudes in the direction of journey, the place shoppers are more and more prioritising life-enriching experiences.
“After Covid, there was a basic shift in what it really means to have a sure form of freedom, to have a sure potential to journey, see the world and do one thing,” he explains.
Moreover, with journey changing into extra accessible, extra persons are selecting to journey for occasions just because they now can. Pablo Torres, hospitality guide and founding father of Torres Consulting, explains: “It’s not simply that extra occasions are taking place. It’s additionally as a result of extra folks can now afford to attend them.”
Maximising demand by means of dynamic pricing
The management of occasion provide by a handful of key gamers, mixed with a public extra desperate to journey than ever, has pushed motels to show to know-how to seize this demand successfully. Income administration options providing market intelligence have been indispensable, and the necessity is obvious; motels should depend on instruments that enable them to maintain monitor of demand round the clock, particularly for occasions attracting a extra international viewers.
“No human, no matter their expertise or ability, can assume sooner than a machine,” says Torres. “There are instruments available on the market that already present, for instance, the rise in searches and flights to your vacation spot, demand for bookings and the occasions you might need in your metropolis. You might do this manually and spend the whole day compiling the knowledge, or you’ll be able to press a button and have a dashboard in your display screen after which resolve.”
With this info, improvements in lodge tech have given properties the boldness to enterprise into dynamic pricing, a method by which motels alter room charges every day or throughout the day primarily based on real-time demand, permitting them to maximise occupancy and income throughout occasions. This technique has grow to be ubiquitous throughout industries – from airways to supply apps – and, as Klaus Kohlmayr, Chief Evangelist and Growth Officer at IDeaS, suggests, it’s excessive time that lodge income managers embrace it absolutely, now that buyers are extra accustomed to the idea. Certainly, SiteMinder’s Altering Traveller Report 2025 signifies that greater than 6-in-10 travellers globally agree that motels ought to be capable of alter their charges throughout peak demand durations.
“Relying on the kind of lodge, you might see measurable income uplift simply by adopting dynamic pricing,” Kohlmayr explains. “From a shopper standpoint, dynamic pricing permits you to pay a decrease fee when demand is low, [in the same way] that you just settle for paying the next fee when there’s excessive demand. Customers have been educated on that and so they perceive that [this strategy] occurs in companies everywhere in the world.”
Avoiding the pitfalls of worth gouging
However regardless of the revenue-generating benefits that dynamic pricing provides, it typically attracts scrutiny. Sure ride-sharing companies have come below fireplace for worth surges throughout public emergencies, whereas ticketing firms have confronted backlash for dramatically inflating costs in response to high-demand occasions in current months. These cases have precipitated the road between truthful worth changes and unethical worth gouging to blur.
Shannon Knapp, Founder and Director of lodge consultancy SKNapp Consulting, says: “Dynamic pricing is getting an unfair dangerous rap. A basic flaw in retail trade functions of dynamic pricing or demand-based pricing is after they don’t institute a cap or a ‘ceiling’ worth level the way in which we do in motels, in order to forestall costs taking pictures as much as eleventy jillion {dollars} when Taylor Swift or Oasis publicizes dates. The very best lodge income administration programs have configurable ceiling settings to forestall this.”
Knapp provides: “In terms of dynamic pricing, income managers want to recollect: worth gouging is exploitative and takes benefit of drawback, particularly throughout crises. Whereas worth optimisation adjusts charges in response to high-demand leisure occasions with a ceiling fee configured to make sure accountable utility.”
This highlights the necessity for a considerate and data-based strategy to pricing, fairly than merely reacting to fluctuating demand. Worth changes shouldn’t solely reply to market circumstances but in addition think about how company understand the equity and worth of the charges supplied. Briefly, dynamic pricing isn’t nearly setting costs.
“Sadly, the ability set that we’ve within the trade thinks that dynamic pricing is like taking part in yo-yo by letting costs go up and down,” shares Bartnick. “Dynamic pricing is a tactical lever with many sides at play. We have to perceive how our charges impression pricing energy, and our gross sales and advertising efforts.”
Worth-driven technique
Bartnick provides that the ‘lifetime worth of a buyer’ should even be factored in when finishing up dynamic pricing for occasions, protecting in thoughts loyal, repeat prospects and even company from account-based purchasers. Balancing dynamic pricing for occasion prospects with these long-term relationships permits motels to seize rapid income with out risking future enterprise from high-value company.
Importantly, on the core of dynamic pricing is the worth motels can supply to company past the room. Whereas income managers might have the flexibleness to regulate their charges as soon as vital demand from occasions is detected, their pricing methods ought to be paired with significant choices that present actual worth for cash.
Torres explains, “In case your solely supply is similar room that value 20 instances much less the day earlier than, most prospects will discover it unfair. Why don’t you embody added worth? You may create a bundle with the live performance organisers, embody transfers to the venue the place the occasion is happening or embody breakfast. Add worth in your pricing that company will discover significant, in order that they really feel they’re getting a good worth.”
Agility at a time of uncertainty
The rise of occasion journey indicators a future that can solely see extra demand-driving traits impacting motels, now that “the macroeconomic elements for hospitality and tourism are very optimistic”, Kohlmayr factors out. “There are 100 million folks yearly which can be getting into the center class. Should you’re within the lodge enterprise, it’s important to take into consideration the long term alternatives to faucet into that.” This aligns with findings from SiteMinder’s Altering Traveller Report 2025, which reveals that 72% of travellers globally will probably be travelling internationally in 2025, and that the majority (92%) plan to spend at the very least the identical quantity or extra on their lodging.
Nonetheless, as journey turns into much more dynamic, the trade is predicted to function in an more and more unsure surroundings. On this regard, Bartnick emphasises that income managers should be extra comfy with the uncertainty introduced by rising journey traits.
And, all of it begins with agility.
“Agility is the secret. We now have a recreation the place we don’t actually know who’s taking part in or what the principles are. Airways have grow to be actually good at controlling provide of flights, very like how the Singaporean Authorities managed to manage Taylor Swift’s tour location. In lots of cases, motels will probably be on the receiving finish of those shifts. Some elements are outdoors your energy, but when they occur to be coming your means, then it’s important to be quick sufficient to monetise,” he says.
Income managers should then be extra reflective about their methods, significantly for unpredictable, high-demand occasions. Somewhat than relying solely on historic knowledge or going by a inflexible ‘wait and see’ strategy, altering pricing choices when it’s too late, they should set expectations even earlier than they set their income methods and often re-evaluate their choices.
“We’re not taking a look at trigger and impact in the intervening time when setting dynamic pricing methods,” notes Bartnick. “We don’t assume forward – that if I throw a ball at a sure velocity, it’ll come again in a particular spot.”
He provides, “That’s why we have to do [away with] that basic, inflexible mindset in income administration and grow to be extra agile, extra experimental. Nothing is created within the consolation zone. Income administration itself is a subject of experimentation.”
