Hotels are finding new ways to generate revenue from customers without room reservations.
More and more hotels are trying to get non-guests – usually local residents – to use amenities like pools, fitness centers, meeting rooms and more. The goals: generate revenue, gain exposure among locals and build closer ties to the community.
“There are a lot of opportunities,” said Zach Demuth, global head of hotel research at JLL, particularly for under-utilized city hotels. While third-party providers offering daytime use of rooms and amenities have existed for years, new technologies have made it possible to provide direct connections to PMS systems, Demuth said, so non-guests are treated like guests from the minute they arrive, without hotel staff having to deal with the technology themselves.
These non-guest options include two main options: day passes and memberships. The former involve the use of some or all of a property’s facilities and services for a specific number of hours or for a day. The latter involve the ongoing use of a specific facility on a weekly, monthly or longer basis.
The best-known player in the day pass segment is ResortPass, which works with 1,500 hotels in 27 countries and controls 95% of that market, according to CEO Michael Wolf. He said the customer base includes families with children, single young adults, couples and anyone looking to recharge and rest. And Wolf said the target audience is not just locals, but also travelers staying with friends and family or travelers on their way to or from a cruise.
ResortPass’s business model, says Wolf, is that his company receives a commission on the Hotels have realized that they are leaving money on the table. And now the paying non-guest comes into play. Day pass fee. ResortPass customers, he added, spend two to three times as much as on-site guests because they want to stay all day and have fun. He said 70% of hotels offer day passes for $65 or less. On the other hand, luxury brands may offer passes “over $200.”
ResortPass has partnerships with major brands like Hilton. Jessica Shea, vice president of wellness, retail and leisure at Hilton Americas, said, “We see great opportunity to serve the rapidly growing segment of people who want to visit hotels and resorts during the day, especially given the increasing number of day visitors among both leisure travelers and locals looking for a getaway to relax or unwind.”
The Conrad Los Angeles offers more than 10 different day pass packages, from rooftop pool access to spa experiences.
Many Hyatt hotels also offer day passes and/or experience programs, said Susan Santiago, president of U.S. and Canada at Hyatt Hotels Corp. The company has also worked with Way, an experience technology partner, to make it easier for guests and locals to book additional experiences.
Since launching the pilot in late 2023, participating hotels have seen an increase in bookings for these experiences, and Hyatt expects to roll out Way as an optional add-on booking platform in hotels worldwide, Santiago said.
Examples of Way experiences include: candle making, chocolate making and cocktail classes at Thompson Denver, by Hyatt; spa access and yoga classes at Andaz Mexico City Condesa; and a roller skating fitness course at Chicago Athletic AssociationPart of Hyatt’s Unbound Collection, which also offers complimentary tours of the historic property.
Fully operational
Management companies also favor day passes. Ronald Mader, senior vice president of full-service and resorts at Hospitality Ventures Management Group, calls them “a great way to engage with the local community and give local guests the opportunity to experience and enjoy (a property’s) amenities.”
David Mariotti, division vice president of operations at Remington Hospitality, which manages the Lakeway Resort and Spa in Texas, said the property partnered with ResortPass in spring 2020. The day pass program includes access to restaurants, a spa, a fitness center and several pools. The program, he said, “has significantly increased local engagement and increased awareness and sales across all channels.”
Sarah Crowe, corporate director of marketing and communications at Twenty Four Seven Hotels, said day pass programs were “an innovative way to generate additional revenue but also a way to engage the local community. Day passes offer locals the opportunity to escape without driving away and use the hotel facilities on a day trip.”
Tapping into the growing day pass market, Crowe said, “has proven to be very successful.” It’s a great way to fill the gap on lower-occupancy days, she added, “and give guests exactly what they want, like a carefree day at the pool. It also provides a plug-and-play platform to directly reach a qualified audience for special events like a Sunday Funday Pool Party.”
Jonathan Knudsen, CEO of Concrete Hospitality Group, which handles food and beverage at New York’s Royalton Park Avenue hotel, said the hotel has always offered day passes through its organic channels, website and social platforms, but when ResortPass approached us two years ago, “we were convinced that their platform was the perfect partner to get the message out to a wider audience.”
“It’s good, qualified revenue,” he continued, “which is not always the case,” adding that the partnership allows the company to reach a wider audience of potential buyers.
The Royalton, Knudsen said, increased ResortPass bookings by nearly 50% between June 2023 and June 2024, and revenue from those bookings increased 80% over the same period.
Some hotels also go beyond hotel guests to their own devices. The Langham, Chicago, for example, offers a Club Lounge day pass to the 4,000-square-foot Langham Club Lounge on the 12th floor with panoramic city views and additional services such as use of breakout rooms and boardrooms, multiple F&B presentations throughout the day and personalized concierge services.
Megan Brilley, director of public relations, called the initiative a great success because it allows the hotel to offer guests and non-guests “a luxurious, secluded space while demonstrating what we are all about: providing the highest standard of hospitality to our community.”
CitizenM, a boutique hotel group, has not only rejected memberships but has actually embraced them, offering a membership program at its 34 hotels worldwide. For a small monthly or annual fee, CitizenM offers 15% off all stays, a free welcome drink on app bookings, early access to offers, free late checkout, free premium view (in hotels with premium views), 15% off food and beverages (excluding breakfast), guaranteed room (48 hours in advance), 15% off meeting rooms, and recently, free use of coworking spaces.
Influence on guests
Hotels need to be careful that non-guests don’t impact the experience of paying guests, but as Demuth noted, “You’re not going to be able to book a pool cabana at a Ritz-Carlton resort on a Fourth of July.th weekend because you risk scaring away guests.”
“We don’t compromise on our guests’ overnight experience,” Wolf said. “The reality is that there is excess capacity. Even if a hotel is fully booked for a conference, the rooftop pool can be empty. In Los Angeles, if a hotel is at 95% capacity, the pool can be empty during the day.”
One could argue that ResortPass is similar to an OTA in some ways: Hoteliers can use it when they need it. “Hotels can ‘activate’ ResortPass offers when hotel occupancy may be lower and the hotel’s amenities are expected to be available,” Shea said. This allows the offers to be deactivated during times of higher occupancy and usage to give priority to hotel guests.
Optimizing opportunities
Pools and cabanas are the “entry point” for non-guests, according to Demuth, but he believes there are other monetization opportunities beyond that. Conference rooms, he says, are so underused that many hotels have three or four conference rooms that can accommodate up to eight people. The same goes for coworking spaces and, in some cases, even parking, since hotels have their own garages, which are valuable real estate.
There are many untapped opportunities for these products, Wolf said, even for events like hotel movie nights and other one-off occasions. ResortPass helps hotels customize their offerings, he said. While there are some programs that limit the number of hours or even a single fitness class, in most cases access is for the entire day.
From JLL’s perspective, Demuth asked, “Will a major brand realize it can do this itself?” He is not convinced, as brands tend to stick to their core competency. From a hotel perspective, he continued, their best guest is still the overnight guest. “Hotels are hotels,” he said, “so this will always be an add-on or by-product.”
Story contributed by Harvey Chipkin.
