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# What Is Upselling? Hotel Upgrades and Extras Explained
- URL: https://www.eingecheckt.de/en/what-is-hotel-upselling/
- Published: 2026-10-29T06:54:37.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-29T07:10:37.000Z
- Description: Upselling means offering guests a better room or an extra. When guests welcome it and what makes it work.
- Author: Michael Külbel
- Tags: Hotel Glossary, Marketing & Sales, #en, #magazin_en, #lexikon-vertrieb, #pair_lexikon_upselling

Key points 
- Upselling means offering a guest who has already booked a higher-value option, such as a larger room or a suite. Cross-selling refers to additional services such as breakfast, spa or parking.
- Offers can be made at booking, before arrival, at check-in and during the stay.
- Upselling increases revenue per guest without having to win new guests, and fills higher room categories that would otherwise stay empty or be given away.
- Good offers suit the guest and come at the right moment.

**A guest has booked a standard room. The suite with a lake view is free that weekend. For a moderate supplement, the guest would get a special stay and the hotel more revenue. That is what upselling is about.**

## What upselling means

With upselling, a hotel offers a guest who has already booked a higher-value option: a larger room, a better location, a suite. Basak Denizci Guillet of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University describes the benefit: hotels can sell higher room categories that would otherwise remain empty or be handed out as free upgrades. Instead of winning new guests, revenue per booking goes up.¹

Closely related is cross-selling. Here the aim is not a better room but additional services such as breakfast, half board, spa treatments, parking or late check-out.

## The right moments

According to Denizci Guillet, upselling is possible at every stage of the guest journey: at booking, before arrival, at check-in and during the stay. For a long time, it mainly happened at reception. Today, many hotel groups use software that sends offers automatically by email, sometimes letting guests place their own bid for an upgrade.¹

## What makes good upselling

Good upselling feels like service to the guest, not like a sales pitch. It works when the offer suits the occasion: couples celebrating an anniversary appreciate a room with a view, families a connecting room, business travellers a late check-out. Guest data from the [PMS](https://www.eingecheckt.de/en/what-is-a-hotel-pms/) and CRM helps choose the right offer. Denizci Guillet recommends coordinating offers across all channels so that guests receive the same information by email, on the website and at reception.¹

## What hoteliers should look for

Checklist: introducing upselling

1. **Review availability:** Which room categories and services are often free or rarely booked?
2. **Keep offers focused:** A few clear offers with a picture and price rather than a long list.
3. **Choose the timing:** Send offers a few days before arrival and follow up at reception.
4. **Involve the team:** Train the reception team and make results visible.
5. **Keep it measured:** Make each guest no more than one or two suitable offers.

## More in the magazine

Why Hotel Laurin near Merano does not have to offer everything itself and relies on experiences from the region is shown in our article ["Why Hotel Laurin near Merano doesn’t have to offer everything itself"](https://www.eingecheckt.de/en/regional-guest-experiences-hotel-laurin-sissi-tours/). How hotels use guest data for suitable offers is explained in the glossary entry on [CRM](https://www.eingecheckt.de/en/what-is-hotel-crm/).

Sources

This glossary entry is based on the following source: 

1. [Basak Denizci Guillet (The Hong Kong Polytechnic University) (2019) ](https://ira.lib.polyu.edu.hk/bitstream/10397/104715/1/Denizci-Guillet%5FOnline%5FUpselling%5FMoving.pdf?ref=eingecheckt.de)  
*Online upselling: Moving beyond offline upselling in the hotel industry*  
Journal article, International Journal of Hospitality Management (accepted manuscript). Upselling along the guest journey, online upselling, bids for higher room categories, consistent communication across channels.