Recently, there has been some commotion over the news that Hilton was stopping cleaning rooms during stays at some of its brands. This, which to many seems like a leap of faith, is an unbundling strategy, and it's nothing new.
Unbundling refers to the act of "setting apart or separating one thing from another." In the case of revenue, it's understood as eliminating parts of the whole that may not be entirely necessary.
As I said, this isn't new; there are many examples in other industries. We can go back to the emergence of the self-service supermarket, a step away from the grocery store where employees would pick up their products. Or gas stations. How many still fill up your gas station?
Turning to our tourism sector, the clearest example is the airlines, pioneers in revenue management. To maintain competitive prices, many of them have been removing services that weren't strictly necessary. Thus, low-cost airlines sell a seat from A to B, and everything else is paid for separately: seat selection, luggage, food, queue avoidance, etc.
But the national airlines are also doing the same. A few years ago, British Airways stopped serving food on its short- and medium-haul flights, arguing that it was to "improve service by giving customers the option to buy the sandwich they liked best, rather than having to eat the only one they had been offering."
Closer to hotels, in the restaurant sector, more and more restaurants are charging for the side. Previously, when ordering a steak, it came with—usually the diner's choice—potatoes, vegetables, or salad. These items often remained on the plate because the customer was already full, and ended up in the trash. The solution? Serve the steak alone on the plate, and whoever wanted a side dish had to pay for it.
The key here is that the new steak without a side dish doesn't cost less than before, when it came with a side dish. Nor is the price of the sandwich they no longer serve discounted on my British Airways seat. Nor do they charge me less per liter of fuel at the self-service gas station. And the room without housekeeping service during the stay won't be cheaper either. Unbundling, a way to generate revenue.
In the case of British and its sandwich, they argued it was a better choice for the customer. In Hilton's case, it was an environmental issue. It may be the main one or just one of them (the others could be a lack of cleaning staff or simply cost savings). Furthermore, it's not that the service is disappearing, but rather a shift from "opt out": unless you inform otherwise, the room will be cleaned; to "opt in": unless you specifically request it, the room will not be cleaned.
These changes are happening gradually, and I don't think they're reversible. Just a couple of years ago, Marriott announced it was moving from adding a multitude of amenities to fewer in its rooms, with the main amenities being in large bottles anchored to the wall, all in the name of reducing environmental impact. There was also some uproar at the time, with some believing it was simply a way to save costs. But it hasn't had any reputational consequences for the company, nor have they reduced room rates after the reduction in service.
Continuing with hotels, it's becoming increasingly common to check in and out via an app, and a mobile phone also doubles as a key. Do these hotels charge less because of the reduction in front desk staff? When it comes to further disaggregating hotels, the next step will be to do so by attributes: if the room has a view, a balcony, a terrace, a large bed, or is simply far from the elevator, that will be an attribute for which they charge.
Soon, when booking, we'll get the price of a basic interior room with two beds and a shower. And anything we want to add (a queen-size bed, exterior view, bathtub, or a high floor) will be extras we'll have to pay for. Just like airlines do with their seats. And if it's not yet widespread in the hotel industry, it's simply a technological issue (for PMS, RMS, and channels, it's very complex), but companies like Intercontinental HG have been testing it for years, and it will soon be commonplace. And those who want daily cleaning can pay for it at an additional cost.
These changes are increasingly blurring the line between hotels and apartments: contactless check-in and check-out with staff, no cleaning during the stay, reduced catering services... making it increasingly difficult to distinguish one from the other in the eyes of guests. But that's a different discussion.
