[00:00:00] Intro:  A healthy database means healthy guest profiles, because data is useless if it’s inaccessible or incomplete. Database health is without a doubt the universal connector for the success of all your channels. Welcome to the Hotel Moment podcast, presented by Revinate. I’m Brenna Turpin and I’m a Revinator who works alongside our host, Karen Stephens, to produce our podcasts. Our guests here on the show leave us with insights and perspectives to consider as we take on challenges within the industry. We decided to complement those perspectives with industry resources and practical solutions that you can implement right away to improve your operations and generate more direct revenue. So pull up a chair — let’s get straight to what matters most for your property.

[00:00:51] Brenna Turpin: Hey everyone, welcome back to Hotel Moment. Today I am joined by Revinator Bailey Yeats. She’s been with Revinate’s customer education team for several years, and I guarantee she has talked with some of you listening right now. And you might have heard her on one of the many Revinate webinars that we’ve re-aired on this podcast. Bailey has recently moved teams to join our marketing team, and I am thrilled to have her with me today. Welcome, Bailey.

[00:01:16] Bailey Yeats:  Thanks so much, Brenna. Super excited to be here with you today and here on the podcast. So let’s kick it off.

[00:01:24] Brenna Turpin:  Awesome. Yeah. Okay. So it’s not almost here. It’s not coming soon. It’s officially out!

[00:01:31] Bailey Yeats:  Data is live, capes off, battle ready, let’s go.

[00:01:36] Brenna Turpin:  And what are we talking about? We’re talking about the 2026 Hospitality Benchmark Report from Revinate, which has landed. And if you’re managing revenue, guest experience, or digital performance in a hotel, this is mission-critical intelligence. Because for eleven years, Revinate has been publishing the annual Hospitality Benchmark Report to help hoteliers benchmark performance, find revenue opportunities, and make strategic decisions based on real behavior — not surveys. And this edition is our most comprehensive yet. This year we analyzed 2.8 billion emails, 4.3 million phone calls, and 22 million text messages, and 28 million guest reviews from 2025 globally. That gave us industry-leading insights on guest communication, database quality, engagement rates, review response, revenue per contact, and ratings by property size and class. And we cover all the communication channels and data considerations — email, voice, web capture, and database health. It’s a lot, but in a good way. Let’s dive into some of the channel-level data, shall we, Bailey? Let’s start with email, because even with voice, social media, and messaging, email still drives serious bookings.

[00:02:53] Bailey Yeats:  Right. For the global email channel, this report found some of the key wins for specific campaign types that we all know you use every single week. First off with your newsletters — we have one up here on the screen for you right now from Voco Belfast that had a 60% open rate. That’s huge. Our benchmark report found that newsletters lead with engagement, at about 33.6% open rates and an average of $1,249 booking value. So really what you’re seeing here is Voco is way above average — they’re almost double the average open rate. Well done, team. Next is the double opt-in campaign. That specific campaign type delivers over $3,600 in booking value and an average of 17 room nights booked per campaign sent. Lastly, is the dynamic duo of cart abandonment and cancellation recovery. These two convert above five to six percent. That’s big. And this really shows that intent-driven messaging is what is actually moving the needle.

[00:04:02] Brenna Turpin:  Exactly. And in North America specifically, newsletters hold a 33.7% open rate with an average booking value of $1,344. Recurring campaigns, like cart abandonment and cancellation recovery campaigns, those consistently deliver over $986 in booking value. Even cold lead emails now convert upwards of 6.5%, with average booking values over $3,300 — proving follow-ups still matter.

[00:04:33] Bailey Yeats:  They sure do. And you know, Brenna, the lesson is very loud and clear here: well-segmented and timely email campaigns, they don’t just get opened — they drive that direct revenue and recapture lost bookings that we’re all looking for. It was never about spamming your guests’ inbox, after all. Think about whether you are using these campaigns or not using these campaigns in your hotel right now for your guests or your buyers’ journey.

[00:04:58] Brenna Turpin:  Exactly. Now let’s move on to talk about the voice channel, which is often underestimated but shockingly valuable. It’s the human channel that still actually really converts. And we just released an episode dedicated to the benchmark report and the importance of the voice channel on this podcast. It’s with Agnelo Fernandes, the CEO of Cote Hospitality, and we’ll link that in the show notes for you. So please do give that a listen. And actually, Bailey, let’s hear a clip of that episode now with Agnelo.

[00:05:27] Agnelo Fernandes:  It’s paramount, right, in my mind. I think having that unified guest data and CDP, and then building an orchestration layer where they’re viewing the preferences of the guests based on what is needed and not what is intuition — it’s just not one size fits all, right? So what has happened in our evolution over the past couple of years has been truly taking this data, scrubbing it well, and then putting it into buckets that we believe that now the agent has the ability to look at this information up front. And then they’re equipped with whether it’s a conversion strategy or a fallback strategy — it just depends on what the business needs are. So it’s absolutely critical for them to have this information at their fingertips. Otherwise it becomes more of a negotiation versus, let me just truly book you this experience that you’re craving for. That’s why you called me in the first place.

[00:06:15] Bailey Yeats:  Always great to hear from Agnelo. He’s such a great leader in our industry. In North America, we’ve found on the Hospitality Benchmark Report this year that inbound calls per room are peaking at approximately 16 calls in the summer months. And this means that even when it’s super busy, guests are still choosing to pick up the phone to make that reservation. They’re still asking your agents to sell them that experience. Lead calls are staying steady at two to three per room year-round. Even when the calls swing with that 80% seasonality, they’re still sticking at that rate. The best conversion months on average are 49 to 53%. Those are big conversions. That means it’s showing your well-trained reservations teams are closing more than half of the qualified leads that they are receiving. That’s big. And our underdog is the outbound efforts. We found that people who are actively using outbound calls are generating approximately $1,164 in incremental revenue per room annually. Just imagine the impact that little bit could make.

[00:07:25] Brenna Turpin:  It really is crazy when you think about it. And plus, at Dream Inn Santa Cruz, who you’ll see on the screen, they had nearly 40% of bookings come directly from voice efforts. That’s reservation sales changing the economics of direct revenue.

[00:07:42] Bailey Yeats:  Sure is. The channel isn’t old school. It’s been around for a long time, but it is not old school. It still proves to be a high-intent channel, and it is still hugely underleveraged.

[00:07:52] Brenna Turpin:  For sure. Voice isn’t dead, right? Really. That’s great. Okay, next up, let’s talk about the messaging channel. Messaging numbers tell us a story that you really might not expect as a hotelier, because fast replies are great — guests want that — but relevant, personalized replies are better.

[00:08:10] Bailey Yeats:  Yes. And you know, hotels globally are receiving over a thousand text messages per month on average. Specifically in North America, that number approaches 993 messages per month per property. But here’s the kicker: only about 16% of guests engage with those messages. And that means the ones who do are your most valuable audience. In North America, lead engagement is about 19.5% with opt-outs under 3%. That’s good. That’s great — it means we’re not seeing a lot of opt-outs, showing that good texts are great for your guests and they appreciate them. When we look at automation, we’re seeing that Ivy is handling about 31% of your automation messaging. And that’s freeing up your staff to focus on those high-impact conversations and really be direct with your customers at the front desk and in-person experiences.

[00:09:08] Brenna Turpin:  Right. And Bailey, like you said before about blasting — this channel is not about blasting. It’s about targeting the right person at the right time with the right message.

[00:09:18] Bailey Yeats:  For sure. So next up, we’re going to chat about web capture. This is arguably the most foundational channel for future marketing. And you might think, how is web capture the most foundational channel for future marketing? Well, guest reviews matter, right? They’ve always mattered. It’s all about that social proof — it’s about the positive reviews, the negative ones, and how you’re actually responding to those reviews as a hotelier.

[00:09:46] Brenna Turpin:  That is what matters even more. For sure. And when you look at global review volume and web data, APAC hoteliers average around 90 reviews per property — almost double North America’s 48 reviews. And review volumes show year-over-year growth across all regions, with EMEA posting the highest growth rate. And review response rates are strong: North America at 58%, APAC at 61% — which directly supports search rankings and guest trust.

[00:10:17] Bailey Yeats:  Yeah, you got it. And the web capture channel ties visibility, reputation, and conversion all together. This means that more positive reviews plus that active response of you responding to the reviews is going to equal a better organic traffic experience as well as more direct revenue. And that’s what we’re all after here.

[00:10:38] Brenna Turpin:  That’s the end goal. And our last one here — we want to talk about database health. A healthy database means healthy guest profiles, because data is useless if it’s inaccessible or incomplete.

[00:10:52] Bailey Yeats:  That’s right. The global picture here shows that in North America, North America holds about 84% email capture rate, which is pretty good — it’s leading the world in direct guest contact. EMEA and APAC are both doing well and both improving their email capture rate. They are closing that gap nicely, which is great to see. Phone capture is sitting around 53% to 58% globally. I’d say this is the biggest opportunity for hoteliers worldwide for that multi-channel engagement for their guests. The smaller hotels — those 100 rooms or less type of hotels — they are growing their databases the fastest. And I think it really goes to show that when they’re having these hands-on team approaches, they’re the ones that are going to be winning on that data capture.

[00:11:40] Brenna Turpin:  Exactly. And that’s something that we talk about at Revinate quite a lot, and even on this podcast — that data is the foundation of every channel. Email performance depends on clean lists and segmentation. Messaging engagement needs to be valid with all guest contact information. Voice conversions rely on captured calling history and context, and web capture feeds reputation and first-party data back into your CRM. The point is: database health is without a doubt the universal connector for the success of all your channels.

[00:12:11] Bailey Yeats:  So true. You know, Steve Jobs said you can’t connect the dots looking forward — you can only connect them looking backwards. So today, some of the dots that we’re connecting are: strong email metrics mean that hotels are still earning revenue directly when they communicate with intent. For the voice channel, voice shows that direct booking power isn’t dead. Like you said, voice isn’t dead — it’s still alive and well, it’s just often unoptimized at many, many hotels. Messaging is still proving that your guests will engage when you make it easy for them and when you make it relevant to them. Web capture — it’s showing that reputation still really does influence future bookings and that overall guest experience. Database health, like you said, it’s the foundation of it all. It makes all of this possible. So let’s connect those dots from our findings in 2025 and start applying them in 2026.

[00:13:07] Brenna Turpin:  Exactly. And that’s what this report does — it brings everything together. The 2026 Hospitality Benchmark Report gives you the actual numbers to compare against, the regions where performance is the best, and the levers that matter most in every channel.

[00:13:22] Bailey Yeats:  Great. So over the next couple of weeks, we’re going to be doing a deep dive on each of these channels, which is very exciting for me because I love a good deep dive. In March, we’re going to be covering database health best practices, email revenue, and segmentation tactics. And then in April, we’re going to be covering that high-intent booking channel of voice and the strategies to help improve your overall efforts.

[00:13:49] Brenna Turpin:  It’s gonna be so good, Bailey. And this isn’t just data we’re talking about here. Yeah, Bailey, these are resources that our listeners can use as a blueprint for action.

[00:13:59] Bailey Yeats:  That’s right. And you know, navigating to the benchmark report to find those valuable metrics is very, very easy. So what you can do is head over to revinate.com and under the resources section, you’re going to find Benchmark Reports. From there, you’ll select your region that you’d like to review, or maybe you want to look at the global metrics. And you’ll see in there each channel for the regions as well as the most important data for your hotel. Now over the next few weeks, as we talked about, we are going to be taking that deep dive into the 2026 Hospitality Benchmark Report for each channel, to uncover strategies for improving those metrics you’re looking at. To help us out, we’re bringing in the experts. And who are those experts? They are industry leaders who are super users of Revinate’s solutions. So we invite you to save the date for our North America Benchmark Leadership Webinar Series that’s going to be kicking off next Wednesday, March 18th at 10 a.m. PST.

[00:14:54] Brenna Turpin:  Perfect. And as they say, sounds like something you should add to your calendar. And if you’d like us to send you a personal invitation for the webinar series with the full details, email us at media@revinate.com.

[00:15:07] Bailey Yeats:  And you know, there’s one thing I know for sure, Brenna — it’s that the hotels that will win in 2026 won’t be the ones with more tech. It’ll be the ones who are activating what they have.

[00:15:19] Brenna Turpin: Exactly. Data, strategy, execution. The true trilogy of hotel superheroism. Download the report, benchmark your channels, and act with purpose. Link in the show notes, everyone. And Bailey, thank you so much for joining the podcast. I know some of our listeners are gonna geek out when they hear you because they’ve probably talked to you in person or over the phone. Thank you so much for having me here, Brenna. Awesome. Thanks everyone. See you next time.