In hospitality, we’re used to curveballs. But 2025 has already delivered a few we didn’t see coming. Last week, I had the opportunity to co-host the webinar “Navigating hospitality’s new normal” with Jennifer Hill, VP of Commercial Strategy at Kalibri Labs, where we dove into the latest hospitality industry data and discussed what’s shifting in hospitality and, more importantly, what’s working for hoteliers right now.

Federal policy shockwaves: what you need to know

We began by addressing a major disruptor: federal travel policy changes. In February, a new executive order and a Department of Defense directive significantly restricted government travel. Civilian travel card limits were reduced to just one dollar, and all non-exempted government trips were cancelled unless explicitly approved. These changes had immediate consequences. Government room nights dropped by 8% in Q1 and by 16% in Q2, with demand down 15% in the forward 30-day outlook.

Corporate bookings tied to government contractors also softened. For hotels in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia, this wasn’t a gradual decline—it was a sudden and significant loss in demand. But the story isn’t all negative. Many hoteliers are adapting by shifting focus to other segments—particularly leisure travelers, loyalty program members, and OTA audiences.

Not all revenue is created equal: the power of COPE

Jennifer shared one of the most impactful takeaways of the session: look beyond rate to focus on profitability. Kalibri Labs uses COPE — Contribution to Operating Profit and Expense — as a measure of what a hotel actually retains after deducting acquisition costs. Their year-to-date 2025 hospitality industry data shows that hotels retain 95.82% of guest-paid revenue from voice bookings, 94.87% from Brand.com, and only 82.06% from OTA channels. That difference has a direct effect on net operating income. So while rate remains important, COPE is what tells the real story of revenue performance.

Voice still wins — and it’s not just for support

At Revinate, we’re also seeing a resurgence in the voice channel, but with a twist. Voice is no longer just about support. It’s a high-performing sales tool. Hotels using Revinate’s voice and cart abandonment solutions are seeing outbound calls convert at three times the value of a digital booking. Additionally, voice bookings are showing longer average stays, coming in at 2.36 nights, second only to group bookings.

For example, Chamberlain West Hollywood used a cart abandonment email that triggered one minute after the guest exited the booking engine. The result? A 75% open rate and a 23% click-through rate—well above industry norms.

Your website is a leaky bucket — here’s how to fix it

That led us to one of the most striking hospitality industry data points of the webinar: 85% of users abandon the hotel booking engine. For every 100 people who land on your website, only 2.4 actually complete a booking. That’s a huge leak in the funnel. But with the right tools in place—like cart recovery emails, outbound voice campaigns, and onsite data capture—hotels can significantly reduce that drop-off. In fact, many of our customers are seeing 15–30% conversion rates from recovery campaigns alone.

What’s working right now: $49M in direct revenue and counting

From January through April 2025, Revinate customers generated over $49 million in direct revenue from email marketing and voice channel campaigns. Here are the most successful strategies:

• Attribute-based selling is working incredibly well. Campaigns promoting room views, suites, or connecting rooms — without relying on heavy discounting — are converting at high rates. A subject line like “Ocean. Mountains. Magic.” proved more effective than a simple rate cut.
• Booking behavior targeting is driving results. Offers triggered by check-in dates, stay length, or repeat visits (such as “Extend your Sunday for 15% off”) performed strongly.
• Experience-driven offers continue to stand out. Guests respond well to promotions that go beyond the room, such as spa retreats, wine dinners, or golf packages. Ojai Valley Inn, for example, drove over 1,500 room nights with a spring-themed campaign that highlighted seasonal experiences.
• Geo-targeted staycation offers remain relevant. Noble House Hotels & Resorts sent a Florida residents-only campaign that delivered a 4% CTR — proving that localized, fenced offers still resonate.
• Campaigns that used social proof to drive cross-property engagement showed impressive results. AutoCamp, for example, used real guest reviews to promote new locations to past visitors.

The game is changing: search, AI, and zero-click behavior

Another critical shift we discussed is the way consumers search for travel. In fact, approximately 60% of searches in 2024 ended without a single click. On mobile, that number jumps to 75%. This “zero-click” behavior means guests are making decisions based on what shows up in AI-generated summaries, knowledge panels, and review highlights — long before they reach your website. Your hotel’s organic presence, reviews, and structured content now matter more than ever.

Takeaways for commercial leaders

If you’re in revenue, marketing, or operations, here’s what to bring to your next strategy meeting:

• Avoid deep discounting as a first response. We’ve seen from past downturns that slashing rates takes years to recover from. Focus instead on value-adds and packaging. Maximize total revenue across your property — from F&B to spa to golf to workspace rentals.
• Invest in first-party data collection. Every reservation, email, call, and spa appointment is an opportunity to build a richer guest profile.
• Communicate COPE metrics clearly with ownership. Demonstrating how direct and voice channels drive higher-margin bookings is key to aligning with financial goals.
• And finally, be proactive. Don’t wait for occupancy to slip — build and test segmented campaigns now to stay ahead.

Let’s keep the conversation going

If you’d like to dive deeper into the data or see these strategies in action, we’d love to meet you at HITEC (Booth #4601) in June. We’ll be sharing benchmarks and success stories from across our customer base. And if you missed the webinar, watch the recording here.

This new era of hospitality demands smarter, more personalized strategies. The good news? We’ve never had more tools — or more data — to make it happen.