Capturing revenue from last-minute buyers

Upsells were only offered through long-form emails at the time of booking.

Through their previous process, add-ons were only showcased during booking or in a confirmation email, but that was about it. Many guests make pet decisions and add-ons closer to their arrival date, so the property was missing out on valuable last-minute revenue.

Decrease in RevPar during slower days and seasons.

The rooms are discounted during the weekdays, from $500 down to $250–$300.

The breakthrough came from embedding upsells directly into Akia Mini Apps, the same place guests already checked for arrival instructions and door codes. Instead of treating upsells like one-off offers at booking, The Mohicans turned them into part of the ongoing guest journey.

Upsells.

• Pet Fee 
• Romance Package - Bottle of champagne, rose petals, chocolate-covered strawberries

Adding upsells directly into the guest journey with a Mini App.

All upsells were offered directly in the Mini App alongside check-in details and door codes. This made them impossible to miss when guests opened the Mini App to check instructions.

And because they host so many weddings, it only made sense to feature romance packages tailored for couples.

Timely SMS reminders without being annoying.

Guests received friendly nudges during their stay. Texts served as reminders to look at the Mini App again, compared to previously sending out long emails that resembled a “newspaper.” Offering add-ons only at booking or checkout wasn’t as effective, so they started reminding guests during their stay, like when they’re already thinking about relaxing, or ordering services, which drove noticeably higher conversions.

Many pet fees came from last-minute changes (“we couldn’t find a sitter, we’re bringing the dog”), making it their #1 upsell driver.

Guy Chirico, President at The Inflo Group shares: 

“We saw that the guest decided last minute to bring pets. After setting up pet fees, it was through the roof with Akia.

Preparing for orders.

Staff automatically saw upsell orders linked to the guest reservation. Items could be prepared in advance (champagne chilled, pet amenities placed) without the back-and-forth of emails. At the same time, the order is also stored in Cloudbeds for more visibility.

Additional notable highlights

• “We built a QR Mini App in an afternoon for our bridal show, which allowed us to skip printing 400 packets.”
• During the AWS shutdown, their online booking inquiries went down. Akia was a good temporary fix, as well as other emergency issues like broadcasting messages.