Running an independent hotel – whether you have 5 rooms or 100 – is highly demanding. 

You have to balance operations, profitability and guest satisfaction with limited resources. Simultaneously, you face staffing shortages as well as stiff competition from established hotel brands.

What can you do to improve your hotel management, service and strategy at the same time, without adding to your already heavy workload?

Well, the key to a successful hotel is smart, affordable technology. In this blog, we’ll explain how you can overcome your biggest operational challenges with a handful of easy-to-use tools that are essential to save time and drive revenue.

Take a look at the contents and see if you recognize any of the challenges we’re addressing. Or, if you plan to open a new hotel business, this is a good starting point to anticipate potential pitfalls.

Losing money to OTA commissionsWhat’s the challenge?

You are over-reliant on OTAs for bookings, while hotel groups and chains drive direct bookings thanks to high brand awareness and effective marketing.

OTAs are indispensable for visibility, but independent hotels often choose to work with just one well-known booking site (usually Booking.com), thinking they’ll save on commissions that way. The opposite is true. The biggest OTAs also come with the biggest price tag. Depending on your target market, partner with niche OTAs or local tourism boards that match your type of hotel and offering.

They can help you reach audiences with specific demographics that may be smaller in size, but higher in value and conversion rate. There is less competition on these channels, they charge lower commission fees and their users are specifically looking for properties like yours.

Listing your property on more platforms expands your online presence, which enables more travelers to discover your accommodation and even drive them to your own hotel website. This basically comes down to free advertising, as you usually only pay a fee when a booking is made on a third-party platform.

What’s the solution?

Diversifying your channel mix shouldn’t cost you more money or more work. With a Channel Manager, you can eliminate the process of logging into each channel’s extranet and updating rates, restrictions, promotions and closings manually. Moreover, the tool instantly synchronizes availability across all platforms, so you no longer need to worry about overbookings.

In order not to be overly dependent on OTAs, independents need to invest in a strong direct booking strategy as well. Not only does this lower commission costs, but guests are known to spend considerably more when booking directly versus through an OTA.

To increase your proportion of direct bookings, you need a user-friendly, commission-free Booking Engine that blends in with the rest of your website. By connecting it to your Channel Manager along with your indirect channels, you can centralize all bookings. The combination of these two tools simplify your entire distribution process and allows you to find the right balance between direct and indirect bookings.

Analysis of our customers’ direct booking results (2023) revealed that those with an optimized Booking Engine and Ratebox (OTA price comparison pop-up) on their website averaged 38% direct bookings, compared to 17% with a suboptimal booking module and Ratebox. When you take into account the higher average booking value for direct bookings as well, your net revenue can vary significantly based on the percentage of direct bookings you receive.

We’ll illustrate this with an example. For a given month, you received 220 bookings, with an average value of $510 for direct ones and $305 for the ones that came in through OTAs. Let’s say that the commission rate of your OTAs averages a modest 15% in this case. With a direct booking rate of 17%, your estimated net revenue for this month would be $66,413.05. But, if you had 38% direct bookings, this amount would jump to $77,997.70, a difference of $11,584.65 in just one month.

What a difference a strong website booking module makes!

Spending too much time on repetitive tasksWhat’s the challenge?

There is too much administrative work for you (and your small team), while large hotels automate processes and have specialized staff for every task.

Running a hotel naturally comes with a whole lot of recurring administrative duties:

• Managing reservations

• Creating breakfast lists and housekeeping schedules

• Compiling government reports

• Allocating rooms

• Processing check-ins and check-outs

• Billing and accounting

• Handling payments and refunds

While you may have become used to executing these tasks manually, it’s important to remember that inefficient operations can negatively affect your service. If your team is preoccupied with tedious manual processes, they have less time to attend to guests.

When your property doesn’t run smoothly, guests – who have become used to a fast, technology-supported experience – take notice. They simply don’t want to be waiting at a front desk after they experienced online check-in and automatic room access during previous stays.

For many hoteliers, it can feel overwhelming or even disruptive to adopt new technology, but avoiding it will hurt your competitive position and your business in the long run. The key is to pick the right provider that offers easy-to-use tools, in-depth training and fast customer support.

What’s the solution?

Reservation Manager – our highly intuitive Property Management System (PMS) – and Payment Manager are must-haves to streamline operations and reduce workload. Reservation Manager simplifies day-to-day operations, from checking in guests all the way to accounting and reporting, while Payment Manager automates pre-authorizations, credit card verifications and payments.

The combined solution not only facilitates all of the tasks listed above, but offers a wide range of integrations with other tools to obtain maximum efficiency:

Lighthouse clients agree that they can’t go back to their PMS-less life.

Reservation Manager offers an all-in-one solution that reduces administration, simplifies reports and lists and provides a clear overview of reservations. This allows us to work efficiently and focus on guest experience. Carlton Hotel Gent

Reservation Manager is super convenient. The system is straightforward and everything is well-organized. Our paper-based invoicing process was such a hassle, whereas creating an invoice is now done at the click of a button. Hotel Swaenenburg

Not optimizing room prices regularlyWhat’s the challenge?

You use a static pricing approach, while larger players constantly optimize their prices to capture more bookings and revenue.

Through extensive market research and forecasting, big hotels with dedicated revenue managers always know exactly what room prices they can charge at a specific time – hence their ability to grab every revenue opportunity. Many independent hotels, on the other hand, struggle to implement this dynamic approach to pricing, often because they don’t have the expertise or time to monitor the market and adjust prices accordingly. This causes them to leave money on the table.

Put yourself in your potential guests’ shoes for a second. Today, travelers can easily view and compare options on a single website. If you were looking for accommodation, would you consider a hotel that charges $20 per night more for a similar room at the exact same location? This is how you lose bookings to hotels that optimize rates daily. Conversely, if your pricing approach consists of offering the lowest rates possible at all times, you’re filling rooms too quickly with low-value customers.

For optimal revenue, prices should be adjusted instantly in response to market fluctuations – even unexpected ones.

What’s the solution?

A dynamic pricing tool like Lighthouse’s Pricing Manager can optimize rates in real time based on demand, competitors, booking patterns, your occupancy rates and other key metrics.

Let’s look at a real-life example of average hotel prices on the night of a big event. Following the announcement of the UEFA Champions League match between Club Brugge and Aston Villa, hotel prices in Bruges for March 4th 2025 began to increase.

Even though the average room price of independent hotels rose, we see that they’re still missing out on a large amount of potential revenue compared to their bigger competitors. They didn’t raise prices quite as high and they reacted considerably slower, after a lot of soccer fans had already grabbed their chance to book out rooms at a below-market price. Additionally, their rates started to drop again earlier.

The soccer game was announced 12 days in advance. Branded hotel prices spiked sharply, increasing from €148.7 before the announcement to a peak of €195.9 at 8 days out, a price increase of €47.2. In contrast, independent hotels peaked at €166 9 days before the event, a price difference of only €16.7 from before the match was announced.

Pricing Manager eliminates the guesswork and manual labour of dynamic pricing, so you can stay ahead of the competition and maximize revenue.

Struggling to make data-driven decisionsWhat’s the challenge?

You lack the skillset, knowledge or time to collect and analyze data for strategic decision-making, while bigger properties have all the necessary resources to do so.

For bigger hotels and brands, data has been engrained in their strategies for decades. They have long relied on dedicated teams and advanced tools to collect and analyze data systematically, and optimize every aspect of their performance based on these insights.

As an independent hotel owner operating alone or with a lean team, you simply don’t have the time to manually compile and interpret spreadsheets to inform every decision that impacts your business. Take pricing strategies for example. It’s nearly impossible to collect, analyze and act on market data before it’s outdated.

However, you do have one unique advantage: you have the agility to switch to one integrated solution that unites data from all aspects of your property, so you have a holistic overview. Large hotel corporations, on the other hand, often struggle with a data silo mentality, where data is not shared or aligned between departments, often because of disconnected systems.

Recent technological advancements have made data analysis more obtainable for independents. There are new affordable AI-powered tools available that can compile and analyze data automatically, so every hotelier can make data-driven decisions, even if they don’t have the previously required expertise in-house.

What’s the solution?

Lighthouse for independents, including Reservation Manager, Pricing Manager, and Channel Manager, provides a data-powered solution that facilitates strategic decision-making.

The intelligent pricing and distribution component (Pricing Manager + Channel Manager) allows you to optimize your performance based on historic, real-time and forward-looking data. Meanwhile, you can stay in control of your strategy with customizable settings.

Reservation Manager acts as the central hub for your hotel operations and performance. Various auto-generated reports – for example, related to occupancy, extras or overall financial health – provide the data insights needed to optimize your strategy. Lighthouse’s combined solution allows independents to adopt a data-driven approach where it has the biggest impact.

Before using Lighthouse, it was difficult for us to stay up to date. We had to do a lot of competitor research: go to their hotel websites or OTAs, look into prices… Now, it’s much quicker. Lighthouse helps us stay on top of our game. B-aparthotels

Emailing guests manually and inconsistentlyWhat’s the challenge?

You lack the time and/or knowledge to set up professional email communication, while groups and chains have a streamlined guest email flow in place.

When done manually, basic guest communication can take up a large portion of your time. Each reservation requires a series of emails to provide guests with the information they need at every stage of the guest journey. Fail to take this proactive approach and you or your hotel staff risk being bombarded with the same basic questions every day.

Front desk staff of a 20-room hotel can spend up to 4 hours a day answering routine questions from guests. Automating your email communication to guests can save you a lot of valuable time, so you can focus on meaningful interactions with guests.

What’s the solution?

The most efficient solution is to use a Property Management System that offers built-in emailing capabilities like Reservation Manager by Lighthouse. With our automated email feature, you can schedule personalized emails throughout the guest journey, ensuring consistent and perfectly timed communication. Not only does this enhance the guest experience, but it gives you the opportunity to drive revenue via upselling offers and build guest loyalty.

We used to have to send messages daily with the front door access code, the room number and that kind of information. Now, that happens fully automatically. So that’s quite a burden that has fallen off our shoulders, because we no longer have to think about sending these emails. Hotel Swaenenburg

Not responding to changing guest expectationsWhat’s the challenge?

You find it difficult to stay on top of evolving guest preferences and shift your way of working amidst your busy schedule, while big players are used to monitoring and reacting to industry trends.

What has worked in the past, isn’t necessarily working today. Guest demands evolve over time, so keeping up with these shifts is critical for any hotel’s success. However, it’s not always easy to suddenly start doing things differently, as implementing change naturally takes time and practice.

What’s the solution?

Embrace technology that evolves with the hotel industry, so you don’t have to do it all on your own. For example, guests have become increasingly used to checking in online and they don’t want to wait at the front desk anymore. That’s why Lighthouse added an online check-in feature to its Reservation Manager.

Similarly, virtual credit cards are gaining traction as an easy and secure payment method for guests, driven by big OTAs like Booking.com. In response, our Payment Manager now also enables automated VCC charging directly from your Channel Manager or Reservation Manager.

At Lighthouse, we strive to help independent hoteliers stay on top of their game by translating industry data and trends into actionable tips, so be sure to keep an eye on our blog and subscribe to our newsletter at the bottom of the page if you want to stay in the loop.

Finding difficulty in personalizing guest staysWhat’s the challenge?

You don’t know how to respond to guests’ need for hyper-personalized experiences, whereas advanced personalization is a key part of brands’ hotel marketing strategy.

It’s no secret that modern travelers are more high-demanding than ever. They no longer settle for one-size-fits-all stays, but expect them to be tailored to their individual needs and preferences. Meeting this rising demand for hyper-personalized guest experiences can feel like an impossible task for independent hoteliers, but it doesn’t need to be such a complicated endeavor.

What’s the solution?

Reservation Manager is your gateway to personalized stays thanks to a range of features:

• Use the automated emailing functionality to ask about guests’ preferences or possible allergies before arrival.

• Keep track of guests’ personal info, purchase history, preferences and requests within guest profiles.

• Leverage guest profiles to tailor marketing offers, room service and recommendations for dining or local attractions.

• Automatically personalize the content of booking-related emails with your guest’s name, booking details, outstanding balance, etc.

• Embrace various task automation features, so you and staff can focus on personal guest interactions.

• Integrate other solutions like messaging or upselling tools to supercharge your personalization strategy.

Hesitating to adopt new technologyWhat’s the challenge?

You fear the cost, learning curve or loss of control associated with adopting new technology, making it difficult to keep up with tech-savvy competitors in this fast-changing industry.

In the hospitality industry, the phrase “time is money” is no exaggeration. Reluctance to invest in new management software can be detrimental to your competitive position and profitability in the long run. Embracing technology is crucial to avoid the higher costs associated with inefficient operations, which in turn takes a toll on guest satisfaction and – subsequently – your hotel’s success as a whole.

What’s the solution?

Instead of trying to navigate an overwhelming offer of separate systems, start by choosing a provider that offers an all-in-one cloud software solution. Not only do you get a more affordable bundle price, but you have one point of contact for questions and support, and the tools work together more seamlessly.

Lighthouse offers a user-friendly platform tailored to the unique needs of smaller and independent properties, whether you run a boutique hotel with 50 rooms or a cozy B&B.

Overcome your biggest challenges with Lighthouse for independents

Lighthouse for independents combines all the tools you need to optimize performance and operational efficiency in one easy-to-use platform:

• Pricing Manager

• Channel Manager

• Booking Engine

• Reservation Manager

• Payment Manager

What makes Lighthouse’s platform for independent hotels and B&Bs so unique?

• Solutions powered by accurate, real-time data and AI

• Simple, intuitive tools to save you time

• Best-in-class worldwide customer support

• A one-stop shop to streamline all facets of your hotel business

Ready to turn challenges into opportunities with the right tools? Discover more about our complete solution for a successful hotel business in a free demo.

About Lighthouse

Lighthouse (formerly OTA Insight) is the leading commercial platform for the travel & hospitality industry. We transform complexity into confidence by providing actionable market insights, business intelligence, and pricing tools that maximize revenue growth. We continually innovate to deliver the best platform for hospitality professionals to price more effectively, measure performance more efficiently, and understand the market in new ways.

Trusted by over 65,000 hotels in 185 countries, Lighthouse is the only solution that provides real-time hotel and short-term rental data in a single platform. We strive to deliver the best possible experience with unmatched customer service. We consider our clients as true partners – their success is our success.

This article originally appeared on Lighthouse.