Experiences are inventory: insights from Journey at ITB Berlin

At ITB Berlin, Journey Founder and CEO Simon Bullingham and CTPO Andrew Metcalfe sat down with Simone Puorto for Hospitality Net to discuss a simple question: why are hotels still so focused on selling rooms?

The conversation explored a shift that’s starting to reshape hospitality. The most successful hotels aren’t just selling nights. They’re retailing the entire stay.

The industry’s room-first mindset

Hospitality has built sophisticated systems to distribute and optimise room inventory. Revenue management, pricing and distribution all centre around the room night. But much of the guest experience still sits outside that commercial model. Dining, spa treatments, activities and local experiences are often treated as “ancillary” – something secondary to the core product. That mindset limits their potential. Some of the hotels Journey works with already generate around 50 percent of their revenue from experiences and services beyond the room. The difference is simple. They treat experiences as inventory. Inventory can be priced, managed and distributed. Experiences should be no different.

A changing economic landscape

This shift is becoming more urgent. According to Knight Frank’s UK Hotel Trading Performance Review, hotels are facing increasing pressure on profitability as operating costs rise and margins tighten across the sector. Protecting operating income will be one of the industry’s biggest challenges in the coming years. Diversifying revenue streams will be critical.

Why the industry got here

Part of the issue is historical. Technology for selling rooms evolved quickly. Online travel agencies and distribution systems created a mature infrastructure for room inventory. Other parts of the hotel didn’t develop in the same way. Restaurants, spas, activities and events often sit across different systems and teams. Managing them commercially is far more complex. And running a hotel is already demanding. General managers oversee multiple businesses under one roof. Few have the time or tools to connect every revenue stream. This is where Journey focuses its work – helping hotels turn data into clear commercial actions.

Breaking down silos

Technology is only part of the challenge, many hotels still operate in organisational silos, revenue managers optimise room yield, marketing teams drive demand, experience teams manage activities and services. Without shared visibility, opportunities are lost. For example, marketing spend may still drive traffic to a hotel website when occupancy is already close to full. Demand increases, but revenue does not. To retail the full stay, systems and teams must work together. Revenue management is starting to move in this direction. Increasingly, systems are looking beyond room yield to consider the value of the entire guest stay. But to make that work, experience platforms, revenue systems and marketing tools must connect.

Retailing the full stay

Guests don’t experience a hotel as a room, they experience the entire stay. When hotels treat that stay as something they can design, price and sell, new revenue opportunities follow. Rooms remain essential. But they are only part of the product.

The future of hospitality lies in retailing the full experience.

Watch the full interview on Hospitality Net: Experiences Are Inventory, Not a Feeling: A Conversation with Journey at ITB Berlin.