AI for hospitality
Oct 7, 2025
How to build an upsell funnel that adapts to guest journey
Every hotel knows 90% of the guest journey.
The final 10% of hidden revenue opportunities is lost in subtle guest behavior patterns.
This is the gap between guesswork and predictable profit. Treema's GEX AI Assistant identifies these hidden moments to automate and optimize upsell timing.
In this blog, you will learn how to build a structured upsell funnel with targeted trigger messages for short, mid, and long stays.
The starting point: identifying the right matrix for your hotel
Before building an upsell funnel, start by understanding how your guests actually stay.
Every property type — city hotel, resort, or serviced apartment — has its own rhythm. The goal is to find a segmentation that reflects your operation and forms the base of your trigger-message matrix.
Duration is usually the easiest and most reliable variable to begin with. Depending on your market, you can adjust these ranges, but the following model works well for most hotels:
Stay type | Typical duration | Guest mindset |
|---|---|---|
Short stay duration | 1–3 nights | Convenience and efficiency |
Standard stay duration | 4–7 nights | Comfort with some exploration |
Long stay duration | 8+ nights | Familiarity and personalization |
This breakdown becomes your testing framework.
Once you define how guests are segmented by stay duration, you can plan which messages to test at each stage of their journey — from booking confirmation to post-stay feedback.
Aligning and defining guest journey stages
Once your stay types are defined, the next step is to align them with the main stages of your guest journey.
This creates a framework for when each trigger message should appear — turning your segmentation into a structured upsell funnel.
For simplicity, we’ll use the three most common stages below.
Depending on your property type or service range, you can easily expand this journey to include extra moments such as booking, flight, transport to the hotel, or in-destination experiences.
Guest journey key stages
Core structure every hotel can follow:
Funnel stage | Goal |
|---|---|
Pre-arrival | Spark curiosity and prepare the guest |
Mid-stay | Drive engagement and spending |
Post-stay | Collect review and promote loyalty |
These stages serve as your communication map.
Each one has its own intent — not just what to say, but when to say it.
For example, pre-arrival messages are about convenience and anticipation, while mid-stay triggers focus on immediate guest needs and revenue opportunities.
The clearer your stage definition, the easier it becomes to design, test, and automate messages that align perfectly with guest intent.
Identifying your offer and service types
With your stay types and guest journey stages defined, the next step is to map out what you can actually offer at each point.
Every hotel has a mix of direct services, partner offers, and guest conveniences — together, they form the foundation of your upsell funnel.
Think of these as the building blocks for your trigger messages. The goal is to connect each offer to the right timing and context, so the message feels natural, not forced.
Here are the most common hotel offer categories to start with:
Category | Examples |
|---|---|
Food & beverage (F&B) | Breakfast add-ons, room service, set menus, happy-hour promotions |
Wellness & spa | Massages, treatments, wellness packages, gym access |
Housekeeping & comfort | Laundry, pillow menu, extended cleaning, amenities |
Experiences & activities | Local tours, excursions, transfers, partner events |
Room & stay upgrades | Room type upgrades, early check-in, late checkout |
Loyalty & rebooking | Member perks, discounts, referral bonuses |
Once you list all available offers — including third-party options like tours or transfers — connect them to relevant funnel stages and stay types.
This ensures every message your guest receives is timely, contextual, and tied directly to what they value most during that part of their journey.
📖 Read more about the top-performing upsell offers for hotels in our next blog:
Increase Hotel Sales: Top Upsell Offers That Guests Actually Buy →
Let’s build an A/B test for the mid-stay funnel
Guests staying 4–7 nights give you the best opportunity to test upsell timing and offer types.
They’re not in a rush like short-stay guests, and they’re not settled into routines like long-stay guests.
They explore, compare, and respond well to personalized messages — making them ideal for structured A/B testing.
Let’s design two test funnels for this segment:
both have the same guest journey stages but different focus areas.
Standard-stay duration funnel test A — Service & Comfort focus
Journey stage | Offer focus | Example trigger message | Objective |
|---|---|---|---|
Pre-arrival | Room upgrade / transfer | “We’re looking forward to welcoming you! Upgrade to a sea-view room or add airport pickup for a smoother arrival.” | Test if early offers increase pre-stay revenue |
Mid-stay offer 01 | Dining / F&B | “It’s the perfect evening for a relaxed dinner. Tap below to view our chef’s specials.” | Test if daily dining prompts increase in-house spend |
Mid-stay offer 02 | Spa / wellness | “Mid-week recharge: book your massage today and enjoy 10% off.” | Test tone: calm invitation vs promotional |
Post-departure | Feedback / loyalty | “Thank you for staying! Leave a quick review and get a loyalty discount for your next visit.” | Test if post-stay loyalty hooks increase rebooking intent |
Goal: Measure performance of operational and comfort-related offers that enhance the guest’s stay experience directly within the hotel.
Standard-stay duration funnel test B — Experiences & Partner offers
Journey stage | Offer focus | Example trigger message | Objective |
|---|---|---|---|
Pre-arrival | Local experiences | “Your trip is coming up — would you like us to arrange a half-day city tour or desert safari?” | Test pre-arrival excitement and early conversions |
Mid-stay offer 01 | Activities / dining events | “Join our rooftop dinner and live music this evening — exclusive for in-house guests.” | Test visual content vs plain text messages |
Mid-stay offer 02 | Partner tour / experience | “Looking for something new tomorrow? Explore our partner tours — book instantly from chat.” | Test partner-linked CTAs vs internal booking flow |
Post-departure | Rebooking offer | “We loved hosting you! Rebook directly for your next visit and receive 15% off.” | Test follow-up timing: 1 day vs 3 days after checkout |
Goal: Compare how external experiences and partner-based offers perform against in-house comfort and service triggers.
How to measure your results
Track and compare:
Open rate: how many guests read the message
Click-through rate: how many show interest
Conversion rate: how many complete the booking or purchase
Rebooking / loyalty conversion: post-stay engagement
Sign up for GEX - guest experience AI Assistant to analyze message engagement, timing and content to learn which combinations perform best and maximize upsell revenue.
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