New Research: 5 Ways to Diversify Revenue Growth

What it means to be a travel brand is undergoing a transformation, and there’s an urgent need for companies to broaden and diversify their revenue strategies.

The challenges and opportunities are clear. The travel and hospitality industry is entering another cycle of financial uncertainty, and consolidation in the U.S. market in particular has intensified pressure on brands to innovate and differentiate. To stay competitive, travel companies need to grow beyond traditional categories and turn capabilities outside of their core business into strategic revenue streams.

To help guide the industry along on this journey, ZS has developed the 5As Framework (standing for Ancillaries, Attention, Access, Affinity, and Ability), a mental model for identifying, evaluating, and monetizing non-core assets.

In this report:

• Findings from a new survey of nearly 300 senior travel executives: Explore how leaders in the industry diagnose their own abilities (and competitors’) to optimize revenue outside of their core businesses.

• 89% of travel executives believe their companies need to diversify revenue streams: Learn why the industry often thinks, but more often struggles to act, outside the box.

• 75% have already identified non-core assets to monetize — but only 32% describe their current approach as “very” innovative: Find out what’s holding them back and where they’re looking for inspiration.

• Nearly 90% of travel and hospitality executives described their non-core asset monetization efforts as successful: See the impact for companies that have taken the first step.

• Companies that activate non-core assets are seeing incremental revenue and profitability: Check out examples and case studies from Marriott, United, Airbnb, Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC), and more outside the travel industry, which demonstrate diverse approaches to incremental revenue strategies in practice.