Revenue management is fundamental to any hotel operation – so why doesn’t your luggage room receive the same attention? Many hotels have embraced the “sharing economy” by offering luggage storage to non-guests through Stasher, the world’s first online luggage storage platform. Indeed, while Airbnb is often thought of as the arch nemesis of hotel owners, the model is driving a market that hotels are now directly benefiting from.
Backed by Hotels.com and Expedia, Stasher connects travellers looking for reliable, short-term storage with hotels, shops and businesses eager to monetise their unused storage space. For hotels, it could not be more of a natural fit – nearly all offer luggage storage to their guests free of charge so why not store a few extra bags for non-guests and generate significant extra revenue?
Over 200 hotels worldwide (including Accor and the Dalata Hotel Group) use Stasher to do exactly this. Many earn as much as £2000 per month with no costs – believe it or not, your luggage room could well become your largest source of ancillary revenue.
Partnering with Stasher is also a great way to showcase all that your hotel has to offer to a young, dynamic customer base, who may more instinctively opt for an Airbnb. Top hotel chains have found this “brand touchpoint” to be one of the main advantages of the partnership: in a recent survey, 67% of Stasher Airbnb customers storing at a hotel said they would be more likely to book hotel accommodation over vacation rental properties in the future.
Stasher partnered a year ago with AccorLocal in Paris, a program launched by Accor with the objective of generating new revenue streams for the group and promoting hospitality services in the Accor hotels to non-guests. Edouard Roy, Head of Growth & Sales at AccorLocal, said:
“We are very pleased to be integrating an internationally-renowned company into the AccorLocal system. Promoting our hospitality services to non-residents remains a key objective, which is made possible by partnerships of this kind”.
Now present in more than 100 cities worldwide, more than 150,000 bags have been stored through the Stasher.com platform. Every booking is insured up to £750 against damage, loss or theft and there is no extra work involved for hotel staff.
The process itself is incredibly simple as Nondas Douridas, manager of the Shakespeare Hotel near London’s Paddington Station, testifies:
“With Stasher we produced significant revenue by simply using our storage space. The Stasher team offers a bespoke service and the whole procedure is smooth and quick with no impact on our hotel guests. We signed up a year and half ago and we will happily carry on.”
The Shakespeare Hotel has made more than £20,000 since starting out with Stasher last year, not to mention the indirect income from additional purchases customers make when dropping off and picking up their bags.
Stasher’s success is reflective of a broader industry trend, driven by enterprising hotels creatively rethinking how they use their space and how they interact with customers. With hundreds more hotels set to join the Stasher network in the coming months, the overriding message is simple: embrace the sharing economy or risk being left behind by it.
