Are You Pricing Against the Wrong Hotels?

Your hotel may not be competing where you think it is.

In this episode of The Hotel Business, Ludan shares a real competitor analysis where a hotel saw itself as a stylish five-star lifestyle property — but OTA business-loss data suggested guests were comparing it with four-star alternatives.

This episode looks at why internal positioning can mislead pricing, how OTA data reveals the hotels guests actually choose, and why a competitor set should not be built only from what the owner, brand, or meeting room believes.

The key question is simple: are you pricing against the hotels you admire, or the hotels your guests actually choose?

Timeline:

00:00 Opening: why competitor selection can break hotel pricing

00:39 A real competitor analysis behind this episode

01:24 OTA business-loss data and the uncomfortable comparison

02:10 When a five-star hotel looks like an expensive four-star alternative

03:44 Why meeting-room positioning is not market reality

05:22 Three types of competitors hotels should separate

06:46 The real question: did this hotel take business away from us?

07:17 Why the wrong comp set distorts pricing, promotions, inventory, and forecast

08:03 What to check in OTA data before changing rates

08:33 Closing question: who are you really pricing against?

If you prefer to read, search for Ludan Zhang on LinkedIn. I share selected written versions and practical notes there.