Predict, Price, Profit: Mastering Market Demand for Smarter Revenue Decisions

In our latest Lighthouse Live webinar, Predict, Price, Profit: Mastering Market Demand for Smarter Revenue Decisions, Andrra Berisha and Ahmed Fasad explored how hoteliers can leverage data-driven insights to refine pricing strategies, anticipate demand, and outmaneuver the competition.

For those who missed it, we’ve broken down the key takeaways, including the most powerful features of Lighthouse’s market intelligence tools that help revenue managers optimize their strategies. If you would like to watch the webinar, check out the video linked above.

Start Your Day with the Right Data

With an overwhelming amount of data from PMS, RMS, OTAs, and market intelligence tools, it’s easy to feel lost. Ahmed emphasized the importance of beginning each day with a quick check-in on performance and pickup trends. Most revenue managers start their day with a few key reports that keep them in the loop, and keep them focused on the KPIs most important to them.

Key Actions for Revenue Managers:

• Assess Pickup Trends – Compare bookings over the past seven days to spot sudden changes.

• Monitor Market Activity – Review how competitors are pricing their rooms.

• Evaluate Demand Indicators – Identify shifts in demand, especially around high-impact events.

Lighthouse’s Rate Insight simplifies this process by consolidating all data into a single platform, enabling revenue managers to instantly compare their pricing with the market and adjust accordingly.

Unlock Market Demand Insights with Real-Time Data

Traditional revenue management relies heavily on historical data—but what if you could see demand forming in real time? That’s where Market Insight, one of Lighthouse’s most powerful tools, comes in.

What Makes Market Insight a Game-Changer?

• Forward-Looking Data – Instead of relying on past trends, hoteliers can track live booking intent from OTAs, Metasearch, GDS, alternative accommodations, and major events.

• Competitive Benchmarking – Understand how competitors are pricing and responding to demand fluctuations.

• Source Market Analysis – See which countries and cities are driving demand for your destination and adjust marketing strategies accordingly.

🚀 Example: If Market Insight shows an increase in searches from Germany for Easter weekend, a hotel can launch targeted promotions in Frankfurt and Munich to attract more bookings.

Smarter Pricing Strategies with Competitive Benchmarking

Understanding the market is one thing—acting on it is another. Rate Insight’s Compare Feature allows revenue managers to analyze how their hotel’s pricing stacks up against competitors in just one click.

How Hotels Can Leverage This:

• Track Rate Changes Over Time – Identify if competitors are increasing or decreasing their prices as key dates approach.

• Adjust Pricing to Stay Competitive – If a competitor suddenly drops rates, you can decide whether to follow suit or hold firm.

• Identify Yielding Strategies – Learn whether competitors are raising rates closer to the arrival date or discounting early to drive bookings.

💡 Pro Tip: The Strategy Tab in Lighthouse’s platform reveals how competitors adjust pricing across different rate types (e.g., refundable vs. non-refundable). This gives hoteliers the ability to fine-tune their strategy and maximize revenue per room.

Turning Data into Actionable Sales & Marketing Strategies

Revenue management isn’t just about pricing—it’s about aligning all commercial teams to capture demand. Ahmed highlighted how Market Insight provides valuable intelligence for sales and marketing teams, ensuring budget allocation is optimized.

How to Align Sales & Marketing with Revenue Strategy:

• Target High-Performing Source Markets – Focus advertising on cities where search volume is growing.

•  Adjust Pricing Based on Lead Times – Market Insight shows how far in advance travelers from different regions book rooms, allowing for better promotion timing.

• Monitor Competitor Promotions – See if competitors are offering targeted discounts on OTAs or direct booking incentives.

🎯 Example: If a hotel in Dubai sees that Chinese travelers are booking flights via GDS rather than OTAs, they can invest in GDS-specific marketing campaigns to drive bookings from that market.

Optimizing Performance Beyond Pricing: Parity & Visibility

• Rate Parity Monitoring – With Lighthouse, hoteliers can quickly detect if OTAs are undercutting their direct rates, helping protect their revenue margins.

• OTA Ranking Insights – Understanding where your hotel appears in OTA search results is critical for driving bookings. Lighthouse provides ranking visibility across major OTAs like Booking.com, Expedia, and TripAdvisor.

• Event-Driven Strategy – Hotels in cities with large event calendars (e.g., London, New York) can use Lighthouse’s event tracking tool to anticipate demand spikes and adjust pricing accordingly.

The Power of a Dynamic Competitive Set

One of the most important features of the platform that was shown in the webinar was Smart Compset, Lighthouse’s AI-driven tool that identifies who your true competitors are based on actual guest search behavior.

Why is this important? Many hotels rely on a static compset, often outdated and no longer reflective of real competition. Smart Compset does several key things that differentiate it from other solutions:

• Analyzes guest booking behavior to see which hotels are being considered alongside yours.

• Uncovers hidden competitors that may be stealing market share.

• Ensures you’re benchmarking against the right properties instead of relying on assumptions.

📊 Real-World Impact: A hotel might assume their compset includes only other four-star properties, but Smart Compset might reveal that guests are also considering high-end short-term rentals. This insight could lead to a strategic shift in pricing and marketing.

Final Thoughts: Mastering Market Demand for Profitability

As Andrra summed up at the end of the session, the key to revenue success in today’s market is real-time intelligence, competitive benchmarking, and cross-team collaboration. Lighthouse equips hoteliers with the tools to predict, price, and profit—all within one powerful platform.

💡 Key Takeaways from this Lighthouse Live:

✔ Start your day with a quick data check-in to assess performance and market conditions.

✔ Use Market Insight to track demand in real-time and capitalize on booking intent.

✔ Leverage Rate Insight’s Compare Feature to benchmark against competitors and refine pricing.

✔ Align revenue management with sales & marketing using forward-looking data.

✔ Ensure rate parity and OTA visibility to protect direct bookings and maintain market position.

✔ Rethink your compset—use Smart Compset to see who you’re really competing with.