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If you don’t have time to read the full article, here are the most popular upsells that you should focus on in 2026:
The data is based on 10,000+ conversation summaries from 1,000+ European properties that took place between March 2025 and February 2026. |
Most hospitality businesses still rely on check-in as the main moment to suggest upsells, but the time a guest is standing at the front desk, they’re usually tired from travelling and just want their key.
The numbers tell the same story: 12% of guests actively explore upsell options before they arrive, and 18% of hotel conversations contain an unprompted request for extras i.e. guests asking for things without being asked.
In this article, we go through the five biggest upsell opportunities that you should be taking advantage of this year, based on 10,000+ real conversations across 1,000+ European properties.
If you want to dive deeper into the full dataset, access the 2026 Guest Trends and Preferences in European Hospitality report. See more detail on the research methodology at the end of the article.
Five most popular upsells for hospitality guests
Here are the five most common upsells that guests either add to their booking or ask about, across 1,000 hotels, holiday parks, and hostels in Europe.
1. Breakfast add-ons
Breakfast is the most requested upsell across all property types in our dataset, and the appetite for it shows up clearly in engagement data. Of the guests who explored upsell options, 33% clicked to learn more about breakfast options, making it one of the most clicked upsells.
But the timing matters more than you may think. A proactive breakfast offer one to two days before arrival reaches guests who are still planning their trip and genuinely open to adding it on. By check-in, many have already picked a nearby café or made other plans.
2. Parking
Parking is another one of the most consistent upsell opportunities across our dataset, with 453 total requests (4.5%) appearing in guest conversations. Guests who need to park will pay for the certainty of a reserved spot rather than gamble on street parking or a busy garage.
At hotels specifically, it ranks as the top upsell category, especially for urban hotels where parking availability tends to be more limited than in the countryside. A proactive message about parking options via WhatsApp or SMS a few days before guests arrive helps put guests at ease as well as boosting revenue when parking is a paid add-on.
3. Baby and child equipment
Families travelling with young children need certain equipment that is difficult to bring with them, such as baby cots, high chairs, and child beds. That’s why child-related equipment is among the most requested add-ons for hotels and holiday parks, appearing in 434 (4.3%) of 10,000 guest conversations.
A family that sees an equipment offer two days before arrival and adds a cot and high chair to their booking arrives settled and ready to enjoy their stay, rather than chasing staff on their first evening. When children are on a booking, including equipment options in the pre-arrival message means guests see something relevant to their stay rather than a generic offer.
4. Restaurant reservations
Restaurant reservations account for nearly one in five upsell interactions across our platform. If guests are not informed about the dining options, they’re likely to look for other restaurants in the area or maybe even bring their own food if they’re staying in self-catering accommodation.
However, proposing and arranging restaurant reservations is often a manual, reactive process: a guest asks about dinner via WhatsApp, a staff member follows up, checks availability, confirms, and relays the answer back.
Through integrations with dining reservation platforms like Zenchef and Guestplan, guests can confirm a restaurant reservation directly in their WhatsApp conversation. The offer works even better when it arrives proactively: a message asking about dinner before they check in, rather than waiting for them to ask.
5. Last-minute room upgrades
Room upgrades appear less frequently in our data than the other categories, with 86 requests across all properties but almost exclusively at hotels. Despite this, it's worth building into your pre-arrival flow as the revenue per conversion is typically higher than other upsell categories.
Timing is what separates properties that capture this revenue from those that don't. Pre-arrival prompts sent 24 to 48 hours before check-in see the strongest conversion rates as guests tend to be excited about their trip and want to enhance their experience.
Additional upsell opportunities that are often overlooked
Two categories didn't make the top five across all property types, but are worth flagging depending on what kind of property you run.
For holiday parks, activity bookings generated 154 requests in our dataset from families and groups who are actively looking for things to do during their stay. A well-timed prompt about on-site or nearby activities is a natural fit for the pre-arrival window.
For hotels, taxi and transfer bookings accounted for 95 requests. For urban hotels or properties near airports, offering a pre-booked transfer removes a source of arrival day stress for guests and is an easy add-on to include in your pre-arrival guest message.
Why 24–48 hours pre-arrival is the perfect moment for upsell prompts
Across all five categories, the pre-arrival window consistently outperforms upsell offers made at check-in. Guests who have already booked are usually planning their trip and excited about their stay, compared to the tired guests who arrive at the check-in desk and just want their key.
Across the 1,000+ properties that use Runnr.ai, automated upsells generate an average of €30 to €50 in additional revenue per room per month. These upsell prompts are easy to set up and automatically personalized for each guest based on their booking details in the PMS.
Ready to automate upsells at your hotel or holiday park? Test Runnr.ai on WhatsApp now to see how our AI would interact with guests or download the 2026 Guest Trends and Preferences in European Hospitality to get more insights.
More information on how this data was collected and summarized
This blog is based on chapter three of the 2026 Guest Trends and Preferences in European Hospitality report. As part of this report, Runnr.ai analyzed over 10,000 guest conversations in eight different languages across 1,000 hotels, holiday parks, and hostels across Europe. All guest responses and property names were anonymized.
The conversations took place between March 2025 and February 2026 on WhatsApp, Email, SMS, OTA inboxes (e.g. Booking.com inbox), and webchat. Positive, neutral, and negative sentiment messages were included to ensure the results showed the full picture, and 1.23 million button clicks were recorded to help capture guest intent as well as what they actually said in messages.
