BOULDER, Colorado—Local, regional, aspirational, neighbor, brand XYZ, conference and boutique: These words often are used to describe individual hotels within a single competitive set. With this variance of goals occurring within one set, any comp-set-based analysis surely is diluted beyond recognition—and money spent is most likely wasted.
There are several solutions to this scenario, but perhaps the most lucrative is splitting those individually unique properties into different comp sets with specific goals. The primary goal of any hotelier always should be to achieve and maintain the best possible primary comp set, free from outlying properties with ulterior goals.
After finding your optimal primary comp set, repeat the comp-set-building process. Adding additional comp sets that highlight unique features of your hotel or outline specific competitive goals might improve marketing strategies and increase revenue per available room. Below is a list of commonly used goals for additional comp sets:
• regional
• local
• aspirational
• niche (conference, water park, boutique, etc.)
• specific brand
• index-focused (aiming to achieve a specific index)
• group/transient mix
Here is a breakdown of the number of competitive sets used within the U.S. upper-upscale and luxury classes:
| Number of comp sets | U.S. luxury | U.S. upper upscale |
| 1 | 29% | 49% |
| 2 | 45% | 39% |
| 3 | 22% | 9% |
Now let’s look at the average RevPAR per U.S. upper-upscale and luxury hotel, depending on the number of competitive sets they have:
| Number of comp sets | U.S. luxury average average RevPAR | U.S. upper upscale average RevPAR |
| 1 | US$160.94 | US$89.28 |
| 2 | US$176.22 | US$103.49 |
| 3 | US$187.36 | US$113.50 |
Whether the hotels were able to add additional comp sets because their RevPAR was higher or their RevPAR increased as a result of the additional sets is debatable; perhaps hotels with additional sets are in urban destinations with higher premiums, resulting in higher RevPAR, as well. However, the direct correlation between the number of comp sets a hotel has and its RevPAR is clear and likely attributed to the fact that hoteliers aren’t trying to accomplish multiple goals within their primary comp sets. They are defining and refining multiple competitive aspects of their hotel and strengthening the quality of each set.
Finding the optimal set (regardless of how many) is paramount because having multiple poorly designed sets will not produce quality, actionable analytics for future strategizing.
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