A soft opening is often described as a testing phase.
A moment to train staff. Adjust service flow. Fix operational details.
But from a Revenue Management perspective, a soft opening is something far more important:
It is your first live commercial window.
The way you price, position, distribute and communicate during these first weeks will shape your rate perception, your market positioning, and your long-term profitability.
Too many hotels treat soft openings as “practice mode.”
The market never does.
From a commercial standpoint, a soft opening is not about discounting unfinished products. It is about controlling perception while the product is still evolving.
The first ADR you publish sets an anchor.
The first reviews shape expectations.
The first OTA descriptions define your positioning.
The first corporate agreements influence long-term segmentation.
Revenue Management must therefore be active before the first guest checks in — not after the grand opening.
In this article, we will look at:
Revenue Management is not a reactive function. It is a strategic discipline.
Before opening, you should already have:
If you open without these elements in place, the market will position you for you and often at a lower price point than you intended.
Soft openings are fragile moments. First impressions are expensive to correct.
One of the biggest mistakes in soft openings is aggressive discounting.
The argument often sounds like this: “We are not fully ready yet, so we should reduce the price.”
But price does not only reflect operational readiness. It reflects value perception.
If you introduce yourself at a heavily discounted level:
Instead, Revenue Management during soft openings should focus on:
Protect your long-term ADR even while you test operations.
Your first guests shape your first reviews. This is why segmentation during a soft opening must be deliberate.
Ask yourself:
Revenue Management should guide this choice. Early segmentation decisions affect:
A carefully selected early segment mix creates stability instead of chaos.
Opening every channel at once is rarely the right move.
If operations are still stabilising, consider:
High distribution visibility combined with operational immaturity can amplify negative feedback.
Revenue Management during soft openings is about balance:
Visibility, but controlled.
Demand, but manageable.
Revenue, but strategic.
Soft openings provide something extremely valuable: clean demand signals.
You can learn:
But only if Revenue Management is monitoring and analysing from day one.
These early weeks provide data that will influence:
Treat your soft opening as a live commercial laboratory, not a rehearsal.
A soft opening is not an operational formality. It is a strategic commercial phase.
Revenue Management during soft openings should:
Hotels that treat soft openings as revenue opportunities enter the market stronger, more stable, and more profitable.
Hotels that treat them as “practice mode” often spend months correcting early mistakes.
The market forms its opinion quickly.
Revenue Management ensures that opinion supports your long-term strategy.
Are you preparing for a soft opening or supporting a property that is?
Make sure Revenue Management is part of the conversation before the first guest arrives.
At Taktikon, we help hotels structure their commercial strategy from pre-opening to stabilised trading, ensuring that operational readiness and commercial readiness move in parallel.
If you want to strengthen your Revenue Management approach before your next opening, let’s start the conversation.
