ComOps Blog | Casino Hotel Revenue Jackpot: What Most Properties Are Still Getting Wrong

Meet Sue Murphy, Your Revenue Rescue Ranger

When Sue Murphy walks into a casino hotel, she’s not there to gamble—she’s there to fix what’s broken.

With decades of experience in hotel revenue strategy, Sue knows where profits leak and how to plug the holes.

She is part detective, part strategist, and full-on fixer. And according to her, most properties are missing the mark in a big (read: expensive) way.

As Sue puts it, “Selecting the right systems and then making sure they work well together and that they’re used optimally” is absolutely critical.

Sounds obvious? It isn’t. Hotels often slap together tech stacks that barely talk to each other and then wonder why revenue performance stalls.

Let’s break down the most common missteps—and the smarter plays—straight from Sue’s playbook.

The Tech Stack Trap: When Your Systems Don’t Play Nice

First, Sue hits on a foundational issue: disjointed systems.

You can have “the best system in place,” she warns, “but if you’re not using it correctly, then obviously you’re not gonna get the most out of it.”

Casino hotels, in particular, have complex data flowing in from gaming, hospitality, entertainment, and food and beverage. If those systems aren’t integrated—or worse, if revenue managers are manually patching data across platforms—then dynamic pricing and demand forecasting become educated guesswork.

The fix? Don’t just invest in top-tier platforms but integration and training, too. Your tech should be more Rat Pack than ragtag.

The OTA Overdose: Booking Convenience vs. Profit Margin

Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) may boost visibility, but they eat into your margins like a buffet line on a Saturday night. And Sue sees a troubling trend: over-reliance.

“There is a tendency to wanna over-rely on OTAs,” she says. And while platforms like Google Hotel Finder and metasearch engines now offer more direct booking visibility, many hotels haven’t adjusted their strategy.

In smaller markets, Sue often advises clients to ditch OTAs entirely and double down on metasearch. “If you have a good placement with your own property booking engine,” she explains, “you may not need to rely on OTAs as much.”

Translation: Stop treating OTAs like a crutch. Instead, use smarter visibility tools and invest in your own website UX and conversion funnel.

Upsell Blind Spots: Champagne Dreams, Missed Opportunities

Hotels love the idea of upsells: champagne in the room, spa packages, late checkout. But execution? That’s where it fizzles.

“The biggest challenge and also the biggest opportunity,” Sue notes, “is just having it presented at the right moment during the booking process.”

Here’s where timing and systems come into play again. If your platform doesn’t support upsells dynamically based on time of booking, room type, or guest profile, you’re not just missing a sale. You’re missing a better experience and a more profitable guest.

Casino hotels, in particular, need to be surgical about this. “With casino clients especially,” Sue says, “understanding the expected worth of the guest” is crucial. You don’t offer comps blindly. You offer them based on projected spend across slots, tables, restaurants, and more.

The Static Pricing Mistake: Why Casinos Need to Get Dynamic

Sue’s biggest rallying cry? Ditch static pricing models.

“A lot of casinos can rely on blocks or fixed offers,” she explains, but this is revenue sabotage in slow motion. Instead, they need dynamic yielding, a step beyond just dynamic pricing. It’s about adjusting rates in real time, not just for leisure guests, but for loyalty players and high rollers, too.

“You can yield to every customer,” she says, “not just your FIT rate.”

That means integrating casino data, spend history, booking patterns, and event calendars to build rates that reflect true demand and true value.

Cashing In: What the Smartest Casino Hotels Are Doing Right

The most successful casino hotels have stopped playing checkers and started playing chess. They invest in well-integrated systems. They balance OTA exposure with direct booking muscle. They don’t just hope for upsells, they engineer them into the experience. And they use dynamic yielding to unlock value from every guest, not just the obvious ones.

If you’re still handing out comps like candy or running outdated rate sheets, the house isn’t winning—you’re losing.

As Sue sums it up, “Having the right systems in place to allow you to understand your forecasted demand and ensure you’re priced appropriately to maximize revenue” is the name of the game.

Time to stop leaving money on the table. Your jackpot is waiting, and just might be hiding in your tech stack. And when your tech talks, your revenue listens.