Is there commercial alignment?
This article arose from a recent discussion held by an HSMAI Marketing Advisory Board. The conversation quickly moved beyond just structure to address accountability for results, because that's typically where problems begin to surface.
Data from a survey conducted with executives reveals a significant difference between what leaders advocate and what happens in practice.
Although the 91% survey of leaders recognizes the importance of strategic alignment, fewer than one in seven believe their organization actually achieves it. Aligned companies deliver superior financial results, but many sales teams still struggle to define who should lead growth when functions begin to overlap.
The promise and challenges of the business model
The integrated business model emerged with the promise of reducing silos and improving decision-making. In theory, it works. Sales, Marketing, Revenue Management, and Technology began sharing data, dashboards, and meetings.
However, the definition of responsibilities did not always evolve at the same pace. Growth became everyone's responsibility, but it ceased to be the direct responsibility of any one person.
This difference becomes even more apparent within hotels, where incentives, reporting structures, and pressures for short-term results converge. It is precisely at this level that alignment either takes hold or breaks down.
Is the real challenge in customer responsibility?
The consensus among the participants in the discussion was that responsibility towards the customer is still not clearly defined.
● Marketing usually controls demand generation and data.
● Sales manages relationships and volume.
● Revenue Management manages pricing, demand patterns, and shift decisions.
● Technology provides information for all areas and expects someone to determine what really matters.
The result is a large volume of information, few concrete actions, and frequent disagreements about what constitutes success.
The problem is not with the tools.
Another point that became clear during the conversation is that the tools are not the real challenge. Most organizations already have:
● Business intelligence platforms
● CRM systems
● Revenue analysis tools
Accountability is also diluted by differing incentive models. In executive positions, business leaders typically share goals related to total revenue performance. Within hotels, however, bonuses and performance indicators often follow different paths.
● Marketing automation
The question raised several times was who decides what should happen after the data appears.
Without a clearly defined authority, insights remain merely observations and do not translate into action.
Where does the alignment stop working?
Alignment seems to work at the highest levels of organizations, but tends to fragment as decisions get closer to the host.
● Average volume or rate
● Channel contribution or profitability
● Brand priorities or owner expectations
● Alignment weakens precisely where execution becomes most important.
Some teams are working on overall revenue growth through shared objectives, even if they use different metrics. Others are rotating leadership of sales meetings so that each area can lead discussions and decisions.
These approaches help reduce narrow views, but still depend on clear leadership to work consistently.
The transformation of commercial leadership
Today's business leader doesn't need to be an expert in every system. The discussion highlighted the importance of respect, humility, and a sufficient understanding of different areas to formulate better questions.
Commercial leadership is increasingly less dependent on deep specialization in a single function and more on the ability to connect decisions with budgets, forecasts, and asset performance across the organization.
At the end of the discussion, it became clear that leading growth doesn't necessarily require more structures. It requires visible accountability, aligned incentives, and the freedom to prioritize long-term results over isolated gains.
That role is less about mastering a single area and more about the ability to connect different areas to generate profitability, not just performance.
Questions that remain for the sales teams:
● If growth is everyone's responsibility, is it really anyone's responsibility?
● Who is responsible for growth within the hotel: the general manager, the commercial leader, the brand, or asset management?
● Where is the responsibility for results currently concentrated, and is that model working?
● Are we truly integrating the strategy or just adding more tools?
● Who decides what actions will be taken based on all that information?
● Where do the greatest commercial tensions arise between Sales and Revenue Management, Marketing and Sales, brand and hotel, or technology and ease of use?
● Does the organization reward collaboration or only individual performance in each area?
● If the incentives changed, but the structure remained the same, would the behavior also change?
