It’s the season to sort out your hospitality sales planning budget again. And just like the season to be jolly, it happens at the same time every year. So, it’s time to get a move ahead of Q4, if you haven’t already got your head down in spreadsheets, crunching next year’s numbers.
Yet hotel sales team budget planning isn’t solely about figures. In addition, budget season is your window to properly think ahead to what next year looks like.
Yes, deciding on next year’s targets is the driving force. But what about the plans, people and processes behind those numbers? What shape are they in to deliver the numbers you’re touting?
And then there’s the temptation to tell the powers that be what you think they want to hear, rather than what they need to know, to adverse effect. As Hospitality cloud solutions Mews’ Eva Lacalle observed in her article, The guide to effective hotel budgeting in 2026: “…being overly optimistic can lead to unrealistic goals, which may frustrate your staff if they struggle to meet them”.
This article is chock-full of insider guidance on designing a hospitality sales planning budget that backs up data with strategy and substance.
How to Approach Your Hospitality Sales Planning Budget for Next Year
Let’s start with dusting off you’re your venue or hotel sales account plans, which are probably out of date if you haven’t looked at them since last budget season.
It’s your absolute green light to revisit them properly, to avoid signing off on an unquantified budget.
So, don’t leave it much longer to dive into factors such as:
- Are your key accounts still your key accounts? Or has your business shifted? (If so, why, and how does this inform your hotel sales account plans?)
- Do your current growth opportunities reflect what your clients need now, rather than twelve months ago?
- Is there a clear, realistic action plan attached to each one, rather than a name and a number you’ve arrived at by adding 10% to across the board?
Then there’s your festive season hotel bookings, restaurant covers and private parties. They represent a potentially mammoth slice of annual revenue across the hospitality industry, and warrant due respect.
Get Up to Speed with Your Festive Season
Christmas is always coming in hospitality. Unsurprisingly, it constitutes a major part of your hospitality sales planning budget. And pre-Q4 is crunch time to ensure you haven’t missed a trick.
This means probing key questions like the following:
- Have you secured your key bookings?
- Are you still chasing confirmations you assumed were in the bag?
- Where are the gaps, and what’s your plan to fill them before it’s too late to course correct?
We’re talking about the direction behind the data. This also means thinking ahead to your sales activity after the Christmas sparkle has faded for another season.
Plan Your Next Year of Exhibitions
Exhibitions and industry events are booked well in advance. This is why your hospitality sales planning budget must include the places you need to be seen next year, what it’s going to cost, and how it justifies ROI.
Burning questions to answer with your team include:
- Which exhibitions delivered results last year, and which were just a good jolly?
- Are there new events haven’t thought about yet?
- Have you budgeted properly for stand costs, travel and the essential follow-up that transforms a networking exercise into real business on the books?
And last but definitely not least, your greatest assets – your people, the people entrusted to help deliver the numbers you’re committing to paper.
Equip Your Team to Exceed Expectations
Budgets incorporate the people delivering the numbers on the spreadsheet.
Accordingly, it’s vital to ensure there’s investment in sales training for hotel and event venues as you finalise your hospitality sales planning budget.
Notes to self:
- Sit down with your team and ask what’s worked or not for them this year
- Find out honestly where the gaps are, in knowledge, skill, or confidence
- Don’t cross your fingers and hope hotel sales team training and development gets squeezed in later. Build it in now, to support and promote the objectives behind the budget
Get Your Team Match Fit for Next Year’s Challenges
At Selling Savvy, we help hotel and event sales teams close the kinds of gaps mentioned in this article, hospitality sales planning budget, and much more.
Our sector specific sales training is designed by the industry, for the industry, and tailored to where your team needs it most.
So, next time you’re asking: “What training is available for hotel and event sales teams?”
Get in touch to find out. And prepare for next year’s budget backed by a team ready to over-deliver on it.
