TakeUp, the AI-powered revenue optimization platform built for independent hotels, has officially published the results from its first annual “The Voice of Independent Hospitality 2025 report.”
Going by the available details, this particular report comes together to offer a comprehensive industry lowdown based on a survey of nearly 200 owners and managers of bed and breakfasts, glamping sites, boutique hotels, and independent inns across the country.
“Independent hospitality properties are a vital part of the tourism ecosystem, yet their unique challenges and perspectives are often overlooked in industry research,” said Bobby Marhamat, CEO of TakeUp. “This report aims to amplify the voices of these property owners and provide insights into how they’re navigating an increasingly complex marketplace.”
Talk about the published results on a slightly deeper level, we begin from revenue management approaches. Here, a larger chunk of independent properties (51%) were found to still rely on manual seasonal price adjustments, whereas on the other hand, 50% said they base pricing decisions on monitoring competitors’ rates.
Next up, we must document technology adoption, a facet where 79% of respondents expressed positive attitudes toward AI and automation in hospitality. A separate contingent of 34% said they are in the process of actively seeking AI solutions
Another detail worth a mention is rooted in the highly prevalent distribution challenges. Here, high commission fees (49%) emerged as the biggest pain point with third-party booking platforms like Booking.com, Airbnb, and Expedia. This was closely followed by inconsistent customer service, a challenge which was made evident by a contingent of 42% surveyed respondents.
Turning our attention towards marketing channels, they had social media (64%) dominating marketing strategies. Beyond that, TakeUp deemed word-of-mouth (50%) and email marketing (44%) as the other most popular marketing strategies among participants. Interestingly enough, Google Ads received the trust of no more than 16% respondents within the given space.
Hold on, we still have a few bits left to unpack, considering we haven’t yet touched upon the time allocation aspect, aspect where property owners were found to spend significant time on pricing and revenue management. We get to say so because a staggering 76% of the surveyed respondents said they would dedicate between 1-6 hours weekly to these tasks.
Rounding up highlights is key role guest engagement is understood to play in the wider property management context. You see, personal interactions with guests (54%) and creating special events (53%) ended up ranking as the most enjoyable parts of property management during TakeUp’s survey.
Among other things, we ought to mention how the exercise in question discovered that, even though 81% of respondents expressed optimism about the future, they continue to face substantial challenges when balancing operational demands with their passion for hospitality.
We must also mention that, if we entrust TakeUp’s word, marketing/advertising (44%), property upgrades (42%), and guest experience improvements (40%) will likely top the investment priorities for 2025, closely followed by technology/automation investments (37%).
“What we’re seeing is a sector at a pivotal moment,” said Marhamat. “These independent property owners are incredibly resilient and forward-thinking. They’re increasingly open to new approaches that can help them succeed, but they’re not willing to sacrifice the personal touch that makes their properties special.”
