Tips for Choosing the Best Competitor Set for your Hotel

ZUZU Hospitality
1 min read

What is a “comp set”?

In order to maintain a competitive edge and support your strategic decision making as a hotelier, you will need to understand who your competitors are. Choosing the right competitor set, sometimes referred to as a “comp set”, allows hoteliers to benchmark their performance, refine pricing strategies, and tailor marketing efforts to attract more guests.

Comp sets can be broken down into different types, such as:

Let’s explore some tips on how to pick the best comp set for your property!

Similar properties

When selecting your comp set, you might want to focus on hotels that share similarities with your property. These might include:-

  • Location: similar hotels offering similar services & amenities within close proximity to where you are located. Start within a small radius around your property (2-5 kilometers) and start looking further out if there are no similar hotels, or if you are in a remote location.

  • Star rating & category: Properties that share a similar star-rating or category (eg, budget or mid-range) are likely to attract the similar types of guests that you do.

  • Amenities & services: Properties that provide similar amenities like the ones at your property (eg, pool, meeting rooms) might also attract the similar types of guests that you do.

 

Target demographics

Your comp set should include properties that may be targeting the same guest demographics as your property, such as business travellers or families. A complete understanding of your target demographic helps ensure that your comp set reflects the property your potential guests are likely to compare you against.

 

Pricing strategy

Properties that have comparable pricing structure with your property can also be included. This helps to ensure that your rate strategy is competitive and aligns with the market. You would want to consider both daily rates and high or low season differentials.

 

Online reputation & guest experience

Guest perception is key to how much they would pay for accommodation. It would be wise to consider hotels with strong online reputation and look into their ratings on platforms such as Google or Tripadvisor. If you are very hands-on with the operations at your property, looking at these ratings will help you understand what guests value in your competitors and how you can improve your own guest experience.

Check out our article on "How Guest Reviews Affect Room Prices"

Leveraging tools & templates

If you already have an account on Booking.com or Expedia, going into their extranet allows you to pick comp sets which these OTAs think are similar to your property. You are also able to find tools & analytics there to help you compare metrics against your comp set. And if you don’t already have an account, using Google Maps can also be an easy alternative to look and filter nearby properties.

 

Aspirational comp sets

Include aspirational competitors—hotels that you aspire to emulate or surpass. This can help you set higher standards for service quality and amenities. These hotels not only act as your north-stars, but also help you understand if there are any ADR growth opportunities.

 

Number of competitors

While there isn’t a golden standard on how many comp sets you could set, most properties typically pick between 5 to 10 hotels. This allows for meaningful comparisons without getting lost in the data. We recommend creating secondary or tertiary sets of competitors for different seasons, to help attribute the differing seasonal demands.

 

Conclusion

Building an effective competitor set is a strategic process that requires careful consideration of various factors. By focusing on similarity, target market alignment, pricing, online reputation, and seasonal considerations; hoteliers can create a comp set that provides actionable insights to drive business growth and competitiveness in the hospitality industry.

 

Why ZUZU?

ZUZU’s all-in-one hospitality solution includes a Revenue Management system that helps you analyze comp set data, compare prices, and track rate evolutions. A true game-changer in empowering small hoteliers to compete, grow, and succeed.

by Ethan W
Head of Pricing

With a decade of experience across the hospitality industry—including hotels, OTAs, and bedbanks—Ethan brings expertise in sales, account management, and revenue optimization. Passionate about educating hotel partners, he helps them explore effective pricing strategies to maximize revenue. Through content, Ethan shares real-world strategies and data-driven insights from working closely with hotels, empowering them to make informed pricing decisions while focusing on delivering exceptional guest experiences.

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