Most hoteliers walk past one of their most underutilized assets every day without thinking twice about it – the parking lot.

In this Straight From the Source interview, James Hansen, Head of Partnerships at Ocra and a 20-year hotel operations veteran, explains why parking is rapidly evolving from a basic guest amenity into a strategic, high-margin revenue channel.

As RevPAR growth softens, maximizing every square foot of a property has become essential.

Below are the key takeaways from the conversation on how hotels can unlock hidden profitability through technology.

Auditing the Tech Stack to Unify Your Data

The hospitality industry is navigating a dual challenge of rising operational costs and a constrained labor pool. To thrive, properties must treat back-of-house efficiency as the foundation for front-of-house excellence, but fragmented systems often stand in the way.

“If you don’t assess your tech stack, you may be wasting a lot of money, not getting the value that was promised, or missing integrations you thought you had. An audit will uncover these gaps.” – James Hansen 

When data lives in siloed, disconnected systems, hoteliers miss out on the insights needed to make smart business decisions. 

By auditing and modernizing their tech stack, hotels can automate administrative work and free up staff from spreadsheets so they can focus on what matters most: the guest experience.

Parking as a Hotel Profit Center

Ancillary revenue streams like spas, restaurants, and parking have historically been treated as afterthoughts, rarely managed with the same sophistication as room inventory.

With RevPAR growth slowing compared to previous decades, that mindset has to change.

“Softening RevPAR creates an opportunity for hoteliers to look for other sources of revenue, where ancillary revenue streams can really start to deliver meaningful impact.” – James Hansen

Parking in particular stands out as one of the most underleveraged assets on site. The most successful hotels will be those that actively manage parking inventory like any other revenue-generating asset. 

By implementing dynamic pricing, broader distribution through customer booking channels, and active inventory management, parking can significantly boost NOI without requiring properties to add new physical inventory.

Optimizing Parking for High-Margin NOI

“As a longtime hotel operator, I’ve always looked at empty parking spots and thought about how to use this space to generate income.” – James Hansen 

Parking’s low operating costs make it a naturally high-margin asset. The real opportunity lies in moving beyond static, flat-rate pricing and embracing AI-driven revenue management across multiple distribution channels.

With modern parking revenue management systems, operators can:

• Treat parking like rooms by distributing surplus inventory across multiple customer booking channels (“parking OTAs” like SpotHero and Airport Parking Reservations) for non-guests to book.

• Capture incremental local demand from airport travelers and event traffic without disrupting core hotel operations.

• Dynamically price parking inventory using AI, market data, and predictive analytics based on events, occupancy, and demand patterns.

Shifting from static pricing to a dynamic, tech-enabled strategy reduces operational burden on staff while increasing top-line revenue. The result is stronger top-line revenue and a more fully optimized asset.

[Watch the full interview with Christina Trauthwein and James Hansen]