President of Plusgrade on Agent-Ready Hotel Revenue

About this episode

Erik Tengen discusses the importance of total revenue management and upselling strategies for hotels in the post-COVID landscape.

What if 70% of your guests are willing to upgrade—but your pricing strategy is leaving that revenue on the table? In this episode, Erik Tengen, President of Hospitality at Plusgrade and former co-founder of Oaky, explains why the future of hotel profitability isn’t RevPAR—it’s total revenue, frictionless upselling, and becoming “agent-ready." Experienced hotel operators, GMs, commercial leaders, and ownership groups focused on driving profit—not just topline revenue—in an increasingly AI-driven distribution landscape . Erik brings a rare combination of entrepreneurial grit and global scale. After building Oaky into one of hospitality’s leading upsell platforms and selling it to Plusgrade—a global leader in ancillary revenue across airlines, cruise, and rail—he now oversees hospitality strategy for one of the most advanced ancillary monetization engines in travel. His vantage point spans independent hotels to major global brands actively modernizing their tech stacks. • Why TrevPAR Beats RevPAR in 2026 and Beyond Erik breaks down the industry’s post-COVID shift toward total revenue management and explains why pairing a Revenue Management System with dynamic upselling technology…

People in this episode

Guest: Erik Tengen

Topics covered

• hotel revenue management
• upselling
• hospitality technology
• business strategy
• profitability

Keywords

• TrevPAR
• RevPAR
• dynamic upselling
• ancillary revenue
• AI-driven distribution
• hospitality strategy
• Revenue Management System
• profit growth

Mentioned in this episode

Products: a Revenue Management System, Plusgrade, Oaky

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