By Nina de Graaf, Marketing & Communications, Hotelschool The Hague
How far can we push it? Upselling, ethics, and the edge of revenue.
That is the question the Revenue Management & Pricing Society (Netherlands) will put to the industry at its next seminar, on 5 October 2026 in Amsterdam. The Society is a voluntary national platform connecting academics, students, and industry professionals working in revenue management and pricing, and Hotelschool The Hague has a seat on its interim committee through Dr Melinda Ratkai.
Upselling is one of hospitality's most reliable revenue levers, but as AI takes on more of the decision-making, it is also becoming one of its trickiest ethical questions. Who decides what a guest is offered, and at what point does a well-timed suggestion become pressure? How far should we push it and what happens when the tools we use raise questions about ethics, security, and fairness?
It is a question that HTH has already started exploring closer to home, through June's AI in Hospitality Masterclass at the Amsterdam campus, which looked at exactly this kind of tension focusing on AI-driven commercial tools and guest trust.
"Sustainable hospitality requires more than revenue growth alone. ESG, ethics and business resilience remind us that the true measure of success is not just how much we sell, but how responsibly and fairly we create that value."
Professor of Hospitality Business at Hotelschool The Hague
The Society's interim committee also includes colleagues from Saxion, Breda University of Applied Sciences, Hotel Management School Maastricht/Zuyd, and NHL Stenden, alongside industry members from Amrâth Hôtels, RevControl, and Kontakt der Kontinenten.
The Society's third seminar, hosted by BUAS on 19 May 2026, drew more than 80 participants, and for the first time saw students from BUAS, Hotelschool The Hague, and NHL Stenden taking part alongside seasoned professionals. That mix is worth pausing on: it is one thing to teach revenue management in a classroom, another to have students in the room debating it with the people setting pricing strategy for a living.
October's seminar will build on that same spirit, but with sharper teeth. As upselling grows more automated and more personalised, the Society wants to ask what organisations owe their guests in return: transparency, security, a sense of fairness. Not a rejection of commercial tools, but a serious look at where the boundaries should sit.
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The interim committee
Gerben Coelingh and Dieneke Dijkstra (Saxion), Stan Josephi (BUAS), Luc Partouns (Hotel Management School Maastricht/Zuyd), Marit de Vries and Dr Ian Yeoman (NHL Stenden), Dr Melinda Ratkai (Hotelschool The Hague), Leila Hulshof (Amrâth Hôtels), Edwin Leenheer (RevControl), and Gonul Uyanik MBA (Kontakt der Kontinenten).
