Low season strategies for high revenue
Your low season is a great time to work on renovations, revisit with your vendors, and plan ahead for your busy periods but it doesn’t mean you have to throw in the towel on reservations and revenue. There are several ways you can incentivize your guests to stay at your property during a slower period.
After you’ve identified your low season it’s time to identify your opportunities in the area or through your property’s amenities. Promoting local events or attractions are an easy way to get your guests’ attention and entice them to come out to your region during a time they may not have originally planned for. You can create packages around these events or partner with a local vendor and offer discounts to nearby shops or wineries.
If you experience your low season after the holidays, you can boost your reservations by offering Cyber Monday deals after the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Many online shoppers are looking for discounts on travel and by offering 30% off, you could see a jump in online reservations for your slower season. For these online deals, you can add stipulations such as an expiration date or the deposit is non-refundable or other exclusions that still make the deal attractive to guests but doesn’t cut into your bottom line too much.
Another way to use the holidays to promote low season bookings is to offer gift certificates in your online booking engine. Promote the fact that you offer gift certificates on your website, social media networks, and through email campaigns and encourage people to buy certificates as a holiday gift. The great thing about gift certificates is that you’re guaranteed the revenue immediately.
You may also want to use your email marketing channel to reach out to previous guests that have stayed in your low season and offer them a discount to repeat their stay this year. You could also offer compounding discounts to guests that haven’t stayed during this period before where guests who stay two nights get 10% off, three nights get 20% off, and so on.
Lastly, another way to increase your revenue during a slow season is to focus on your other business segments such as weddings, meetings, or dining. If you have an on-site restaurant, begin offering specials for local dining customers or open up the restaurant to non-guests. You may also want to offer discounts and packages on winter weddings and elopements to increase your occupancy.
What tactics do you use to increase occupancy during your low season? Share them with us below!