The 2021 festive season is just around the corner. It’s predicted that many shoppers will be turning to online shopping this year as a result of the ongoing pandemic.
NB: This is an article from Hotelchamp
Hoteliers have an opportunity to tap into this increased digital holiday shopping. The holiday season focus is multifaceted for hoteliers. People are shopping for gifts, either for them self or others, and people are also looking to book for the holiday season. In this blog, we look at how you can appeal to both of these groups and plan to make the most of the festive season.
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Here are our tips to make the most of the upcoming festive season:
Start promoting your festive season offers early
People start shopping for gifts in September, with stores (both online and offline) starting to promote the festive season. The first major events of the festive season kick-off in October. Start highlighting your offers as early as you can. Make the most of the gift-givers, the deal hunters and the holiday travellers before they spend their money elsewhere.
Special offers for loyalty members and email subscribers
We’re all familiar with the holiday season discount emails. By using captivating email subject lines, entice these consumers to open your email and see what you have to offer. Position your holiday deals as perfect gifts for loved ones or treats for themselves in 2022. Use Hotelchamp targeting to show the same offer messaging to these people when they click through to your website. Reducing the path to purchase and reaffirming your messaging. If they’ve already shown interest by clicking through from the email, make sure to keep them interested once they get to your website.
Target the gift-givers
75% of holiday shoppers in the US and 71% in the UK who are shopping for holiday gifts, said they will shop online more this year than previously. This is a massive opportunity for hotels to be considered in the holiday gift-giving season this year. Use geo-targeting and interest targeting to identify potential gift shoppers and create messaging specific to these website visitors. Utilise vouchers for dining offers, for example, afternoon tea, dinner and bubbles, cocktails and dessert, to tempt these gift shoppers. And also short stays, such as a 1-night stay with a bottle of bubbles in your room.
Inspire potential guests to treat themselves
Use your digital channels to appeal to potential guests by inspiring them to stay. Many people are dreaming of a 2022 holiday—can you make the emotional connection for them? Depending on your brand positioning, consider offers to make up for missing out on travel in recent years. Create offers that encourage this by including discounts for local businesses that you’ve partnered with or popular nearby attractions. Not only have these people’s shopping destinations have changed, but potentially also their holiday plans. Tie this into your offers—promote 2022 family holidays or bringing people together who can’t be together this year. Traditions might be changing again this holiday season, so it’s a great time to start new traditions.
Make it easy
More people shopping online, means more people visiting your website and booking engine. Streamline the purchase process and highlight relevant offers when people land on your website. Provide additional support through LiveChat or use ‘contact us’ CTAs especially during these busy periods when people might have more questions.
Be generous with your festive season offers
Around holidays such as Black Friday, deal hunters are out and people are looking for the best deals they can. Around Black Friday, some hotels offer discounts as high as 55%, with around 10-20% being the standard seen by Hotelchamp. If you know your target guests are very price-sensitive, these generous discounts will appeal to them. Remember that you can add terms into these offers that can restrict high demand dates so that you aren’t losing revenue by selling out at heavily discounted rates.
