October has once again come to an end, taking us to new months of events and festivities. With bells chiming, Christmas lights sparkling, students off campus and parents off work, the Holidays have become the perfect time for hoteliers to put their properties out there and offer guests the best festive experiences. 

To be able to maximize your outreach and ensure your potential guests know of your holiday season spirit, it’s wise to start your marketing actions as soon as possible and make them as accessible as possible. Not only could you create eye-catching designs to communicate your initiatives, but also try to enhance your website into a captivating and engaging experience. Your hotel website is one of the first places potential guests land on before making a reservation – so it’s a good idea to hit all the right notes in giving your website visitors what they need to make it! Let’s dive into some tips and strategies using The Hotels Network’s (THN) tools that could help you make the most out of the festive atmosphere of the holidays.

1. Offer seasonal vouchers and gift cards

Bank Hotel voucher layer

While guests are in the Christmas gift searching spirit, now’s the perfect time for your hotel to start offering these gifts through your gift card or voucher deals. Make your hotel stand out during the holiday season by offering gift cards from THN Vouchers & Gift Cards tailored to the festive atmosphere. Vouchers and gift cards are a great way to boost your direct bookings and increase website conversions during the holiday season, as these encourage impulse purchases around booking dates and tailor to the website guest experience. 

Think about making your gift cards unique and ensure that they embody the festive holiday experience your potential guests are looking for. In the example above, Bank Hotel, a one-of-a-kind hotel in Stockholm, offers guests an unforgettable Christmas gift. 

This gift card above includes an overnight stay with breakfast. Keeping the message concise and elegant yet festive and winter-themed, Bank Hotel’s carefully crafted voucher for an exclusive winter holiday experience helps garner attention to their website visitors, and create interest in booking. This voucher will undoubtedly be underneath several Christmas trees! 

2. Host holiday events at your hotel

 Hotel Alpenblick "X-MAS PARTY ROOMS" layer

Let’s face it; these days, it’s not that easy creating non-remote events. However, that doesn’t mean it’s not possible - all it takes is a little ingenuity and innovation amidst today’s global situation. Hotel Alpenblick, a snazzy Swiss urban-style hotel in Bern, has created the perfect solution to today’s world of social distancing: X-MAS PARTY ROOMS. Offering trendy and private 5-star Christmas-decorated hotel rooms, guests can enjoy a delicious regional menu and private bar while partying together social-distancing style.

Keeping their marketing and promotions on point with this quirky event, Hotel Alpenblick effectively communicates the initiative across their website using THN’s personalization tools. From the moment visitors land on their website, the event is presented with a Layer revealing the event and its concept. With a clear call-to-action button, website visitors can be easily redirected to the landing page, in which all details of the X-MAS PARTY ROOMS are made clear and purchase offers are available. 

Hosting holiday events such as these allows for your hotel to not only generate higher potential traffic thanks to the online buzz, but to generate more revenue as well! It’s a good idea to capitalize on these types of events.

3. Create a sense of urgency around your festive offers

Countdown clock highlighting the days before an offer deadline

With your holiday deals and initiatives in full effect, it’s now time to subtly nudge visitors down the booking funnel. An effective way to achieve so is by adding countdown clocks to your communications. Countdown clocks create a sense of urgency and encourage guests to make impulse reservations, as they will feel the need to book soon if they don’t want to miss out on your incredible offers.

4. Craft special holiday menus

A hotel menu created for the festive New Year's Eve evening

Don’t let guests forget your amazing restaurant amenities! Perhaps create a custom menu for your hotel guests to further assimilate them into the holiday experience, and promote your new menu across your website so your visitors know about it. Above, this THN welcome Layer to lets future guests know that if they book, they will be able to enjoy a 3-course holiday dining experience by the hotel’s renowned chef. Included in a stay-and-eat package, it offers guests a cozy, home-like holiday stay.

Within the global context of today and the fluctuating regulations on travel and tourism, domestic vacationing otherwise known as “staycations” are becoming more and more prominent. With this in mind, it’s a good time to start creating initiatives tailored for locals, such as special holiday menus, and market them to your local traffic! Use the segmentation options within THN’s personalization tools to geo-target your messages towards locals aching for a nice holiday experience outside of their homes.

5. Show your festive spirit across your messages and website

A hotel discount message with a lovely Christmas-themed backdrop

Ensure that your guests know you’re all about festivities by giving them a fully immersive holiday experience. Customize your holiday messages and offers with holiday-themed images and text, and keep them warm and inviting to embody the cozy holiday ambiance. In the example above, the hotel has customized the design of the Layer within the THN platform to accentuate their friendly message by choosing warm colors and a backdrop image of a candy cane, gingerbread, and mittens. Evoke the same sense of warmth and coziness when creating your messages!

These are just a few tips and tricks to help you get the ball rolling for your hotel in the spirited holiday season of 2020, and ensure that your initiatives have maximum outreach to your potential guests and website visitors. We hope you find our resources useful - don’t hesitate to use them in pumping up your festive holiday culture!