A holistic approach works best when planning a promotional strategy with your hotel marketing team. As a result, you need to maneuver a yearly plan that changes from month to month and season to season rather than trying to come up with a one-plan-fits-all scenario.
In order to do the above, Big Data is instrumental, as it gives you insight into yearly sales based on several factors, from marketing outcomes and upselling to seasonal changes and SEO implementation on the hotel website.
However, you don’t need Big Data to figure out that festivals are a tremendous source of increased revenue across the hospitality business.
Moreover, with more tourists indulging in experiential travel, people are planning holidays not only around significant festivities such as Christmas and New Year but also during local events like Rockwave, August Moon, and the Athens Epidaurus festivals in Greece.
Still, to make the most of local and regional celebrations, especially during the off-season, it is essential to have a well-thought plan. One that includes the following ways to increase hotel bookings during festivals.
Plan your strategy in advance
Marketing doesn’t happen last minute. Thus, your sales team must work with the hotel marketing agency to devise a plan for the entire year. Based on this, the marketing for the festival period, be it on the website, through emails, or on-site, can start well in advance.
Remember, people plan their holidays anywhere from a month to three months before the travel date, and your advertising strategy should reflect that.
Work on getting early bookings
So, when you market your hotel around local festivals in advance, you aim to get early bookings. To do that, you can;
- Create a sense of urgency when advertising. Use the previous year’s Big Data to determine how early the rooms get booked. Inform your guests about this, telling them there might be no rooms left closer to the event date.
- Give discounts to customers who book early. It’s a marvelous initiative for both, as the guest gets a good deal, and you get a guaranteed advance direct booking.
Create festival-specific content
A lasting way to increase hotel bookings during the festival season is to create content around it.
Hotels can use their website’s blog to post information about city-wide celebrations, timings, individual events, places of interest, festive gastronomic specialties, and more throughout the year.
And when the event approaches, you can highlight these articles on your website or share links on social media and through email marketing.
The vital point to keep in mind is that this content does not always have to be about the hotel. It can be about the festival’s history, traditional importance, and why travelers should visit the city for this event.
Doing so helps you in three main ways;
- You become a trusted source of information for tourists and guests, resulting in repeat visits to the website, leading to more direct bookings.
- Sharing information about the neighborhood and city strengthens your brand value, making visitors more likely to book a room with you.
- Posting SEO-optimised content consistently helps with higher rankings on SERPs. Consequently, you get new visitors to your website.
Hiring a top hotel marketing agency such as Adigital can be highly beneficial for continued website updation and optimization as well as content creation. Home to some of the best professionals from around the globe, Adigital is your single destination for all marketing needs, from branding to managing Metasearch ads.
Offer holiday discounts
A relatively straightforward way to increase hotel bookings during festivals is to offer specific discounts.
These deals can include options like children stay and eat free, discounts at neighborhood businesses, and event tickets at a special price.
Collaborating with the organizers is another unmissable opportunity for hotels during limited-ticket events like concerts. You can then offer packages that include hard-to-get tickets to the concert when someone books a stay with you.
Additionally, the hotel can provide complimentary services such as a free shuttle to downtown or the venue, themed meals at the in-house restaurant, and small events within the hotel cantered around the festival to make the stay more immersive.
Perform competition analysis
Using Big Data and the knowledge of your local hotel marketing agency, you can gain insight into your competition.
Undoubtedly, the festival season is a great time to increase revenue by increasing room rates, keeping in mind rate parity.
At the same time, one should remain within a specific limit, pricing the rooms at a competitive rate that puts them at an advantage over other hotels nearby.
Use social media
Visuals are the best format to reach thousands of prospective customers, especially through social media.
When working with your hotel marketing agency, you can use platforms like Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok to create hype around the festival and your hotel.
Social media management through a leading hotel marketing agency like Adigital includes everything from posting Instagram reels and creating particular hashtags to influencer marketing, Facebook Ads, and competitions to generate a buzz.
Highlight specific USPs
Among the ways to increase hotel bookings during festivals is to highlight your property’s Unique Selling Points (USPs) across all platforms.
Whether on the website’s front page, through TikTok, or via traditional print advertisements, don’t miss out on telling people why your hotel is the best option, particularly during festival season.
Some of the points to highlight include;
- Informing guests that your hotel is ideal for families, couples, adults-only, or solo travelers. Your marketing agency can focus on the audience based on the event’s target audience.
- Advertise your facilities that will appeal to festival visitors and include any pop-ups you plan on having.
- Highlight special features such as late checkout, breakfast included, free WiFi, and concierge service so visitors can enjoy the event without worrying about anything else.
Play the long game
Part of running a successful marketing plan is having guests return to your property the next time they are in town.
To leave a positive and memorable impact on visitors who come for a specific event or festival, include a small thematic gift for them to take home upon checkout.
The gift acts as a reminder of the time they spent with you and encourages them to book again. Moreover, it is a perfect branding opportunity.
Once again, the most crucial point is expanding your reach when planning to increase hotel bookings during festivals.
For this, you should not stick to only marketing popular festivals. Instead, also focus on off-season and niche happenings, including comic cons, conferences in or near your hotel, sporting events, Valentine’s Day, and any festivals unique to the town.
