As 2024 draws to a close, hotel operators and revenue managers have an opportunity to maximize profits by leveraging year-end travel trends.
Group business can be critical at this time of year, but in 2024 we’re not hosting the types of groups you might expect. Also, personalized guest engagement has become much easier, and the holidays offer the perfect opportunity to drum up some repeat business from previous guests.
By augmenting your hotel revenue strategies around year-end events, you can deploy strategic tactics that attract the right guests and will boost both revenue and profitability. Here are some ways to take advantage of end-of-year opportunities to close out 2024 on a high note.
Your previous guests are already familiar with your business, making them a prime audience for targeted end-of-year offers like fall getaways, holiday trips, or winter escapes. By using guest profiles and preferences, you can create personalized emails that highlight experiences tailored to individual guests—whether it’s a romantic winter retreat, a New Year’s Eve celebration, or a family holiday package. By expanding your data sets across your portfolio, you can cross-promote properties to past guests looking for new experiences.
Advanced data warehouses securely store guest profiles, past booking behavior, and special requests. This data enables hotels to deliver targeted marketing messages that align with guest interests, increasing the likelihood of bookings and driving repeat business. Automating these personalized campaigns with email marketing tools also reduces manual work for your team.
While traditional large conferences may not have returned to pre-pandemic levels, new opportunities have emerged. Many companies with remote workers are now seeking spaces for holiday parties, 2025 kickoff events, or in-person team planning sessions. Offering "bleisure" packages—where guests can extend their stay for leisure after attending meetings—can enhance the guest experience and generate more revenue per stay.
Include value-added offers for business travelers who bring family members along or stay extra nights. Think spa discounts for spouses or family-friendly dining experiences. These packages encourage guests to spend more across multiple areas of your property.
When targeting group business, it's essential to look beyond room revenue. Consider metrics like profit-per-guest to capture the full value a guest brings through food and beverage (F&B), spa treatments, or other on-property services. Group bookings are often discounted, which makes it critical to assess displacement data—the cost of replacing full-rate transient bookings with lower-margin group bookings.
Analyze potential group business based on total profitability, not just occupancy. This holistic approach ensures you capture the most valuable mix of guests, balancing room sales with ancillary revenue streams.
With the holiday season approaching, it's tempting to discount rooms to fill any remaining inventory. However, instead of reducing prices across the board, focus on segmenting your inventory and adjusting pricing strategically. For instance:
Dynamic pricing ensures you maintain healthy margins while still offering guests enticing packages and exclusive deals.
Holiday-themed packages appeal to different traveler types, and the right combination of offers can attract various segments. Here are some creative examples to help inspire your team:
Tailoring your packages to meet the interests of each segment allows you to capture incremental revenue while delivering memorable guest experiences.
To stay ahead of changing market trends, hotels need to tap into new data streams. Real-time flight booking data can offer insights into which source markets are showing the most demand, helping you target promotions to the right regions. Similarly, weather patterns can guide the timing and design of seasonal offers. For instance, if forecasts predict an early snowfall, launch ski packages early or offer promotions for indoor amenities like spas or heated pools.
Incorporating flight data, weather data, guest reviews, on-the-books market data, and other emerging data sets into your revenue strategy helps your team optimize rates, promotions, and ultimately profitability.
With the right mix of creativity and data-driven strategies, hoteliers can close 2024 with strong revenue performance. Personalized marketing, smart group business strategies, dynamic pricing, and holiday-themed packages all work together to attract the right guests at the right time.
Powered by a business intelligence tool like Otelier IntelliSight, hotel revenue teams can be armed with the data they need to drive the right business and end 2025 with a strong bottom line.