Selling the quiet months: marketing a hotel out of season
Every hotel has months it would rather not talk about. Discounts fill rooms for a while and teach guests to wait. A better answer is to give the quiet months reasons of their own.
Find who travels when others do not
The low season has its own guests: couples without school-age children, people who work as they travel, visitors who come for a festival, a conference, a treatment or simply the quiet. Look at who already books in those months and what they have in common.
Give the season a reason
- A different kind of stay. Longer stays, a writer’s residency, a wellbeing programme, a cooking week with the chef.
- The place in another light. Empty beaches, mountain walks, museums without queues, the season’s food.
- Events the hotel creates. Dinners with guest chefs, talks, small concerts. They give guests a date and the press a story.
Plan the campaign months ahead
Guests book the quiet months later than the high season, but they start dreaming earlier than most hotels advertise. Prepare the pages and photography during the summer, start search and social campaigns six to ten weeks before, and aim them at markets whose holidays and flight routes fit.
Protect the rate
Add value rather than cut the price: a free night on longer stays, dinner included, a later check-out. Guests remember the value, not the discount, and the brand keeps its position for the high season.
Measure the season as a whole
Judge the campaign by enquiries, bookings and returning guests across the season, not by clicks in its first week.
The studio plans search and social campaigns for hotels, measured by enquiries and bookings. See paid campaigns & social.
