Hotel low season revenue has long been considered to simply be an unfortunate fact of the industry. It brings less demand and, therefore, lower revenues too. But the industry has changed so much in such a short space of time, and hotels no longer have to accept that low season automatically means slow business. By adopting a proactive stance and implementing a series of tried-and-tested tactics, your hotel can blossom in what traditionally is considered low season. Read on to discover our five best practice steps to attract guests and increase hotel revenue during a low occupancy phase at any time of the year. 1. Identify When Low Season Periods Occur With Forecasting A critical foundational step is to forecast low hotel occupancy periods with precision. This gives your hotel a clearer picture of accounts receivable and payable during this period. It enables you to better prepare management with regard to performance control across different hotel divisions, business objective execution, and overall planning. Preparation through accurate forecasting provides the under- standing that is key to subsequently enact initiatives to arrest and reverse low occupancy rate trends. 2. Target New Customer Segments With a Dynamic Marketing Drive You may have one or two specific buyer personas that you traditionally target, but low-season is the perfect time to diversify. First of all, you can mine your own customer data and communicate with clients (via email, phone or social me- dia) to identify customer trends, needs and wants. Go Beyond Business versus Leisure There are specific niche markets beyond the traditional business-leisure dichotomy. These include the following: Millennials, and generations Z and X. Millennials still account for the highest number of trips per year (5.6), compared with Gen-Z (4.4), Gen X (4.0 ), and Boomers (3.5), according to Condor. Wellness Travel – a trip away focused on mental and physical health, and increasingly, customers who want to focus on spiritual growth too. Bleisure travel – mixing both work and pleasure in one trip. Baby boomers – people are living longer across the world. As boomers are generally in their retirement years now, they tend to have much more free time, and so are the ideal target market for low season sales periods. Travellers with pets – making your hotel pet-friendly, complete with everything a furry friend needs can help you attract owners who would otherwise be reluctant to leave their pet for a trip away. Families travelling with kids – family package deals can be an excellent way to boost your occupancy rates in low season. Your hotel probably receives lower room demand in the off-season. Beefing up your marketing strategy and antic- ipating the customer segments that will be your main sources of business will be indispensable to overcome this challenge. Serving Groups, both Guests and Non-guests How To Increase Hotel Revenue in Low Season
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