Black Friday can work, but don't give away sales

Black Friday falls this year on November 27th. Your inbox is filled with offers; competitors are placing striking banners on their websites, and you wonder whether you should participate. Anyone who launches a broad discount campaign on a gut feeling quickly gives away sales. A targeted campaign can make all the difference.

Last year, Lighthouse compared the revenue of 1,982 hotels in the two weeks up to Black Friday with the same period a month earlier. Hotels with a targeted Black Friday campaign on their own website saw their direct revenue grow by 60.5 percent. For hotels without a campaign, that increase remained limited to 4.4 percent.

The biggest difference lay in conversion, the share of visitors who complete a booking, and not in the number of website visitors. At hotels with a campaign, the conversion of the booking module increased by 56.6 percent, while that of hotels without a campaign decreased by 0.6 percent.

The average revenue per user was also higher. It increased by 56.3 percent for campaign hotels and decreased by 8 percent for the other hotels. The figures indicate the potential of targeted promotions. A general discount of 20 percent, on the other hand, also benefits guests who would book at the full price.

Seven signs that a promotion can pay off

A promotion is meaningful when it helps fill a specific gap in your staffing. Look at both your occupancy rate and your booking pace, the rate at which reservations are coming in. Pay attention to these seven signals:

• A low- or mid-season that is also visible in your own historical data.
• Returning weak weekdays, such as Sundays or Monday mornings when weekend guests are hardly booked.
• Stay dates for which bookings are lagging behind the expected pace.
• Competitors who drastically lower their rates, making your price less attractive.
• A gap around a peak moment, for example after the cancellation of a group booking.
• Rooms that are still available one to two weeks before arrival.
• A lower occupancy than usual, 60 to 120 days before arrival.

If you don't recognize any of these signs, then you should better refrain from taking advantage of the discount. This also applies when your occupancy is at a high level, your booking rate is significantly higher than last year, or an event is already causing shortages in the hotel market.

Tailor your promotion to the demand

Any dip in your staffing levels requires an appropriate approach.

• Weak demand over a longer period: a targeted discount or a favorable arrangement.
• Weak weekdays: an offer for longer stays or a workation package for business guests.
• Low occupancy 60 to 120 days before arrival: a early booking rate with strict cancellation conditions.
• Available rooms just before arrival: a targeted last-minute rate for specific dates and room types.
• There is sufficient demand, but few bookings: offer extra value, for example with free extras.

What makes an offer targeted? Determine a deadline and target audience, and if necessary, limit the number of available rooms. Offer the promotion exclusively on your own website. This way, you avoid commissions on a potentially already reduced rate and maintain control over combining discounts.

The promotion period runs from November 23 to 30, Cyber Monday. The dates of stay can of course be extended in the future. Start your promotion as early as possible, by the end of November at the latest.

Focusing on returns all year round

Beyond Black Friday, your room rates deserve attention too. If you want to fill rooms profitably all year round, dynamic pricing allows you to adjust rates to current demand, local events, and competition. With the Lighthouse solution, you optimize your room rates based on relevant data. This reduces guesswork and the time you spend on manual price adjustments.

Do you want more insight into your own market to make better-informed decisions? The free practical guide ‘Know your market, fill your rooms’ offers handy checklists and concrete strategies that you can immediately start using.