Filling low season and quiet weekdays: how to do it

An empty weekday in November delivers zero euros. A booked weekday with 70 percent margin delivers almost everything. That's why filling low season is worth far more than squeezing a busy summer week fuller, yet most owners barely pay attention to it.

The problem

From May to September your B&B runs at 90 percent or more. Summer takes care of itself, bookings come in whether you do anything or not. The problem is the other end of the calendar.

From October to April occupancy drops to 40 to 50 percent. Half your rooms sit empty, and those empty rooms still cost you. The mortgage or rent keeps running, the heating is on, you still pay the fixed costs whether guests are there or not. An empty room in January is pricier than an empty room in July, because July has summer as a buffer.

Most owners accept this as a law of nature. It's winter, so it's quiet. But quiet weekdays don't fill themselves, and they don't fill via Booking.com either, because almost nobody searches for your region in January. Demand is low, so the OTAs (online travel agencies, booking platforms like Booking and Expedia) deliver hardly anything.

Notice also the pattern within the week. It's not just the quiet months, it's especially the off-hours within those months: Monday through Thursday. The weekend in November often still books, but the weekdays sit mostly empty. That's double a shame, because a guest staying Monday through Thursday brings you three or four nights instead of two. Filling off-peak days is worth more per guest than one more weekend booking.

This is precisely the time when your own channels make the difference. Not summer, when you're full anyway. Winter and the quiet weekdays, where every extra booking is pure profit. And you have something to offer that's rare: quiet, space and attention. The guest booking in November gets a more personal stay than the guest in busy July. That's not a downside to hide, that's your sales argument.

Rekenvoorbeeld

Take a B&B with 6 rooms. In low season, October to April, it runs at average 40 percent occupancy. Per week that's about 17 booked room nights and 25 empty. Those empty nights are your opportunity.

Say you fill 8 of those empty nights per weekday with a package. The package costs the guest 95 euros per night: room with breakfast plus a local bike route and a lunch package. Your costs per night for cleaning, breakfast and the lunch package are around 28 euros. Your margin is about 70 percent.

That's not pie in the sky, it's eight extra nights per week. Hit even half of that, four nights, and you still keep over 6,900 euros across the quiet months. And these are bookings that otherwise wouldn't have happened because those rooms sat empty.

The beauty: these bookings cost you no OTA commission if you bring them in through your own channels. Booking.com would have taken another 15 percent off. How you systematically handle that is in becoming less dependent on Booking.com.

Stepwise plan

1. Build two or three packages, not bare discounts

A bare price cut attracts price hunters who never come back. A package gives a reason to come exactly now. Think:

• A bike or hiking weekend with route map and lunch package, for hikers and cyclists who skip summer crowds.
• A wellness weekday with two nights, late check-out and an arrangement at the sauna down the road.
• A dinner arrangement with a local restaurant, where you fix a set price and resell it.

Give the package a concrete name and a fixed price. "Frisian Winter Week" sells better than "10 percent off in November". The name does the work: it immediately tells the guest what they get and why now is the right time. Two or three packages is enough. More choice makes choosing harder and costs you more to track.

Calculate through what each package costs you and what you keep. A package that fills your rooms but sits below your variable costs isn't a win but a loss you don't see. Price your margin so each booked night delivers something, even after cleaning, breakfast and what you buy for the arrangement.

2. Email your existing guests first

Your guests from last summer are your warmest audience. They know you, they were satisfied, and some would gladly come again on a quiet moment. Email them in October with your low season package and a direct booking link.

Don't have a guest list or newsletter yet? This is the moment to start one, because this is the booking that pays it back. How you set that up is in setting up a hotel newsletter. Ask for permission to email offers whenever you take a booking from now on, then next low season you have a filled list.

3. Focus on the right target groups

Not everyone can book a weekday away in November. The groups that can:

• 55-plus without school vacation binding, who especially want the quiet and lower prices.
• Remote workers, who want a few days elsewhere with good WiFi and a walk after work.
• Hikers and cyclists, who skip the heat and crowds and find the best weather in fall.
• Couples, who look for a quiet weekend together without summer prices.

Match your packages and your photos to these people. An autumn photo of your garden with fog draws different people than a sunny summer terrace photo. The 55-plus who travels in October wants to see it's nice outside season too: a warm seating area, a walk through bare landscape, breakfast without rush. Show that instead of summer images that don't match what the guest finds in November.

One target group at a time works better than everything at once. Pick the group closest to your current guests and build your first package and first email around that. Works, then add the next.

4. Post it briefly on social

Post your packages on Instagram and Facebook with season photos. You don't need to spend an ad budget to start, your existing followers already see it. How you make that stick without hours every week is in an Instagram strategy for small hotels.

Treat social as reinforcement of your email, not replacement. The email to your own guests does the heavy lifting and brings the bookings, social makes sure the package is also seen by people not on your list yet. One post per package per week with a direct booking link is enough. Don't hide the package between loose mood photos: make the offer itself the post, with the price and dates.

Common mistakes

• Waiting until it's already quiet. Packaging a concept in November is too late, because guests plan their fall in September. Set your packages ready in summer and email them before silence sets in.
• Steering on price alone. Discounts attract people chasing the lowest price. A package with added value attracts guests who come back because it was fun, not because it was cheap.
• Letting the OTA do what your email can do better. Booking delivers little in low season and still takes commission. Your own guest list is free and books faster. Start there.
• Not giving a reason to come exactly now. "We have rooms available" is not a reason. "Bike weekend through fall Frisian lakes with route map and lunch package" is.
• Not calculating through the margin. An under-priced package fills your rooms but delivers nothing. Always calculate what a night costs you in cleaning and breakfast, and make sure you come out well above.

What you can do now

Don't start advertising and don't build a new website. Start with the two things that cost nothing and fill fastest: a package with a reason to come, and an email to the guests you already have.

Grab your guest list from last summer and think of one package for the quiet months. Email it to your guests as soon as summer gets quieter. Build your guest list from then on, so next low season you have a bigger audience to email. How to set that up is in setting up a hotel newsletter, and how to ask guests to come back after their stay is in the post-stay email for reviews and repeat bookings.

Want to know exactly how much Booking costs you now and what a shift to direct bookings delivers? Calculate it in the savings calculator. And if you'd rather have someone set up the packages, emails and target groups for your accommodation, we discuss that at marketing for hotels.