Offering value-added packages that combine stays with extra amenities and services is a great strategy for attracting guests and driving revenue. But like any good strategy, it only works when executed with precision. From choosing what to offer and how much to charge to managing bookings and tracking revenue, each element must be well thought out and administered to make packages worthwhile for your guests and your business.
Here’s how to create and manage packages that bring in more guests and boost your bottom line.
This is the fun part! The key to standing out in a crowded market is to get creative and offer guests something unique. Think about what makes your property special (USP), explore local partnerships (existing and potential), and determine your target audience. Your reservation and guest data holds the secrets to crafting packages that resonate with your guests.
From activities to meals to in-room extras, what additional components can you include with a stay that will get your guests excited? Think beyond the usual and offer experiences that are memorable—but take care to stay true to both your brand and your audience in order to create offers that hit the mark.
Once you’ve come up with the perfect combo, the next step is determining the perfect price. The whole point of packaging overnight stays with extra amenities and/or experiences is to provide added value, allowing guests to bundle and save whether the discount is applied to the room rate or the added package components.
Avoid the common pitfall of deep discounting, which can erode your margins and harm your brand’s credibility. Instead, consider your booking patterns, forecasted demand, and competitor analysis to set a price that offers value without sacrificing revenue. Remember, the right price isn’t just about covering costs; it’s about enhancing your property’s reputation as a place where guests get more for their money.
To who, when, and how your package is offered makes or breaks its success. Offering it to everyone may seem like a great idea at first, but that approach can lead to missed revenue opportunities, especially during peak periods. Use your property management system to determine availability and set strategic restrictions that give you more control over your inventory and prevent you from leaving money on the table.
For example, a package designed to boost bookings during the off season can be offered to the general public but shouldn’t be available during peak periods when demand for your property is high. A premium package designed to bring in high-value guests during summer could be restricted to upscale rooms. Password-protected packages allow you to reward loyal customers with special deals to strengthen the relationship. Occupancy-based rules that automatically increase rates or close out discounts when availability is low ensure you can sell your last rooms at a higher price.
You can leverage minimum and maximum length of stay (LOS) restrictions to encourage longer stays during low demand and prevent discounted stays from extending into high-demand periods. Set in-advance booking windows to secure revenue—or last-minute booking windows to sell left-over rooms. You can even limit the number of rooms that can be sold per night at the package rate to prevent selling too many at the discounted price.
If your package deal requires specific cancellation or booking terms, rate-specific policies can be created and attached to the package.
Pro tip: While rate restrictions and terms are important for protecting your revenue, be careful they are not so limiting that they deter potential guests.
Now that you have a great package to sell, you need people to know about it! There are lots of ways to spread the word, both paid and unpaid. The key is to focus on the channels that reach your target audience.
Leverage your OTA listings, Google Hotel Ads, social media platforms, and email campaigns. Don’t overlook the power of your own website. Use clear calls to action to guide visitors to book direct.
If you have partnered up with other local businesses to offer guests a unique experience, be sure to take advantage of co-marketing opportunities to expand your reach. This can be as simple as sharing each other’s content on social media or collaborating on a joint email campaign.
Ease of booking is paramount. Make sure your package rates are easy to find and book on your property’s website through your direct online booking engine to maximize profit (no commissions!) and convenience.
WebRezPro simplifies this process by generating rate-specific booking links that can be placed on your package pages. When a potential guest clicks on the button to book the package, they are taken directly to an availability search for that particular rate, fast tracking the booking process and increasing the likelihood of conversion.
Package rates can also be included in general search results with a designated priority placement that determines where they will appear. In other words, they can be set to show higher up the list of available rates for greater visibility.
Ensure that any customization options or add-ons are seamlessly integrated into the booking flow, allowing guests to tailor their stay while increasing ancillary revenue. WebRezPro can be set up to communicate package inclusions to your team to help guarantee everything is prepared for the guest’s arrival.
A well-executed package should be easy to track financially. Every component—from room rates to included meals or activities—should be allocated to the correct revenue accounts automatically to ensure accurate financial reporting and a happy accountant.
For example, imagine your package includes a two-night stay for two guests with dinner both nights, breakfast both mornings, an open-top bus city tour, and a couples massage. In this case, you would configure your package to automatically post the room cost to your room revenue account (per night), meals to your F&B account (per night), the city tour to your activities account (per booking), and the couples massage to your spa account (per booking).
Don’t forget to configure your package to track taxes correctly too, especially if some package components are taxable while others are not. If you work with travel agents, confirm your PMS can manage commission calculations based on package components.
A PMS with strong rate and package management functionality is essential for streamlining administration to save you time and headaches!
Tracking how well your packages perform is the key to refining future offers for even greater ROI. Use your property management system’s booking reports to track the performance of different packages, including seasonality, lead times, conversion rates, and booking sources so you can identify what’s working and what’s not.
If you use CRM (customer relationship management) software, dive deeper into audience segmentation and campaign performance analytics to target customers more effectively and gain deeper insight into campaign results.
Regularly revisit your offerings, adjust pricing, update restrictions, and refresh promotions based on performance metrics to keep your packages appealing and profitable.
Effective hotel packages are not only appealing to guests, they’re also effortless to book and manage. With these strategies in place—and the right software—your packages will not only capture the attention of potential guests but will also be seamlessly integrated into your operations, driving both bookings and revenue.
