What’s in store for the month ahead? Looking at our data¹ for bookings placed throughout April in 2013, 2014 and 2015, guest activity has followed a startingly similar pattern; and this gives us a good indication of what to expect in the coming weeks. What’s different this year is that Easter was early, so it’ll be interesting how that affects this year’s results.
Booking leadtimes
You will see below that 31-60 days has been consistently the most popular leadtime; but notice that last year 121-180 days was equally in demand.
Tip: Now is a good time to take a look at your website and see if it would benefit from a seasonal revamp. Winter landscapes provide some beautiful images, however if that is the main feature of your homepage, it’s time for an update. It’s all about sunshine and summertime now.
Any exceptions?
While it is full-priced bookings that establish the pattern as a whole (ave. 85% of total bookings in April 2013, 2014 and 2015), bookings for holidays at discounted prices follow a different set of rules. They are mostly last-minute bookings, with a leadtime of less than one week.
Tip: If you find yourself with late availability (eg due to a cancellation), take a look at How to
attract last-minute bookings for ideas about filling those gaps in your calendar.
Booking duration
Further analysis of April booking activity emphasises why it is important to accept bookings for short breaks as well as the more traditional seven-night stay. The majority of bookings placed (both discounted and full-price) are for six nights or less; and bookings for between eight and 13 nights are in just as much demand as the standard two weeks.
Tip: If you only allow bookings for week-long blocks, you could be missing out. If you are dynamic with your pricing and structure, you can easily adapt to cater for a changing market. Using a booking and management system that is flexible and gives you the ability to make small tweaks to start days, durations, occupancy and more enables you to do just this.
If you use SuperControl, look out for our Support team’s top tips emails to help you use your account to the max.
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