Early November, at a mountain guesthouse with eight rooms. The first holiday bookings are in. One for 23 December, one night. One for the 25th, again one night. One for the 26th and 27th. Single-night gaps open up between the bookings that nobody will fill, because whoever goes up the mountain at Christmas wants three or four nights in the same room.
This problem is solved before it appears, with three tools: a holiday package, a minimum stay on the right dates, and a deposit that keeps the booking serious. Below are the steps, as you set them up in the Bookmatrix.com booking engine and on the channels.
Step 1: Decide the dates and the contents
Before you open any screen, write two things on paper.
- Which nights the package covers. For example 23 to 27 December for Christmas and 30 December to 2 January for New Year. Epiphany can be a third, shorter package.
- What it includes. Breakfast, certainly. A festive dinner on the evening of the 24th or the 31st. Firewood for the fireplace, a bottle of wine in the room, late check-out on the last day. Pick things you can really give every room, even when you are full.
Step 2: A separate rate plan for the package
The package is a rate plan with its own name, for example "Christmas in the mountains, 4 nights". In Bookmatrix.com you set:
- Meal plan: breakfast or half board.
- Included extras: the dinner, the wine, the firewood. The guest sees them on the booking engine together with the price.
- Validity: the package shows only for the holiday dates.
- Cancellation policy: its own, stricter than the rest of the year (see step 4).
Keep the plain breakfast rate plan open too, with the same stay restrictions. Some guests do not want dinner, and it is better that they book with you than elsewhere.
Step 3: A minimum stay where it matters
The minimum stay is the tool that closes the gaps. Bookmatrix.com has two kinds, and it is worth knowing the difference:
- Minimum stay on arrival: applies to bookings that start on that day. Set 3 nights on 23 December, and anyone arriving on the 23rd stays at least 3 nights.
- Minimum stay through: applies to every booking that includes that night, whenever the guest arrives. It is stricter and protects the core nights, such as the 24th and 25th.
There are two more settings: closed to arrival and closed to departure. If you do not want arrivals on Christmas Day, close arrival on the 25th. If you do not want a room to empty on the 24th, close departure on that day.
An example for eight rooms: minimum stay of 3 nights for arrivals 22 to 24 December, closed to arrival on the 25th, minimum stay of 2 nights for the 26th and 27th. In early December you look at the calendar. If two-night gaps remain, you lower the minimum stay on those dates so they fill.
Step 4: A deposit that holds the booking
Over the holidays, a cancellation in the last week means an empty room, because nobody books a mountain property for Christmas on 20 December. The package's cancellation policy should reflect that.
In the cancellation policy you set the deposit in one of these ways:
- as a number of nights (for example the first night),
- as a percentage of the total (for example 30%),
- as a fixed amount per booking or per room.
You also set until when cancellation is free. The guest sees the policy before paying. The deposit is paid by card on the booking engine, through the provider you have connected (Stripe, JCC, epay or another provider), and the payment is recorded on the reservation. For phone bookings you send an email with a payment request and a link to pay by card.
Write the policy in plain words in the package description. "The deposit is refunded if you cancel by 1 December" is clearer than a table.
Step 5: The channels
Minimum stays, closed to arrival and departure, and prices travel from your calendar to Booking.com, Airbnb and the rest through the channel manager. You set them once. If you want, you set a different rate plan and restrictions per channel.
What the package includes (dinner, wine) you also describe in each channel's extranet, because every platform shows it in its own way. Many owners keep the full package only on their own website, with no commission, and offer the plain breakfast rate on the channels. For why that matters, see Bookings from your own website, with zero commission.
Step 6: The pre-arrival email
In the mountains in December a guest needs information they do not need in summer: whether they need snow chains, where to park if it snows, what time the festive dinner is and whether they should book a table. With the Email Manager you write a holiday template and set it to go out a few days before arrival. If you want it to reach only package bookings, you send it from the reservation itself: pick the template and the guest details are filled in for you.
A checklist for November
- Package dates and contents, written down.
- Package rate plan with extras, meal plan and validity.
- Minimum stay and closed to arrival or departure on the core nights.
- Cancellation policy with a deposit and a free-cancellation date.
- Check on the channels that the restrictions arrived.
- Holiday pre-arrival email.
- A calendar reminder for early December: check for gaps and relax the minimum stay.
Want to set up your holiday package together with us? Start the free 14-day demo with your own rooms at bookmatrix.com/demo, no card needed. Or leave your details at bookmatrix.com/form and we will call you on the next working day. You can also call us at +30 2351 151525.