by Ty Currie

Over the river and thru the woods, to Grandma's house we go...

The holiday season is upon us and time honored songs like the one above will be rolling off everyone's tongue as plans are made for the holidays. With today's economy, people will be traveling shorter distances. Families, who in the past have taken long vacations during the holidays, will be content to fall back to time honored traditions of hosting family gatherings.

Recently, a good friend of mine mentioned a family member who wanted to attend their family holiday gathering, but would not be able to attend since they couldn't find any rooms available at any of the hotels or motels in the area. "What about a bed and breakfast? Have you checked with any in the area?" The response was, "That's right, I didn't think about a bed and breakfast."

How often are potential guests unaware of the unique services you offer, not to mention the "home away from home" atmosphere found at your inn? Holidays offer a wonderful and classy opportunity for you to brand your inn with guests past and future, local and visiting.

Seasonal Ideas

A key to using the holidays effectively is to take time to list and think about what specific activities will be going on in your area. First, make a list of activities that will be coming up during the next couple of holidays. For example, the month of October is really the start of the winter holiday season. Corn mazes, spook alleys, haunted mansions, and murder mysteries have become popular in many areas. Hunting season is a time where men test themselves against the elements.

The month of November finds local theatres, schools, and communities who have planned performances extending into December. Does your community celebrate Sadie Hawkins Day, with blue grass music and apple cider? What about statehood parties? The "Friday after Thanksgiving Day" sale organized by malls and big box stores are common. I have friends whose wives plan a weekend away from the family to shop with sisters and mothers without the kids. The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade announces the arrival of Good Ole' St. Nick and the Christmas season. Are there parades scheduled in your area for the same reason?

The month of December engenders the spirit of giving. What a great time for gift certificates. Everyone is holiday shopping. Corporations and businesses are looking for ways to show appreciation to their employees for a job well done during the year. This could be in the form of a company Christmas party held at your inn or gift certificates for employees. Families will find ways to spend Christmas together. Why not make a "home away from home" available to them. Winter sports such as skiing, snowmobiling, and ice skating can provide fresh branding opportunities. Sleigh rides as well as hay rides to feed wild life (deer and elk) are also common.

How do you get noticed?

Holidays generally attract potential guests to your area. Grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, close friends and vendors all attend plays, concerts, charity events, craft shows, harvest festivals and other activities that are planned around the holiday season. Now that you've brainstormed and made your list of activities in and out of season, it's time to roll up your sleeves and get yourself noticed. Find the organizations in charge of these activities and offer your services to them. Participate in drawings and giveaways. See if they would be willing to let you put up a tasteful banner in the spirit of co-branding. Sometimes they might want to charge you a fee which often can be handled by using a little trade. Keep in mind it benefits both parties to brand with each other. If you start early enough and they do radio or TV advertisements, you might become a part of these ads at very little cost.

Another idea for the holidays is to become an attraction yourself. Put up a banner, hand out local flyers and open your doors to neighbors that can come by for a special holiday treat. Offer a drawing at the door. Just a little bit of work, a few flyers in the right neighborhoods and you could be looking at a prosperous holiday season and reservations throughout the year.

Realtors in my area sponsor a "Parade of Homes". Maps are made up, tickets are sold, and personalized tours of the homes are given. How great would it be to work with other inns in your area and sponsor a "Bed and Breakfasts Festival" during Christmas? Each inn can offer a unique treat.

Charities are very active during holidays and are always looking to brand with other organizations. Select a local charity and get involved with your community to raise money for them. You can offer tickets to tour your inn where for each tour taken you will make a small contribution to the charity. A good charity will be handing out these tickets like crazy, branding your inn's name in all their announcements and publications. While taking tours of your inn, encourage them to purchase special gift certificates that help out the charity. Give these visitors additional tickets during their tour for family and friends to further the good cause of your charity. Word of mouth is powerful. Those who tour the inn will recommend you to their family and friends.

Turn holidays on automatic.

Holiday seasons are busy for both you and your guests. Take some of the stress off by automating your holiday promotional ideas during your slower times. Plan out, create and put together your e-mail promotional strategies and then schedule them to go out automatically throughout the year.

We highly recommend using a next generation all-in-one solution like Reservation Nexus where you create e-mail promotions within the system and then schedule them to be sent at specific times during the year. Past and new guests that stay with you throughout the year automatically receive these promotions. Uploading your guests to another marketing system each month is time consuming and less effective, not to mention expensive.

Happy holidays to you.

We wish you luck and success with using holidays to better brand your inn. Feel free to give any of us Red Carpet Professionals a call if you have questions or need help brainstorming with your area, regardless of whether you are presently involved with Reservation Nexus. We'd be more than happy to help!