Sell Christmas and New Year Hotel Packages Direct
Festive Guests Book the Occasion, Not the Room
Guests planning Christmas or New Year away are rarely shopping for a bed. They are booking a celebration: the dinner, the welcome drink, the late breakfast on New Year's Day, the feeling that everything has been arranged. That makes festive stays some of the easiest to package and some of the most valuable to win direct.
This year Christmas Day falls on a Friday and New Year's Day on the following Friday, which turns both into natural long weekends. Many guests will be deciding where to spend them over the coming weeks, so the time to put your Christmas and New Year hotel packages in front of them is now.
Why Packages Belong on Your Own Website
A package is hard to compare like for like. When a guest sees a room rate on several channels, the cheapest visible price usually wins. When they see a festive break that includes dinner, entertainment and a late checkout, the offer is unique to you and the natural place to book it is your own website.
Packages protect your rate
Bundling the room with food, drink and experiences lets you present a complete price rather than a bare room rate. Guests judge the value of the whole stay, which keeps your headline rates intact.
Packages raise the value of each booking
A festive guest is already in the mood to spend. Including the extras they would buy anyway, such as dinner on Christmas Eve or a New Year's Eve party ticket, captures that spend at the moment of booking rather than leaving it to chance during the stay.
Building Festive Packages Guests Want
| Package | What to include | Who it suits | |---|---|---| | Christmas break | Two or three nights, Christmas Day lunch, Christmas Eve dinner | Couples and families avoiding the cooking | | New Year's Eve celebration | Gala dinner or party, late checkout on 1 January, brunch | Couples and groups of friends | | Twixmas escape | Midweek nights between Christmas and New Year, spa or activity credit | Guests with time off and nowhere to be | | Family festive stay | Interconnecting rooms, children's activities, a visit from Santa | Families with young children | | Festive dining and stay | Dinner for two plus one night, booked for any December date | Locals and short notice buyers |
Keep each package simple to understand: which nights are included, what the price covers, the cancellation terms and any minimum stay. Clear conditions reduce enquiries and help guests commit.
Pricing Festive Packages With Care
Festive dates sell on their own in many locations, so the goal is not to discount but to present the full value of the stay. Price the package so the extras feel generous, and avoid undercutting yourself on the nights that would fill at full rate anyway.
Use minimum stays where demand allows
On the busiest nights, such as New Year's Eve, a minimum stay protects you from selling a single high demand night that blocks a longer booking. Where demand is softer, a shorter stay with added value may convert better.
Keep your rate position consistent
Check that the room only rate on other channels does not make your package look expensive by comparison. Guests compare, and the package should always read as the better deal when booked direct.
Make Packages Easy to Find and Book
A great festive offer only works if guests can find it in a couple of clicks.
Give the season its own page
Create a festive landing page that lists every package, with clear photography, dates and prices, and link to it from your homepage, your emails and your social channels.
Show packages in the booking engine
The package should appear in the booking engine with its inclusions spelled out, not hidden behind a rate code. A booking engine built for direct sales, such as the Bookassist Booking Engine, helps you present packages alongside rooms and keep the checkout simple when festive demand peaks.
Offer vouchers for those buying for others
Many festive stays are bought as gifts. Selling a package as a gift voucher brings in revenue now and introduces a new guest next year, as we explained in our guide to Christmas gift voucher campaigns.
Tell Your Past Guests First
Your previous festive guests and newsletter subscribers are the people most likely to book again. Send them the packages before you promote them more widely, and give them a reason to act, such as first choice of dates or an added extra for booking direct. Follow up with a reminder as availability narrows.
Check Your Direct Booking Readiness
Before festive demand arrives, run the free Direct Booking Health Score audit to see how well your website and booking journey present your packages. It takes a few minutes and shows where guests might leave for an OTA just as they are ready to book.
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