All cards are on the table. What's your pick?
All cards are on the table. What's your pick?
Fewer guests, lower occupancy, and declining revenue: for many hotels, the off-season can feel like a tough spell. But what if these quieter weeks weren’t a standstill, but a strategic opportunity? This is where the shoulder season comes in.
These transitional periods between the bustling high season and the quiet low season often bring typical challenges: occupancy dips, direct bookings fall, and revenue pressure mounts. Yet, this exact phase gives hotels a chance to rethink established processes and explore untapped potential. Instead of just filling rooms with blanket discounts, you can target new audiences, strengthen personal guest relationships, and upskill your team.
This article shows you how to actively shape the hotel shoulder season not only to secure your occupancy rates but also to improve guest satisfaction and generate more long-term revenue.
The quieter months offer valuable resources that are often scarce during the hectic high season: time and flexibility. Those who use these wisely can strengthen their hotel business for the long haul.
While high-season prices are often rigid, the shoulder season allows for a more dynamic pricing strategy. Instead of offering blanket discounts that eat into your margins, you can create targeted packages. A wellness weekend for couples, a co-working offer for remote workers, or a gourmet package for food lovers appeal to specific interests and justify a higher price than a simple room-only rate. This way, you not only secure occupancy but also increase the TRevPAR (average total revenue per guest).
Fewer guests mean more time for each individual. During the hotel shoulder season, your team can offer a more personal service that guests will remember. Take time for a detailed chat at reception, give tailored recommendations for local experiences, or surprise returning guests with a personal touch. This stronger relationship leads to higher satisfaction, better reviews, and promotes loyalty. Happy guests come back and recommend your hotel to others – the best advertising you can get.
Use the lower occupancy to analyse and optimise internal workflows. Are there processes that could be automated? Where are the bottlenecks in internal communication? The shoulder season is the perfect time to implement new technologies, like a central communication platform, and provide intensive training for your team. Invest in upskilling, expand your employees’ skills, and introduce your teams to AI tools. A well-trained and motivated team is the key to excellent guest service and operational efficiency.
The shoulder season attracts different travellers than the high season. Instead of families with school-age children, you’ll find peace-seekers, couples, culture enthusiasts, or digital nomads. These groups have specific needs and are often more flexible with their travel plans. A shoulder season vacation can be very appealing to them. Create tailor-made offers that cater directly to these interests. A quiet workspace with stable Wi-Fi for remote workers or exclusive tours of local museums for culture fans will make your hotel particularly attractive during this period.
To fully exploit the potential of the shoulder season, you need a well-thought-out strategy. It’s not about filling beds by any means necessary, but about attracting the right guests at the right time with the right offer.
Move away from the “20% off everything” mentality. Instead, focus on dynamic pricing and value-based packages. Analyse your booking data and adjust rates flexibly according to demand. Offer attractive packages that include more than just the overnight stay, for example, “stay 3 nights, pay for 2” including dinner or a spa treatment. This increases the perceived value and prevents you from weakening your brand with cheap deals.
Don’t use a scattergun approach for your marketing messages. Segment your target audiences by interest and approach them with tailored campaigns. Create content that highlights the benefits of your hotel during the off-season: the peace, the empty beaches, the special atmosphere. Use social media, email marketing, and targeted ads to reach potential guests who are looking for exactly what you offer for their shoulder season travel.
Analyse your booking data to identify which guest types have booked during the hotel shoulder season in the past. Where did they come from? How long did they stay? Which offers did they use? These insights help you to recognise patterns and align future marketing activities more precisely. Identify returning guests and reward their loyalty with exclusive offers to encourage them to book again.
If demand isn’t high enough on its own, create it yourself. Organise your own events like cooking classes, wine tastings, or yoga retreats. Work with local partners to enrich your offering. A collaboration with a nearby theatre, a bicycle rental shop, or a local festival can create additional booking incentives and position your hotel as a central hub in the region.
Clearly communicate the benefits of booking direct on your website and in your marketing channels. Whether it’s a free room upgrade, a welcome drink, or simply the best price, give guests a good reason to book directly with you instead of through OTAs. Clear communication and a simple booking process are crucial to maximising the margin per booking.
One of the biggest opportunities during the shoulder season is to increase revenue per guest through targeted upselling and cross-selling. Automated guest communication plays a decisive role here. With an AI-powered platform like HiJiffy, you can proactively and personally address your guests without overburdening your team.
The key to successful upselling is the right timing. Send your guests automated messages with relevant offers even before they arrive. An upgrade to a higher room category, an offer for a late check-out, or the option to book a spa treatment in advance – all of this can be conveniently communicated via chat, email, or SMS. During their stay, you can point guests to the daily menu in the restaurant, available slots in the wellness area, or special activities.
Real-world examples:
Use the direct line to your guests. When a guest asks for activity recommendations in the chat, HiJiffy’s AI-powered assistant can provide not just general tips but also specifically point to your seasonal packages or collaborations. This turns a simple question into a concrete booking opportunity.
Example:
An excellent guest experience is the best way to build loyalty. In the shoulder season, you have the chance to shine with proactive and efficient communication.
Guests appreciate quick and straightforward help. With a central communication platform like HiJiffy, inquiries from various channels (website chat, WhatsApp, social media) can be consolidated and answered efficiently. The AI assistant handles most standard queries around the clock, giving your team more time for complex issues.
Especially in the off-season when staffing levels may be lower, chatbots are a huge relief. They ensure that your guests don’t have to wait for an answer, even at night or on weekends. This builds trust and conveys a sense of excellent service.
Use automated surveys to collect valuable feedback after the stay. Ask specifically about satisfaction with your seasonal offers. This feedback is crucial for refining your strategy for the next hotel shoulder season and catering even better to your guests’ wishes.
Guests appreciate feeling well looked after. Proactive communication, such as a message with tips for local activities or a check-in to see if everything is okay, shows that you care about your guests. These small gestures make a difference and ensure that guests remember your hotel fondly.
The shoulder season is not a risk but a strategic window for growth. Hotels that actively shape this period can not only secure their occupancy and revenue but also deepen their relationships with guests and optimise internal processes for the next high season.
The key to success lies in a smart combination of targeted marketing, flexible pricing, and, above all, excellent guest communication. An AI-powered solution like HiJiffy is the ideal partner for this. It helps you automate communication, leverage upselling potential, and relieve your team, so you can focus on what matters most: creating unforgettable experiences for your guests.
Want to learn how HiJiffy can help your hotel make the most of the off-season? Discover how smart guest communication boosts revenue and satisfaction – book a free demo now.
Because it offers new opportunities: you can expand your target audiences, optimise processes, and build long-term guest loyalty, instead of just focusing on filling empty rooms.
Clearly communicate your benefits: best prices, extra perks, and more flexible terms. With HiJiffy, you can share these offers automatically and in a personalised way.
Through targeted upselling. Offers like room upgrades or spa treatments can be automatically communicated at the right time.
HiJiffy helps hotels actively use quieter periods with smart communication, leading to higher guest satisfaction and measurable additional revenue.
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Funding:
This project received funding from the European Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under Grant Contract No. 782509.
