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How to increase revenues/occupancy in offseason?

General Hostel Operations

Lemon Tree started this discussion 14 years 11 months ago

Heya!

so far it is all just theoretical from my side (my hostel is not open yet) but I see that this point in business plan migh use some more brainstorming.
Hostel will be in Berlin, what's absolutely seasonal market. In summer there is basically no problem to fill up countless hostels in city but winter is tough for good 95% (apart New Year, of course). even big and/or famous hostels in Berlin are showing December occupancy rate sometimes even as little as 35%....

Apart seasonal pricing, what else could be done to increase hostel's occupancy during offseason? Here are some ideas of mine and i will be thankful for more :)

Would distributing flyers in airports be something to consider at all (in bad times you are ready to do nearly anything, right?) in such a big city with so many places to stay? would it attract guests? keeping in mind hostel would not do it in summer.

Thank you in advance :)

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uktrail

14 years

Certainly list all events in the city on your website, but I don't think further promotion is useful.

Let's think about this. If someone is planning a touring trip (say 28 days covering 6 countries) it's likely that they will have already decided on the dates for Berlin (+- 3 days) before they look at your hostel. Any events outside that period will be of no use to them. They just might change the dates to suit an event that you mention.

If someone is a big fan of, say, speedway racing, they will have looked for all such events in the country, or may even be planning their trip around such an event. So, for such a person, they will have decided they want to be in Berlin on specific dates before they start looking for where to stay. Your main job is therefore to attract them to your hostel RATHER THAN any others.

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Lemon Tree

14 years

If someone is planning a touring trip (say 28 days covering 6 countries) it's likely that they will have already decided on the dates for Berlin (+- 3 days) before they look at your hostel.

very true. and nothing i can do about it :) writing this point i was more thinking of weekend-travellers (there are enought cheap airlines reaching Berlin) who might make spontaneous decision of visiting if they see something appealing. but then again- how to make them LOOK at my hostel page first hands? .... :rolleyes:

Your main job is therefore to attract them to your hostel RATHER THAN any others.

excatly! what potion shall i feed them? :D (every hostel owner/manager would like to know this one, im sure) :)

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canhostel

14 years

You could also try to get specific groups in during the offseason. Could be working out a deal with a tour company for the accommodation portion while they organize the transportation for specific concerts or sports events in Berlin.
As an example, we are aligning ourselves with two indy music clubs that are within one block of the hostel. So far we have been getting the bands staying with us. But hopefully we will start getting out of towners following those bands staying with us. Side benefit is that if they enjoy their stay word of mouth promotion increases. We are also working hard on getting the budget travel tour groups to stay with us instead of the hotels. Students, price sensitive groups, sports groups, etc especially during the winter months. Pretty good success in our short 7 months open as we have already had a group of 70 stay with us as well as a couple of ESL schools from other cities that are now visiting us every couple of months.

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