18.12.2025
Festive Hotel Marketing: How to Increase Revenue with Holiday Upsells
The holiday season is one of the busiest and most emotionally driven times for hotels. Guests aren’t simply looking for a place to sleep; they want mood, warmth, and small moments that make the trip feel special. For hotels, this opens a clear opportunity: to turn festive expectations into experiences that guests are happy to pay for.
When holiday upsells are done right, they don’t feel like sales at all. They feel like part of the stay. A decorated room, a celebratory dinner, a spa ritual after a long winter day, these details naturally enhance the guest experience. With tools like Hoteza, hotels can offer these extras in a simple, intuitive way, allowing guests to add them in seconds, without pressure or friction.
Let’s explore how hotels can make the most of the festive season through innovative marketing, personalization, and well-timed digital upsells.
Turn Your Hotel into a Holiday Destination
During the holidays, the most successful hotels stop thinking like accommodation providers and start acting like destinations. Guests are far more open to curated experiences at this time of year, especially when those experiences make planning easier rather than more complicated.
Festive marketing works best when it feels natural. Seasonal visuals, warm language, and clearly explained offers help guests picture themselves celebrating right where they are staying. Whether it’s a Christmas dinner, a New Year’s Eve party, or a quiet winter escape, the objective is the same: make staying at the hotel feel like the best option, not a compromise.
Create Festive Packages Guests Actually Want
Holiday packages are most effective when they solve a problem for the guest rather than offering a long list of add-ons; bundle experiences in a way that feels intentional and valuable.
For example, think along the lines of:
Accommodation + festive dinner
Room stay + spa ritual
New Year’s Eve stay + late check-out
These combinations reduce decision fatigue and increase perceived value. When promoted through in-room TV, guest apps, or tablets, they stay visible throughout the guest journey, not just at booking.
The key is timing. Guests should encounter these offers when they’re relaxed and open to upgrading their stay, not when they’re rushing through a booking form.
Personalization That Feels Natural, Not Pushy
Holiday campaigns work best when they feel personal rather than automated. Guests are much more likely to respond to something that feels relevant to them than to a generic seasonal offer sent to everyone.
Different guests value different things.
Couples often appreciate small romantic touches, like festive décor or a champagne welcome. Families tend to respond better to kid-friendly activities and holiday workshops. Solo travelers, on the other hand, may be drawn to wellness offers or quieter experiences.
Pre-arrival messages are a good way to introduce upgrades before guests arrive, while in-stay prompts can spark spontaneous decisions. A simple message like “Add festive décor to your room tonight” usually performs better than a broad holiday discount with no context.
When personalization is done thoughtfully, the result is straightforward: higher conversions and guests who feel seen rather than sold to.
One-Tap Upsells: Where Convenience Meets Revenue
Modern guests expect convenience. If an upsell requires a phone call or a visit to reception, many simply won’t bother.
One-tap upsells change that entirely.
Through guest apps, in-room tablets, or Hoteza TV, guests can add services instantly, from festive decorations to spa appointments. The process is intuitive, fast, and frictionless.
This ease encourages impulse purchases, especially during the holidays when guests are already in a celebratory mindset. More importantly, it enhances the experience rather than interrupting it.
Bring the Holidays to Life with Events
Seasonal events turn stays into stories guests remember.
Christmas dinners, live music evenings, children’s workshops, and New Year’s Eve galas create emotional anchors throughout the stay. These experiences also attract local guests, increasing F&B revenue and visibility beyond in-house guests.
Family-friendly programming is compelling. Activities like Santa visits or gingerbread workshops turn hotels into festive hubs and encourage repeat visits year after year.
For New Year’s Eve, a well-designed gala with dining, entertainment, and themed décor can position your hotel as the place to celebrate.
Use In-Room Screens as a Revenue Channel
The in-room TV is one of the most underutilized marketing tools in hotels.
With platforms like Hoteza TV, the welcome screen becomes a digital concierge. Personalized greetings, festive visuals, and short promo videos introduce guests to experiences they may not have considered otherwise.
Short, well-produced videos work exceptionally well for:
Holiday dinners
Spa rituals
Limited-time festive offers
Because guests engage with the TV in a relaxed, lean-back mode, they’re more receptive to inspiration, especially when offers are just one click away.
Timing Is Everything
A great offer delivered at the wrong moment won’t convert.
Effective holiday upselling follows the guest journey:
Before arrival: room upgrades, décor, welcome sets
During stay: dinners, spa treatments, events
Before departure: late check-out, farewell offers
Brilliant timing turns upsells into helpful suggestions rather than sales pitches. Technology makes this automation seamless and consistent, without adding to staff workload.
Gift Cards: A Simple Way to Extend Holiday Revenue
Gift cards are one of the most practical and often overlooked tools in a hotel’s holiday revenue strategy. They bring in upfront revenue, attract new guests, and, more often than not, lead to additional spending during the stay.
In our practice, guests rarely stop precisely at the card’s value. They book an upgraded room, add a dinner, or treat themselves to a spa treatment. Some cards aren’t redeemed at all, which quietly turns them into low-effort additional revenue.
To get the most out of gift cards, make them visible where your audience already is:
Holiday email campaigns
Corporate and team gifting
Loyalty and repeat-guest programs
Well-positioned gift cards help your hotel stay relevant long after the decorations come down and keep the festive season driving revenue well into the new year.
Make the Holidays Work for You
The holiday season isn’t about adding more decorations or running bigger discounts. It’s about creating moments that feel genuine and making them easy for guests to choose.
When offers are well-packaged, messaging feels personal, and digital tools remove friction, holiday demand naturally translates into results.
Our solutions help close the gap between a guest’s interest and action, allowing them to upgrade their stay without effort or awkward selling.
When it’s implemented correctly, festive marketing doesn’t feel like marketing at all.
It feels like good hospitality with a bit of extra holiday charm.
