With Mother’s Day coming up, many properties are enticing moms to stay and play (and brunch!) with special offerings. Like other popular holidays such as Easter, Black Friday, Christmas, and of course Father’s Day, it’s a great opportunity to generate attention and occupancy through value-added packages and activities. 

Packages

Value-added packages are about more than a simple discount. The question guests ask (and that you should be asking) is what are they getting in return for their money. What’s the bang for their buck? Be creative putting your components together to offer guests an exceptional experience in a convenient way and at an attractive price. 

This is a chance to showcase your property’s best assets. Why do your guests choose you? If you’re not sure, look at your reviews. A family-friendly lodge could offer arts and crafts, while a romantic-themed property could whip up a tray of chocolate strawberries. Consider partnerships with other local businesses serving a similar target market to create unique offerings and take advantage of cross-marketing opportunities. 

These value-added packages boost ancillary sales, increase direct bookings, and draw in target guest segments. Consider your guest segments carefully when designing packages. Not all moms are the same!

In addition, consider setting package restrictions to maximize profit—for instance, limiting the package to specific room types, restricting dates, and applying LOS (length-of-stay) requirements and rate-specific cancellation and guarantee policies. Pro tip: Only make the package available on your own website to increase direct bookings. 

Use a flexible property management system like WebRezPro that allows guests to select packages and other add-ons when they book and enables you to post revenue from ancillary package components and add-ons to the appropriate revenue accounts. You can also restrict access to packages—for example, to your loyalty members only—by creating password-protected rates.

Activities

Not everyone is ready to splurge on a staycation yet, and that’s okay. You can still draw locals in the door with events and activities. Mother’s Day brunch is classic for a reason. Who could turn down your delicious eggs Benedict? If you have a spa, mom can spend the day there being pampered, with a few friends, while dad takes care of the kids. 

You can also stray from the classics and go with what’s unique to your hotel. Are the woods nearby? Try a guided hike or forest bath (despite how this sounds, this doesn’t actually involve soap and towels). 

In addition to the ancillary revenue they bring in, these activities build trust between you and your guests so that they choose you when they decide to splurge on a stay.

Marketing

Make sure to let your guests know about special activities and packages long before the date. They should be advertised across your website, social media, mailing lists, printed materials, etc. If your property attracts a lot of families, this is an especially important guest segment to notify. Hint: Try a Google Display Campaign. Available in Google Ads, these campaigns enable you to choose your optimal location and audience.

Packages should be easy for guests to find on your website; don’t hide them under three different sub-pages. Show them off on your homepage and booking engine as well as your packages page. A pop-up or promotional banner can work well here. (And double check that the links do work!). Use a call-to-action to tell guests exactly what you want them to do next and where they should click. 

Impose a deadline; these packages aren’t special if they’re available all the time. A deadline increases your guest’s sense of urgency and FOMO (fear of missing out) in addition to making the organizational side of things run smoothly. It’s much easier to plan if you know how many people are showing up. 

Analysis 

Analyze how well your packages, activities, and marketing campaigns perform so that you know what to tweak next year. Set goals and compare your results across different channels. Use WebRezPro’s marketing and source codes to tell you where bookings originated. 

Holidays like Mother’s Day are an excellent opportunity to reach out to new guests and invite them to celebrate with you. With flexible rate management tools, you can design and manage creative packages guests can’t resist to achieve your revenue goals. 

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published May 2017 and last updated April 2024.