As an accommodation owner, Gift Vouchers are one of the most powerful features you can have at your disposal. 

This feature supports your cash flow by securing you a sale now, for a booking in the future. The flexibility of voucher values also makes it a great opportunity to upsell to these guests when a voucher is redeemed. 

Now that you’ve enabled Gift Vouchers on the Inn Style Property Management System, it’s time to let people know about it. 

Marketing the sale of gift vouchers around a special occasion – like Christmas or Easter – makes this a perfect gift choice for customers who are looking for something different to spoil their loved ones (or even themselves!). 

If you’re looking for inspiration, here are some ideas for you to keep top of mind when promoting gift vouchers for your accommodation.

1. Offer a gift voucher to re-engage customers

Sending a customer a re-engagement email with a gift voucher offer is a good idea if they haven’t booked a reservation in a while. Be sure that the quantity you’re providing is realistic for your profit margins before deciding to do this in your business. You don’t want to overextend yourself and ultimately lose money.

2. Give a discount on gift voucher purchases (and create urgency!)

Often, businesses will promote gift cards by selling them at a discount. For example, you offer 20% off gift cards worth £50 or more. You are able to take a step further by adding a sense of urgency and a time-limited discount to encourage sales.

3. Offer a refer-a-friend reward

Need to build up your customer base? Consider offering an incentive for current customers who refer a friend to your store. For example, offer a £10 or a free night stay credit for both the customer and their friend when the friend becomes a staying guest. They also use that sense of urgency by placing a time limit on the credit so that the customer will urge the friend to book their stay.

4. Sell directly on your website.

To encourage your guests to take advantage of this feature and purchase a voucher for your accommodation, you need to give them eye-catching information about how it works.

Your guests will want to know how they can pay for it, how someone can redeem the voucher, and when the voucher expires. 

To make sure this information is easily accessible, you can:

• Make use of eye-catchers, through the IBE or
• Create a page on your website, or
• Publish a blog post with this important information

5. Give away a gift voucher on social media

Your gift card promotions don’t always have to be sent via email.

Use your social media platforms to encourage your audience to purchase gift vouchers and provide information about how they can safely make these purchases online. Inspire your guests by reminding them why a stay with you is one worth purchasing in advance. 

When you have your information set up on your website, make sure you share these links with your following and community online. 

Your guests – new or returning – won’t know about this feature unless you tell them about it. There are a number of platforms you can make use of to market your vouchers, including Facebook, Instagram and Google My Business. 

Please note that the ‘gift vouchers’ ONLY work for direct online reservations from your website. It DOES NOT apply to OTA channels that have their own settings. These will need be set up direct with Booking.com or Expedia themselves.

Any Questions?

If you are not yet an Inn Style customer and you would like some more information or would like to chat with one of our sales team members click here.

If you have any further questions, please do reach out to us via the chat facility within Inn Style or email team@innstyle.co.uk.