Luxury hotels are perfectly positioned to fulfil this retail opportunity with gift vouchers for indulgent spa days and exquisite dining experiences, in return boosting their revenue and keeping their brand front of mind.
Size of the prize
Gift vouchers are big business. In the UK alone, gift cards and vouchers are worth £7 billion each year (KPMG, 2023). That tells us that people crave experiences. And while they cannot wrap up an executive chef or spa therapist for their loved one this Mother’s Day, they can share the next best thing: a gift voucher.
From a hotelier’s perspective, vouchers can build brand awareness by introducing new customers to the business, with the buyer acting as an endorsement of the product or service.
Gift vouchers also improve cash flow as they are shoppable 24/7, and have been found to encourage additional spend, with 67% of recipients spending more than the card value - at an average of 35% over the value - when redeeming their gift.
The opportune moment
Looking at 2023 data from the UK’s number one ecommerce platform used by over 350 hotels, there is a clear spike in gift voucher sales in the run-up to Mother’s Day - starting around two weeks before and peaking the day before. So, now’s the best time to ensure your vouchers are shoppable both online and offline.
Give the gift of choice
Monetary and afternoon tea gift vouchers tend to be the most popular options to buy. However, the spa and wellness sector has seen a significant 23% growth in vouchers in the last two years, so it’s another great option for increasing revenue.
Offering treatments and spa days with different price points means spas can target a wider audience. Hotels offering a ‘Spa Morning’, a ’45-Minute Facial’ or similar vouchers drive accessibility. In fact, the average price of a spa voucher on our ecommerce platform is £55.
But while pampering and dining are often associated with Mother’s Day offers, hotels should be encouraged to think outside the box. This is the perfect time to promote services which are operationally preferred, highly profitable, or encourage footfall in areas that need a boost. This could be cocktail-making classes, movie nights or even photography sessions.
Digital & physical
When it comes to receiving a gift this Mother’s Day, good voucher platforms should be able to offer all fulfilment options (email, delivery or collection).
High-end five-star destination hotels continue to see robust customer demand for physical gift vouchers. However, research shows that 66% of consumers are choosing to send digital vouchers. This is being directly echoed in email being the most popular redemption method for most hotels, making it important for hotels to cater for a range of preferences.
Tips & tricks
Understanding the power of retailing Mother’s Day vouchers is one thing but actioning insights is another. Here are four tips and tricks to increase gift voucher revenue this February and March.
Reflect your brand: First impressions are important. If the voucher doesn’t look interesting or appealing, your customers aren’t likely to click through the website and make a purchase. Listings need to have a unique and special feel to them, with a clear name, high-quality imagery and an enticing description.
Our ecommerce platform’s vouchers module allows you to fully customise voucher listings, so hotels can put their best foot forward when representing their offerings online.
Allow customisation: Brand recognition is key for creating customer loyalty and trust. So, a voucher platform must offer the ability to add brand colours, logos and fonts to create a seamless extension to the hotel’s main website.
Gifting from the customer's perspective should be equally as personal and customisable. They should be able to tailor their purchase with a personal note, and choice of packaging and delivery method.
With Journey, hotels can manage all of this and more, all from one platform.
Location, location, location: Customers can only purchase vouchers if they can locate them. It’s no use having a link hidden away at the bottom of a menu. Call-to-action links should be visible with vouchers organised into categories. The fewer clicks a customer must make, the higher the conversion rate.
Sopwell House has been with Journey since 2019 and is a great example of vouchers done well. It signposts gift vouchers on the hotel’s homepage and spotlights them with Journey’s ‘Trending now’ tool. These strategies have made sales boom, with over £1.6m created in voucher sales alone a year on average.
Market Mother’s Day vouchers: Promoting voucher offerings through pop-ups, banners, email campaigns and social media ads can also be beneficial. These can be paired with promotional codes to boost sales for a specific timeframe.
Journey’s marketing campaign tool enables hotels to segment their data and drive direct messaging at the time they choose. Plus, analytics are available from the same platform to help direct future strategies.
Don’t do it alone
Great tips are only effective when implemented by great tech. Journey’s voucher module on the ecommerce platform has been created by a team of hotel experts, backed by over a decade’s experience.
Expect easy integration onto your website, with simple integrations and a fully equipped backend, including a comprehensive marketing suite. Receive dedicated support and real-time data dashboards with insights. And, provide your customers with an easy-to-use, fully branded online store to purchase gift vouchers safely and securely, anytime, from anywhere, in any format.
