How to Keep Up With Event-driven Travel As an Independent Hotelier

Travelers don’t just book hotels for vacations or business trips, they also travel for concerts, conferences, sporting events, and festivals.

These occasions create a surge in demand, and hoteliers who anticipate and prepare for them with the right room pricing, can unlock significant revenue potential.

Understanding the impact of these specific events on the hospitality industry allows you to optimize your pricing, tailor guest experiences, and stand out from competitors who may not be as strategic.

By taking a proactive approach, you can ensure your hotel is filling hotel rooms and also delivering value to guests, who may become loyal customers or positively review and recommend your property to fellow travelers.

Let’s explore how you can capitalize on event-driven travel in your market and maximize your success.

What is event-driven travel?

You have probably noticed an almost endless number of articles about pop stars like Taylor Swift going on her Eras world tour and selling out all accommodations in the areas they play, or the impact of the Paris Olympics on the hotel pricing in France’s capital.

There is an established relationship between cultural events and hotel performance in the areas they are held. When there are large-scale events taking place, a vast number of people will be looking for accommodation to avoid having a long drive home. Event-driven travel is mainly characterized by a short length of stay and group reservations.

As the demand for accommodation rises, it drives up bookings, occupancy rates and ultimately room prices. There are usually three types of events that create this increased demand:

1. Major events planned far in advance (eg. Olympic games, World Expo…)

2. Recurring events with established popularity (eg. Tomorrowland, Coachella, Football matches…)

3. One-off events with a lot of buzz (eg. Taylor Swift tour, Adele tour…)

Events like the above can generate a lot more bookings and therefore revenue for your accommodation, but only if you’re prepared for them.

If you are not aware of what events are happening in your area or don’t have the ability to monitor market prices, you might get overwhelmed with last-minute bookings or a sudden influx of guests.

For an independent hotelier already juggling countless tasks, this can quickly get overwhelming. That’s why preparation is key to make the most of events in your market.

During periods of high demand, it is crucial to adjust your prices accordingly, so you don’t overprice or underprice your hotel rooms, because both will result in less revenue. Look at how your competitors in the area are pricing similar room types and use this as a guideline.

It’s important not to undercut competitors just to fill rooms, but instead to improve your offering with added value. Underselling rooms hurts your bottom line, so try to keep the balance between competing with other hotels and ensuring your guests are satisfied. As there is heightened demand during events, you can afford to advertise higher prices than usual, as long as you don’t hurt your reputation with excessive room prices.

The real question is: how do you know which events are happening in your area and how can you prepare for them?

There are a few ways to stay informed about local events and find out which ones are worth your attention:

1. Research which events are happening in your area. There are multiple ways to find them: Google and ChatGPT are good places to start. Then, you can also look up event calendars for your area, scan social media for events nearby, follow local news publishers for bigger events …

2. Networking with other hoteliers in your area and getting to know which events have a big impact on their bookings and revenue.

3. If you find an event calendar online for events in the area, look them up on social media to see how much buzz there is about them.

   • Is the event trending?

   • Are people posting about it?

   • Are other hospitality professionals talking about it?

   • What is the level of engagement and interest?

4. Lastly, it may prove insightful to ask your guests why they booked their stay with you.

   • Was there an influence of proximity to an event?

   • Did you offer the best price for a short stay?

   • Were there amenities that convinced them to finalize their booking?

Their feedback can help you determine which events are important for your accommodation and how to leverage them.

The importance of leveraging event-driven travel in your area

Event-driven travel isn’t just about a temporary spike in bookings, it’s a powerful strategy that can significantly impact your hotel’s revenue and reputation.

Major events in your area attract a high number of travelers, presenting a prime opportunity to maximize your revenue.

The benefits of event-driven travel will be most visible in your bottom line. You can see an increase in occupancy rate, average daily rate and extra revenue from services and amenities. As mentioned earlier, hoteliers who are unprepared may find themselves overwhelmed by a surge in bookings, making it difficult to deliver the high-quality guest experience they offer during lower-demand periods. Additionally, without proper awareness, they risk missing out on optimal pricing opportunities, leaving potential revenue on the table.

This hurts your reputation and bottom line in the long run.

Knowing which events are happening is crucial for your business and reputation. Guests will expect that you are aware of what is happening in your market and might even want recommendations on traveling to venues or event locations. Going the extra mile by providing them with this extra information can only enhance their experience and increase the chance of them returning or recommending your accommodation.

But how do you measure the actual impact of event-driven travel on your business? You will likely notice a higher occupancy rate, but there are other factors that you can look at to see the full effects and adapt your strategy to be more effective for future events.

1. Booking analysis

   Do you see patterns emerge from your bookings? Focus on which type of guest has booked during the event, their average length of stay, additional amenities they choose, and whether they request early check-in or late check-out. This provides valuable insight into how you can adapt your strategy to better accommodate and attract similar guests in the future.

   For example: If there were a lot of guests who requested late check-out, it might be enticing to add this as an extra perk during another surge of event-driven travel. Make sure your guests want to book directly through your website by giving them extras they might appreciate whilst keeping your pricing reasonable to protect your bottom line.

2. Guest reviews

   Ask your guests for feedback on their stay. What would have made their stay better, what made them decide to book with you, how likely are they to return, did the event influence their decision-making process?

   These are all important insights you can use to improve your strategy. Based on that feedback, you can refine your strategy and use more appropriate marketing efforts next time.

To reap the rewards of event-driven travel, you must be prepared and have a well-thought–out pricing and marketing strategy. This doesn’t need to take up hours of extra time in your already considerable workload. There are multiple tools that can integrate seamlessly with your existing tech stack and take care of your pricing strategy research for you, like Lighthouse’s Pricing Manager.

These pricing tools take into account market data, your occupancy rate, events and even your selected competitors. They give you optimal pricing recommendations, so you don’t have to spend hours on manual pricing analysis and instead can provide the influx of event-driven guests with the best possible stay.

Strategies to maximize your profit from event-driven travel

To make the most of event-driven travel, you need a strategic approach that goes beyond simply trying to accommodate more guests.

From offering tailored packages to leveraging dynamic pricing and staying ahead of market trends, there are several ways to increase profitability. This section explores key strategies to help you optimize revenue, enhance guest experiences, and ensure your hotel is fully prepared to capitalize on high-demand periods.

Here are three worthwhile strategies that can increase your revenue during event-driven guest surges:

1. Offering packages and extras

   Because you are already competing on price with other local hotels, you need an extra incentive for your potential guests to choose your accommodation.

   Why would a guest choose your hotel and not a competitor’s? Maybe because you don’t charge extra for late check-out during this event, or because you partnered up with a local cab company that drives to and from the event location.

   You can take this as far as you can go and even upsell special, limited-edition packages like a Taylor Swift themed luxury breakfast.

2. Differentiate from competitors

   Simply offering different packages and extras might not be enough for travelers to choose your hotel, so how else can you set yourself apart from competitors?

   Consider your unique selling points. What is your accommodation known or consistently praised for? What are the most common reasons guests book with you?

   These are all factors that increase the possibility of travelers choosing to stay with you instead of another hotel. Leverage these on your website, social media, OTAs via eye-catching pictures and create the image your target market is looking for.

3. Dynamic pricing

   Static pricing won’t maximize your revenue during event-driven travel surges.

   Instead, dynamic pricing allows you to adjust rates based on demand, competitor pricing, and market trends. Utilizing pricing intelligence tools helps you set optimal rates, ensuring you capture peak revenue during high-demand periods while remaining competitive.

   Recognizing booking patterns is also key, if guests tend to book early, offering early-bird discounts can secure revenue in advance, while last-minute surge pricing can capitalize on late demand. By implementing a data-driven pricing strategy, you can optimize profitability without deterring potential guests.

Along with the strategies above, you can make sure your property is ready to welcome a large number of guests, by:

• Partnering with local businesses
  Partner with local event organizers to be featured as a recommended hotel. Do the same with taxi services to take your guests to and from the events and work with local bakeries for special breakfast or on-the-go lunch packages.

• Managing your property correctly
  Make sure your whole team is aware of how you will conduct the planning for event days, so everything runs smoothly. Plan the days perfectly to avoid running into staffing shortages during those high-demand days.

  Make sure you can add last-minute extras or packages to reservations, all the rooms are cleaned in time so guests can check in early and there is a designated area for luggage storage if guests request it.

• Implementing feedback mechanisms
  Ask your guests to provide feedback on their stay via an online tool or form. It’s crucial to know where you can make improvements and what is already working well for your team and your guests.

Successfully capitalizing on event-driven travel requires more than just filling hotel rooms. It demands a strategic approach that enhances guest experience while maximizing revenue.

By offering unique packages and extras, highlighting your competitive advantages, and implementing dynamic pricing, you can attract more bookings and increase profitability during high-demand periods.

Beyond these strategies, it’s worthwhile to ensure your hotel operations are well-prepared. Partnerships with local businesses, streamlining property management, and gathering guest feedback can help refine your approach and improve future event-driven stays.

By continuously adapting and optimizing, you will not only increase revenue but also build lasting guest relationships, turning event attendees into potential repeat visitors.

How Lighthouse can assist you in taking full advantage of event-driven travel

Managing your room pricing during event-driven demand surges can be challenging, especially for independent hoteliers who are balancing multiple responsibilities. Setting the right room rates at the right time is crucial to maximizing revenue without risking lost bookings or undervaluing your rooms.

The Lighthouse platform for independent and smaller hotels simplifies this process by automatically adjusting your rates across all your booking channels based on real-time market data and upcoming events, occupancy rates, and competitor pricing. Instead of manually researching trends and making pricing decisions on the fly, you can rely on smart, data-driven recommendations to keep your pricing competitive and profitable.

Event-driven travel presents a unique opportunity for independent hoteliers to boost revenue and build long-term guest relationships. With Lighthouse’s Pricing Manager and Channel Manager, you can automate pricing adjustments on all connected channels, optimize revenue, and focus on delivering an exceptional guest experience without adding to your workload.

About Lighthouse

Lighthouse (formerly OTA Insight) is the leading commercial platform for the travel & hospitality industry. We transform complexity into confidence by providing actionable market insights, business intelligence, and pricing tools that maximize revenue growth. We continually innovate to deliver the best platform for hospitality professionals to price more effectively, measure performance more efficiently, and understand the market in new ways.

Trusted by over 65,000 hotels in 185 countries, Lighthouse is the only solution that provides real-time hotel and short-term rental data in a single platform. We strive to deliver the best possible experience with unmatched customer service. We consider our clients as true partners – their success is our success.