The quiet months are not when the bookings stop; they are when the next season's bookings are won or lost. The operators who come out of winter with a full calendar did five unglamorous things on a schedule. Here they are, with a 90-day calendar and the tools that make them routine instead of heroic.
Updated 6 min read
Book a demoStart free, 30 daysA gift card is a booking that pays in December for a trip in June. It is also the easiest sale you will make all year, because the buyer is not the person who has to find a free weekend; they are a spouse, parent or friend who already knows the recipient wants to go. The window is short: most gift-card revenue lands in the three weeks before the 25th, with a second, smaller wave around Father's Day.
In Treka, gift cards are sold from your own site, paid through the same checkout as trips, and redeemed by code at booking; the balance tracks itself.
A discount for booking early is not generosity; it is buying certainty. A deposit taken in February for July is money in the bank, a date you no longer have to sell, and a guest who will tell their friends. The discount only needs to be large enough to move the decision forward: 10% off, or a free upgrade such as lunch or a longer day, is usually plenty. Set a hard end date (bookings made by 1 March, say) and keep it; an early-bird price that is still available in May teaches your guests to wait.
Multi-trip pricing works on your best customers. A three-day pass priced a little under three single days, or a season price for the regular who comes monthly, turns one decision into several bookings. Price it on the trip and change the price when the window closes; a published schedule of prices is better than a code that people forget to use.
The cheapest booking you will ever get is from someone who already came. They know the drive, they know the guide, and they had a good day. Most of them do not book again for one reason: nobody asked. One email in the off-season, written by you rather than by a template, does more than any advertising you can buy.
Everyone who booked in the last two seasons, with the trip they took and the month they came. If your bookings live in a spreadsheet, this is the moment to move them into a client list.
What the season looked like, what is new for next year (a new stretch of water, a new trip, a second boat), when dates open, and one clear ask: book early and here is the early-bird price. Three short paragraphs. No stock photos.
Guests who came in spring get the spring dates; guests who took the full day get the multi-day offer. Two or three versions, not twenty.
The second email goes to people who did not open the first, with a different subject line. That is the whole campaign.
Treka keeps the client list from your bookings and sends email campaigns to it, so the list is already there when you want to write the email.
Reviews are written in the days after the trip or not at all. An operator who asks every guest, automatically, a day or two after they get home, ends the season with a page of recent reviews; the one who means to ask ends it with the three from two years ago. Reviews earned in September are what a stranger reads in February when they are deciding who to book, which makes them slow-season marketing even though the work happens in the busy months. Treka sends a review request after each trip and shows the reviews on your site.
The fly shop, the lodge, the brewery and the hotel concierge all talk to your guests before you do. Give each of them something simple to hand over: a card with a code, a gift card they can sell on your behalf, or a referral link that credits them. Visit in person in the off-season when they have time to talk, and come back in spring with a stack of cards. A corporate client or two, a half day for a team or a client outing, can also anchor a weekday in the shoulder season that would otherwise sit empty.
| When | Do | Why then |
|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1 to 2 (season ends) | Review requests to every guest from the last month; export or tidy the client list | Reviews are written within days of the trip; the list is needed for everything below |
| Weeks 3 to 4 | Set next season's trips, prices and early-bird end date; update the website | You cannot sell dates that do not exist |
| Weeks 5 to 6 (mid-November) | Gift cards live in the navigation; first email to past guests: thanks, what's new, gift cards | The holiday window opens |
| Weeks 7 to 8 (December) | Second gift-card email to non-openers; visit the shop, lodge and hotel partners | Peak gift buying; partners are quiet enough to talk |
| Weeks 9 to 10 (January) | Dates open; early-bird email to past guests, segmented by what they booked | New-year planning; people book the trips they promised themselves |
| Weeks 11 to 13 (February) | Reminder email before the early-bird deadline; call the handful of best customers | A deadline only works if you remind people of it |
Three numbers tell you whether the winter worked: deposits taken before the season opens, the share of bookings from returning guests, and gift-card sales. Write them down this year, even roughly, so next year has something to beat. Operators who do this for two winters stop dreading the slow months, because the slow months are where the season is booked.
FAQ
Something else? Ask the people who build it.
Enough to move the decision forward, no more. Ten percent, or an upgrade such as lunch or an extra hour, is usually plenty when it comes with a firm deadline. Larger discounts train your guests to wait for them and cut into margins on your best dates.
Not if it is one or two emails a year, from you, with news they care about and a reason to book now. The guests who had a good day want to hear from you. Keep an unsubscribe link on every email and respect it.
Then this winter's job is to build the list. Collect an email at every booking from now on, ask every guest for a review, and put gift cards in front of the few guests you do have; a small list that books is worth more than a large one that does not.
Only after the five things above are done, because they are cheaper and convert better. Paid campaigns work best when they send people to a site with recent reviews, clear prices and a booking button, which is what the off-season work produces.
A sold card is a liability until it is redeemed, and states differ on what happens to balances that are never used. Ask your accountant how to carry them and whether your state has escheatment rules; keep a clean list of outstanding balances either way.
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Treka sells gift cards from your site, keeps the client list from your bookings, sends your campaigns to it, and asks every guest for a review after the trip. See it on your own operation.
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