The low season is not filled in the low season. It is filled months before, when the dates first open and the first guests start looking. By the time a quiet month is two weeks away, few options are left: a discount, or empty rooms.
Here is what works, in the order we do it.
1. Open the Low Season Early, at a Competitive Price
Rates and availability for the low season should be live at least six months ahead, on your website and on every channel. Early planners, tour operators and group organisers can only book dates they can see. Booking.com lets you load dates up to 24 months ahead (see Booking.com Ranking).
Live is not enough. The price has to be competitive for the season: check what similar properties charge for the same dates, and price for the demand those months really have. A rate loaded long ago for a busier season keeps guests away. We saw it in Porto, where winter rates set for more demand than the city has in those months left the season almost empty on the books, until they were corrected (see A Porto Winter).
2. Find the Peaks Inside the Low Season
The low season is rarely low every night. Fairs, congresses, concerts, sports events, long weekends and school holidays in your main source markets create single dates with strong demand. Go through the next six months date by date and price those dates up. A congress night sold at the low-season rate is money given away.
Then check again every month. New events keep appearing, and a date that suddenly fills faster than last year is telling you something.
3. Targeted Promotions, Not Blanket Discounts
A discount on every date teaches guests to wait for the sale, and it gives money away on nights that would have sold anyway. Aim each promotion instead:
- at the dates that need it, with a clear end date
- at the markets that travel in those months
- at longer stays: three nights or more, a better price per night
- at early bookers, for dates far ahead
Then check what each one really costs. Promotions and OTA programmes stacked on top of each other can push the commission far above what you think you pay. Judge each promotion by the net revenue it brings, not by the number of bookings (see Net Revenue vs Gross Revenue).
4. Bring Back Your Past Guests
Guests who stayed with you once are the cheapest guests to win again, and they can book with you directly. The low season is the time to invite them:
- an email to past guests who agreed to hear from you, with dates and an offer just for them
- a returning-guest rate on your own website
- a reason to come back: a package, an event, a quieter and better-value stay
In the EU, Booking.com can no longer stop you from offering a lower price on your own website (Digital Markets Act, since November 2024). Use that for the guests who already know you. Build the list all year: ask for consent at check-in and when guests book on your website.
5. Invite Long-Stay Guests
Weekly and monthly stays fill many nights with one booking: project teams, remote workers, people moving to the area. They can only book you if three things are in place:
- The rates are live. Weekly and monthly prices loaded in your channel manager and mapped to every channel, not only promised in an email.
- The rates are offered. Visible on your website and in your listings. Booking.com supports weekly (7 nights or more) and monthly (28 nights or more) rate plans, and Airbnb has weekly and monthly discounts.
- The long-stay channels are live. The platforms long-stay guests use in your market, connected and bookable.
Open them for the low season, and keep them closed on your peak dates, so a long stay does not take your best nights at the lowest price.
6. Prepare a Corporate Strategy, if It Fits
Business travel does not follow the holiday calendar. Projects, training, audits and visiting teams carry on when leisure guests stay home. If there are companies near you, a negotiated rate for the quieter months, with your peak dates excluded, fills weekdays without giving away the high season.
Review the accounts once a year: grow the ones that book your weak nights, and drop the ones that only want your strong ones. More in Corporate Accounts: Which to Grow and Which to Drop, and on our Sales & Corporate Strategy page.
7. Convert Your Group Requests
Groups are most welcome in the low season: they push out few individual guests, so the price can work for both sides (see Displacement). But a request is not a booking. To convert more of them:
- Answer the same day, with a complete quote: rooms, rates, what is included, payment and cancellation terms (see Group Quotes).
- Offer alternatives: the dates either side, another room mix.
- Set a clear option date, and follow up every open quote before it runs out.
- Go and find them: sports teams, choirs, schools, tour operators, training courses, weddings out of season.
Our Low-Season Calendar
| When | What |
|---|---|
| 12 to 6 months ahead | Rates and availability live and competitive; peak dates found and priced up; long-stay rates live; corporate rates agreed |
| 6 to 3 months ahead | Targeted promotions on slow dates; email to past guests; group quotes sent and followed up |
| Every month | Events checked again; promotions judged by net revenue |
| Every week | Pace against last year and forecast; slow and fast dates repriced |
Every week, compare what is on the books for each low-season month with last year and with your forecast (see Pickup, Pace and Forecast). Slow dates get action the same week: a targeted offer, a new channel, a sales call. Dates that fill fast get a higher price.
The low season will never look like the high season. But it does not have to be empty, and it does not have to be cheap. More ways to fill the right nights: How to Increase Hotel Occupancy Without Cutting Your Prices.
We plan the low season with every property in our Revenue & Pricing Management. Want a second pair of eyes on yours? Book a free Performance Assessment Call.