Special occasion booking: What hoteliers need to know

We’ve all received messages like this. These invitations detail the ceremony and reception locations, along with accommodation options that can sometimes be chaotic or poorly thought out.

But only those of us in the hospitality industry are likely to notice any missed opportunities from a hotelier’s perspective.

And missed opportunities they so often are.

Coordinating accommodation for special occasions can be a big challenge for both organizers and hotels managing block bookings. But when done right, you’ll delight your customers and turn chaos into opportunity.

Whether for weddings, birthdays, conferences or other big days, this blog post outlines the practical steps to maximize revenue when accommodating special occasions.

How special occasions impact hotel bookings

Special occasions are critical opportunities for hotels to generate revenue, but they can also be unpredictable. A well-executed event can boost bookings and ancillary sales. However, it’s not always a guaranteed revenue stream due to factors like last-minute cancellations or unmet booking thresholds.

Still, these occasions are particularly valuable during your low seasons, offering a way to capitalize on demand that might otherwise be absent, and stabilize occupancy and revenue in off-peak periods. 

Additionally, special occasions can often bring you groups of guests who are likely to use other hotel amenities, such as dining, bars and spa services, amplifying their overall financial impact.

Handling bookings for special occasions often requires significantly more effort compared to standard reservations.

Therefore, you must coordinate closely with event planners to ensure room blocks are managed effectively, event spaces meet expectations and all your guests’ needs are anticipated and addressed. 

The planning process may involve adjusting room layouts, tailoring menus and arranging custom experiences. Ensuring seamless service is vital to meeting the high expectations of special occasion guests, whose satisfaction often hinges on attention to detail.

Despite the extra workload, the payoff can be substantial. A well-managed event not only generates immediate revenue but can also result in glowing reviews, repeat business and referrals. 

Furthermore, successful events help strengthen your hotel's brand reputation, positioning you as a preferred venue for future occasions. This reputation can have a ripple effect, attracting more group bookings and long-term business opportunities.

Special occasions offer a prime opportunity to tap into the local market and establish your hotel as a go-to partner for community events.

By working with local businesses, event planners and vendors, you can position yourself as integral to the local event ecosystem.

For instance, hosting charity galas, local festivals or regional business conferences not only attracts attendees but also fosters relationships with key stakeholders in your area.

Becoming a trusted venue for local events also builds brand loyalty within the community. Guests who attend local events at the property are more likely to consider it for personal celebrations or recommend it to others.

Over time, this can lead to a steady pipeline of special occasion bookings, even during periods when broader demand may be inconsistent.

What are the most popular special occasions for hotel bookings?

There’s no limit to the list of special occasions you might be asked to accommodate or proactively promote through special packages. Some will be particular to your locale or property. Others will spring up at random. And some could fall into a category we refer to as the SMERF.

But it’ll be useful to review the three types constituting the lion’s share of special occasions, namely, weddings, birthdays and conferences. Together, they contain most of the component parts of other special occasions, so you can extrapolate from this advice to suit your needs.

Weddings

Weddings are big business for all concerned. It’s not unusual for guest lists to be in the low hundreds, with invitees traveling from far and wide, often seeing these events as travel experiences. Such is the nature of couples’ extended families and friendships stretching back decades, with these events often acting as reunions.

If you party into the night, you’ll need accommodation; in most cases, getting home that night isn’t an option. So the most considerate brides and grooms will liaise with hotels either hosting their reception or near to them to set aside blocks of guest rooms.

You have two jobs: attracting them and then seeing that everything runs smoothly on the big day.

These are two sides of the same coin, and it’s all to do with what you offer and making sure that details of your package can easily be found on websites and apps. Consider things like a bottle of champagne in guests’ rooms, special discounts based on number of nights, number of guests and how far in advance they book, and anything unique to your hotel that could act as an appropriate enticement.

Of course, you can consider anniversaries as an extension of this, so market them as such. And play the long game: couples may return to the hotel where they had their wedding, maybe wanting the same room from their wedding night or expecting similar discounts, or maybe their guests have an upcoming wedding of their own – so wow them at first exposure.

Birthdays

Unlike weddings, we all have birthdays. And the more gregarious of us like to celebrate them in style, often with big groups of friends, lavish food and drink, and added extras, exclusive offers and perks like spas or wine-tasting.

While birthday parties might not attract as many guests as weddings, the individual willingness of each guest to spend money might be greater – they’ve come along because they’re in the birthday boy or girl’s inner circle, they might not have traveled as far as a wedding guest, and no one is paying for a wedding dress, honeymoon or expensive wedding present.

So these can be lucrative for hotels, as long as you demonstrate value for money and provide an excellent service.

Get the conversation with the host going early on and you can spin their stay into a bigger package with the likes of coordinated catering and communal spaces set aside for their group.

Conferences

Conferences and other corporate events are a big part of hotel life, with attendees needing not just rooms to sleep in but event spaces to work in, reliable Wi-Fi and refreshments to keep them going throughout the day.

While they might be less lavish than the groups we discuss above, they very often involve more people, each staying several nights – and with fewer opportunities to leave the hotel.

You can capitalize on this, along with additional services such as offering rides to the conference event or hosting virtual web conferencing.

Accommodate guests with room blocks

Room blocks are a group of hotel rooms reserved at a negotiated rate for a specific event or occasion. Typically used for the types of occasion we describe above, they ensure that guests of the same event can stay close together, enhancing convenience and creating a sense of community.

Room blocks are generally held for a specified period, during which individual guests can confirm their hotel reservations within the block. After the deadline, any unsold rooms are released back into general inventory, minimizing the risk of overcommitting space.

For hoteliers, room blocks – or allotments – are a vital part of your inventory management, as they allow you to allocate a fixed number of rooms to a particular group while ensuring availability for other guests. But watch out for and have a strategy to respond to attrition!

Room blocks are mutually advantageous to both hotels and event planners. Guests appreciate the convenience of being assured a room, often at a discounted rate, near their event venue, while event planners benefit from reduced logistics, as coordinating accommodation becomes more streamlined.

For you as a hotelier, room blocks drive group business, help forecast occupancy and reduce last-minute fluctuations in bookings. Additionally, they often lead to increased ancillary revenue from group dining, spa treatments or event space bookings. Establishing room blocks can also enhance a hotel’s reputation as a go-to venue for special events, attracting repeat business and referrals.

To make the most of room blocks, you should use dynamic pricing software to carefully set room rates that balance value for guests with profitability for your hotel. Offering a slight discount for group bookings can incentivize uptake while protecting your revenue. Three other points to consider:

• Clearly communicate the booking deadline, ensuring guests understand that unbooked rooms will be released afterward. Be transparent about minimum booking requirements, as failing to meet these commitments could result in financial penalties or changes to the agreed rate.

• Establish an ideal booking window – typically three to six months in advance – to allow adequate time for guests to book.

• Finally, maintain flexibility by offering a room upgrade or alternative room options if the block fills up, ensuring a seamless and unforgettable experience from check-in to check-out for guests and organizers alike.

How hotel bookings for special occasions impact revenue

Special occasion bookings can have a significant impact on your hotel's revenue management strategy. While they often include discounted group rates, they also drive ancillary revenue through services like food and beverage, event space rentals, and spa offerings. However, it's essential to balance room block discounts carefully to attract bookings without compromising profitability.

Additionally, these bookings offer predictable revenue, helping with forecasting and optimizing occupancy during otherwise uncertain periods. For example, securing large group bookings for a wedding during the shoulder season can stabilize income during slower times. However, it's important to weigh the risk of overcommitting discounted rooms, particularly if these bookings displace higher-paying guests during peak periods.

Dynamic pricing is a cornerstone of hotel revenue management, and is particularly critical for special occasion bookings. Unlike standard booking practices, where rates fluctuate based on general demand, dynamic pricing for special events must consider the unique circumstances of group bookings and their lead time. For instance, higher rates may be justified if a major event like a festival or convention drives demand in the area, while special group rates might be offered to secure large blocks of rooms early.

Dynamic pricing also allows you to adapt as the booking window progresses. If a room block is not filling as expected, adjusting the rates to make them more attractive can help you secure bookings. Conversely, if demand exceeds the block capacity, your hotel can implement surge pricing for non-blocked rooms to maximize revenue.

Finally, it’s crucial to communicate rate adjustments transparently with event planners to maintain trust and manage expectations. Using dynamic pricing effectively ensures that your hotel capitalizes on peak demand while still catering to group needs, striking a balance between occupancy and profitability.

Manage bookings for special occasions and all other booking types

As well as marketing to these groups, you’ll of course need hotel revenue management software to maximize your revenue and keep on top of your bookings.

Events influence things like price evolution, for one thing. But there’s a host of considerations to also take into account. From monitoring demand and analyzing competitors' prices to evaluating your own performance, market intelligence tools are invaluable for ensuring you're on the right track.

Such software simplifies managing and profiting from special occasion bookings. Beyond that, it also supports the many other responsibilities you handle as a hotel revenue manager.

Consistently ranked as one of the best by industry reviewers and relied on by more than 70,000 hotels around the world, Lighthouse offers a suite of tools and real-time data that will put you on the path to success, irrespective of the occasion.

How does Lighthouse stack up against other hospitality software solutions?

Find out here.