For independent hotels, resorts and event venues
Fuller weeks,
without louder marketing.
I'm Richard Bolte, former hotel GM. Every week I send one practical idea to fill more rooms and event dates. Three minutes to read, ready to use the same day.
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The Slow-Week Playbook
5 promotions you can run this month to fill your quietest nights.
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One idea you can use today
Don't invite everyone to your open house. Invite one group.
When I ran a boutique hotel in the Texas Hill Country, our best open houses were never for "everyone". One was for parents planning children's birthday parties. Another was for local business owners. A third was for families with relatives coming to town. Each group heard an invitation made for them, saw the rooms that mattered to them, and went home knowing exactly when to think of us.
Try it this month: pick one group that lives within 20 minutes of your property. Invite them for coffee and a short tour, and tell them what you can do for them specifically.
Latest articles
Read, then put it to work.
How many of your happy guests actually leave a review?
Reviews · 8 min read
Are you asking for reviews the right way? A 5-minute self-check for independent hotels
Most independent hotels don't have a review problem. They have an asking problem. Ten yes-or-no questions show you where reviews slip away, and what to fix first.
Read the articleWhat I write about
Four ways to fill rooms that rarely fail.
01
Reviews
Your happiest guests stay silent unless someone asks them at the right moment.
02
Returning guests
The guests who already loved you are the cheapest booking you will ever get.
03
Promotions for slow weeks
An empty room tonight can't be sold tomorrow. Give people a reason to come now.
04
Inquiries and direct bookings
Every wedding, group or event inquiry answered fast is revenue you already paid for. Every direct booking is one less commission.
Most marketing advice is written in a conference room. Mine was learned behind the front desk.
Former hotel GM, MSc E-Commerce & Online Marketing
Behind the front desk
I once mailed real autumn leaves to our summer guests.
More than twenty years ago I was General Manager of an award-winning boutique hotel in the Texas Hill Country, with a restaurant and a pub that brewed its own beer. There were no booking sites. If we wanted full rooms in the slow months, we had to earn every one of them.
So we wrote to our summer guests and tucked dried autumn leaves into each envelope, with an invitation to come back for three days in the fall. Many of them came back. Most of them, I'm sure, never would have otherwise.
Along the way I also led the sales and marketing team of Europe's largest Holiday Inn resort, ran my own real estate brokerage, earned a Master's in e-commerce and online marketing with honors, and founded Be My Guest Marketing. The tools have changed. What fills rooms has not: real relationships and a good idea.
Richard
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Your quietest weeks deserve a plan.
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