Are you starting to prepare for peak season for your tour business? As your bookings pick up, it can be hard to stop and prepare a strategy for a successful season. But a little groundwork now can help your tour and activity company make the most of peak season, increasing revenue, boosting your bookings, and keeping your stress levels under control. Let’s take a look at the steps you can take today to ensure your peak season is a success.
Prepare your staff
If your team consists of “me, myself, and I,” you already know what you need to do to prepare for peak season. You might still want to brush up on how to avoid burnout, though, because you are unquestionably your business’s most important resource.
If you manage a team, it’s more important than ever that you prepare them for the busy days to come. Hiring mid-season can be a challenge at the best of times, and many tour and activity operators are finding it hard to hire in the current job market.
To help your team make it through the season intact, there are a few steps you can take. A good booking system can take a lot of the most repetitive tasks of your team’s hands with automation. Taking tips can be a low-effort way to improve morale. Retention isn’t always in your control, but we have a few suggestions that can help.
You can also help keep your staff from burning out. Ensure your staff knows what’s expected of them, make your lines of communication clear, and check in regularly to ensure that no struggles are going unnoticed. A little consideration can go a long way in keeping your staff loyal and productive, and the time you invest in them will pay off with a successful peak season.
Update your booking software
While your shoulder seasons can be spent exploring new ways of doing business like working with resellers or using resource management for more flexible availability, peak season is a time for high-impact actions that keep your bookings moving.
That’s why we’ve put together a checklist of 7 steps you can take right now to make your peak season a success. Going through these steps now will help you avoid the most common pitfalls and ensure your season runs smoothly, without fear of billing issues, data breaches, or other interruptions a tourism business can’t afford.
If you have a little more time to spend, we’re also offering a series of live training sessions to help you get the most out of your booking software. Learn about upcoming sessions here.
Refresh your social proof
Hopefully, you’ve been using your social media accounts to build and maintain your audience during the off-season. If not, it’s definitely time to get started.
Once you have a social media following, you can use it to generate excitement for your new season. Remind your customers about your offerings, and get them dreaming about taking a tour or enjoying an activity with your company. Share photos that will get them thinking about the great times you provide. And remember that you’re facing a lot of competition for your followers’ attention this time of year, so make your effort count with impactful promotions.
Your reviews are also an important piece of social proof, especially for customers who are deciding whether they want to book with you or a competitor. If you’ve let your reviews slide over the past few months, now is the time to address them. No one wants to see negative reviews that have gone unanswered.
Rezgo recently added canned responses for verified reviews, if you don’t have time to reply to everything personally. Just be sure to take a moment to customize your responses so customers can see that you truly care..
Check in with your customers
Have you done all you can do to prepare for your peak season? It’s time to let your customers know. Your email list is a powerful tool this time of year, so use it wisely.
Remember, customers on your email list have already shown interest in your tours or activities. Don’t just remind them that your business exists–make them feel rewarded for their loyalty with a special promo code or early warning about an upcoming sales event.
You can also ensure your email notifications are providing as much value as possible. Automating your notifications is a great first step, but be sure to customize booking confirmations, cart-abandonment emails and other notifications so that some of your brand’s personality shines through.
Of course, you might not have time to tackle everything on your to-do list, and that’s okay–there will always be room for improvement no matter how well prepared you might be. But the more you can do today to prepare for your busiest weeks, the better.
And you don’t have to manage it all alone. At Rezgo, we’re here to help you thrive, so if you need help preparing your booking software, talk to your customer success representative or our support team today. Together, we’ll make this your best season yet.
Written By | Nissa Campbell
