While the cold weather can see bookings drop, some anglers can’t imagine anything better than celebrating the holidays with a fishing trip. During the winter months, most trips are booked just after Christmas and leading up to New Year’s Eve. Customers who want to spend the actual holidays out on the water usually plan their trips pretty last-minute, booking only a day or two in advance. But how can you make sure they choose your charter?
Tip #1: Create seasonal-specific trips in time for the holidays
When advertising your charter for the winter season, consider setting up some holiday-specific trips. You can do this by:
Creating a special holiday offer. The highest number of bookings take place just after the holidays. The week between Christmas and New Year sees a big increase in trip requests. Why not use this information to add some seasonal holiday trips?
You could advertise a post-Christmas half-day fishing adventure, or a wintry full-day ice fishing trip. Mentioning an upcoming (or recently passed) holiday will stand out to potential customers, especially if you combine it with a special holiday price. Then you just need to set the seasonality so these trips last for a specific weekend or across the holiday period.
Tagging fish species for each trip. Using the My Trips app, you can tag fish species that customers are likely to target during each trip. If you already have these set up, you can change them to show what the fishing in your area currently looks like. Maybe there are certain species that customers can only target during the holiday season. Tagging them on the relevant trip is a great way to bring attention to them.
Tip #2: Write reports so customers know what to expect
So you have your holiday trips set up, but how can you let customers know what to expect? You know that winter fishing in your area looks pretty different to summer fishing, but your customers may not. As well as tagging fish species for each trip and writing an informative description, you can also publish fishing reports for recently completed trips. You can include:
- Which fish were biting when you were last out on the water
- What the water and weather conditions were like
- Pictures and videos of the trip
Over 4,000 people search for “fishing reports” in the USA per month. Writing informative reports greatly increases your chances of being found through Google, Bing, and other search engines, as well as FishingBooker. When you publish a fishing report, it automatically appears at the top of the reports page, giving you instant exposure. This has an especially big impact during quieter times of the year, such as the winter months.
Include words related to the holidays in the title of your report. If a customer is scrolling through a location page or the reports page, this will grab their attention. Photos and videos also hugely increase a customer’s likelihood to click. Images of the trip’s catch are a great way to set expectations and create excitement.
You can also go one step further during the holidays. If you have accessories like Santa hats, tinsel, or a frozen lake as a backdrop, why not use them in the photos to get even more attention?
Tip #3: Use social media to promote, promote, promote
You’ve added special holiday trips to your listing. You’ve made sure you’ve tagged the most commonly targeted fish for each trip. You’ve written reports to let customers know what fishing in your location looks like. How can you make sure this information reaches the largest number of potential guests?
Social media, of course. Over 50% of travellers say they make plans to visit a specific destination based on an image or video shared by friends, colleagues, family members, or peers on social media. Whether you prefer Instagram or Facebook, these platforms let you share your business beyond FishingBooker, no matter the time of year. It only takes a few minutes, too.
Simply upload a recent image of happy customers with their catch, use the caption or post to tell potential guests that you’ll be out on the water during the holidays, and include a link to your FishingBooker listing.
If a customer reaches out to you requesting a personalized fishing trip, you can send them a special offer adapted to suit their wishes. Not only can you fill up your calendar with additional trips, but you’ll be going the extra mile to help your customers have an unforgettable holiday season!
Tip #4: Change your notice period so you can accept more bookings
In general, FishingBooker customers book 0–7 days in advance of their trip. When the winter holiday season starts, most trips are booked only a day or two in advance. We all know how busy this time of year gets, so it makes sense that everything is a little more last-minute!
You can actually use this to your advantage. Activate Instant Book, and customers will be able to book a trip with you straight away. Over 70% of customers opt for listings with Instant Book, so just turning it on can mean a boost in bookings. All you need to do is keep your calendar updated to make sure your trips don’t overlap.
If you’ve already activated Instant Book, take a look at your current advance notice period. If you have the capacity, try setting it to 1–2 days before the trip. This means you’ll be ready and waiting for those customers who book last-minute trips. Your Instant Book settings are flexible and let you adapt to different booking patterns easily. Once the holiday season is over, you can always re-adjust your notice period.
Do you have any tips or tricks on how to increase bookings during the holidays? What do your trips usually look like during this season? Let us know in the comments below – we love hearing from you!
The post How to increase your bookings during the holidays appeared first on FishingBooker Blog.
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