Hotel gift voucher sales tipped to peak in November and December - with almost half of total annual gift vouchers sold between Black Friday and Christmas
Cheltenham, UK - 20 November 2023 - Holiday sales are not just a time for consumers to get excited; it’s one of the busiest sales periods for hoteliers. New research from Gifted - the UK’s leading gift voucher platform by Journey Hospitality - found that 43% of total revenue from hotel gift voucher sales is generated in November and December.
Starting with Black Friday - which has the highest average spend per hotel voucher at £152 and generated over £2 million in sales in 2022, an increase of 741% on regular business days - and running through Christmas, hotels face a busy end to the year as they juggle gift voucher fulfilment with operational demands of the festive season.
Gifted’s research also found:
Women buy the most hotel gift vouchers in every month - apart from December
Men buy 3 in every 5 hotel gift vouchers sold on Christmas Eve
A quarter of all hotel gift vouchers are bought by 25 to 34 year olds
Over 65s are the least likely to buy gift vouchers - just 10% of all sales
£25,560 - the highest price gift voucher for a UK hotel in 2022
66% of vouchers purchased in 2023 are delivered via email. Post is preferred by 20% of shoppers, particularly when purchasing from a high-end luxury hotel
London shoppers buy nearly 3 in 5 vouchers (59%), with Birmingham (3%), Plymouth (2.9%), Norwich and Milton Keynes (2.7% each) rounding out the top five locations of purchasers
Simon Bullingham, CEO of Journey Hospitality said: “The gift card industry is worth £7 billion each year, and hoteliers have become more savvy at staking their claim to that pot. Afternoon tea, spa treatments and hotel stays are the staples, but consumers are also searching for more quirky experiences. Murder mystery events, cookery schools and wild water swimming experiences are just some of the hotel vouchers sold in the last year.”
Studying trends across more than 350 luxury UK hotels and resorts, Gifted’s report provides insight into consumer behaviour when purchasing gift vouchers, and outlines opportunities for hoteliers to grow their market share. For the full set of insights, the ‘Giving hotels success: the ultimate guide to gift vouchers’ report is available to download at gifted.travel/white-paper/
Bullingham said: “To maximise business opportunities, hotels need to provide gift vouchers that are easily shoppable to customers. In today’s digital age, selling vouchers online is a surefire way to boost revenue and give your customers what they want - memorable experiences and a deeper brand connection.”
Discover more about Gifted or download the full report at https://www.gifted.travel/white-paper/
About Journey Hospitality
Journey Hospitality is a hotel technology business revolutionising ecommerce for the hospitality industry maximising online experiences to drive commercial success.
Its portfolio includes: onejourney® - the world’s first all-in-one hotel ecommerce platform enabling guests to customise their stay by booking rooms, spa, dining and retail products in a single shopping basket; Premier Software - the UK’s top spa and leisure management software; Gifted - the UK’s market leading hotel gift voucher platform and Journey Agency working with luxury hotel partners for web development and digital marketing performance.
Established in 2010, the Cheltenham-based business has a team of over 130 industry experts at the forefront of hotel ecommerce innovation. A Certified Google Partner, Journey works with over 650 luxury hotel partners around the world including Claridge’s, Beaverbrook, Calcot Collection, The Londoner, Soneva (Maldives) and Grantley Hall.
The company won the Best Hotel Technology Product (over 100 employees) at the Boutique Hotelier Awards 2023, ‘Innovation in Tech’ award at the Business Awards - Travel 2023, and GloucestershireLive’s Innovation Award 2023. Journey is also shortlisted for the Best Hotel Booking Solutions Provider at the 2023 World Travel Tech Awards for its onejourney® platform.