Leisure Guests in Hotels

Attract and retain these rewarding travellers!

Different hotels, different guest types. Leisure guests are just one of many target markets where your hotel can push for a boost in bookings. Guests vacationing abroad can be an exceptionally broad range – so even if leisure guests aren’t your primary target, it pays to be prepared!

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The Different Hotel Guest Types

Contrary to popular belief, there isn’t a definite list of guest types. Sure, there articles giving opinions on their unique segmentation (and we are no exception with our hotel guest type list or our partner SiteMinder offering their input) but a global standard? Nothing of the sort.

Instead, we have broad segmentations that can overlap when examined closely.

But that’s okay – it’s hotel marketing, not particle physics. As long as you find a type of segmentation that works for your hotel marketing you’ll be fine. Other segmentations can include:

• Corporate Travellers (or even Bleisure Guests!)
• Luxury Travellers 
• Wellness Guests
• Digital Nomads
• Family Travellers

But with all that said, let’s focus on what we are here for: leisure guests in hotels.

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What Are Leisure Guests?

Leisure guests are travellers who aim to relax, to explore and appreciate good value.

So how do they differ from other guest types?

Well, they aren’t limited by money like other travellers, but neither do they have the disposable income of luxury travellers. They look for value in their stays at hotels – and this follows through to the activities associated with your hotel.

Leisure travellers love local cooperation. If they can get a great deal on a local city tour through your hotel; then they consider it a booking well made. A discount on treatment at a local spa if they stay with you? A brilliant investment. 

Essentially: leisure guests are your ideal target for upselling.

They want to enjoy their stay, enjoy unique experiences and take advantage of everything you have to offer. So it’s a good idea to make sure those linens are crisp, the towels soft and fluffy and the facilities spotless!

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How to Attract Leisure Guests to Your Hotel

These guests offer a boatload of possibilities when it comes to marketing your hotel.

Quality

They may not be luxury, but they aren’t looking for just a bed and a bathroom either. Leisure guests want not just to enjoy being in and around your location, but to enjoy your accommodation as well.

From quality towels, to high water pressure – make sure that you have that little bit extra, without splashing out financially. Give them the quality that these leisure travellers deserve, and they will come running back to your hotel again and again.

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Value

Unlike most other travellers, upselling experiences isn’t an annoyance for these guests. You can’t overdo it when it comes to offering upgrades and extras. The more you highlight the savings that they can make, the more they appreciate it.

If leisure travellers are your ideal target market, make sure to create some automated emails for every booking. Discounted room upgrades a week before arrival are often accepted by these travellers and lead to an overall increase in your profits.

Amenities

Small welcome packs are always a bonus for leisure travellers. They barely cost anything, yet if you have attention to detail and a decent aesthetic, you can vastly increase the guest experience.

Obviously you’ll feature these beautiful sets in your hotel photography on your website. Don’t forget to also feature your on-site locations: whether that’s your restaurant, swimming pool, spa, bar etc. Once you mention that hotel guests receive discounts at these locations; you’ll be upselling to every guest.

Flexible times

Unlike business or luxury travellers, leisure travellers rely on the availability of transportation in order to arrive at your hotel. They won’t fork out for a private driver, when a bus will do the same job. However, that can lead to some punctuality issues.

With flexible check-in/check-out times,  you can ensure that your guests feel equally welcomed no matter when they arrive or depart!

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Aesthetics

Warm, welcoming and relaxing.

These are key visual points when it comes to attracting leisure travellers to your hotel. So ensure that your entire aesthetic is based towards warmly-lit scenes. It can be cosy evenings by a fire or social interactions by the bar, but you need good post production on your visuals to ensure that you send the right message to prospective guests.

Local Cooperation

Teamwork makes the dream work, and with local cooperation you can increase the number of leisure travellers and highlight local tourism.

Take a look at the potential of destination marketing and examine what’s available in your location. Activity days, theme parks, museums, music events and more are all opportunities for you to combine your marketing efforts with those of the local community.

By concentrating on this, you’ll not only become more attractive to leisure guests, but you’ll also increase your hotel website SEO with a number of backlinks to your website!

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Check Your Hotel Marketing

While leisure travellers may be your ideal guest type – it’s hard to be noticed online as a small independent hotel.

All the beautiful visuals in the world won’t make a difference if guests can’t find your hotel website, your web pages are too slow or if you get brandjacked by OTAs! 

So why not request a free hotel marketing audit?

We offer free hotel marketing checkups to any hotel, regardless of your size, and we’ll highlight your weak points that require reinforcing. From hotel website design, to website hosting and more, our team is more than happy to help you out.

Just fill out the form below!