For many accommodation businesses, the winter season is one of the shortest but busiest periods of the year. New Year’s week, the January school break and weekend getaways create calendars that fill up quickly. Which channel the bookings come from in this period directly affects the business’s margin: every booking from an intermediary platform carries a commission, while a direct booking does not.
This article offers a 6-week preparation plan for a hotel, guesthouse or boutique stay that has little time left before the winter season. There is no magic method and no promise like “we will raise your occupancy by this much”; the aim is to capture existing demand correctly and strengthen the direct booking path. For general season preparation see our 90-day pre-season calendar, and for the direct booking steps our 8-step direct booking plan.
How Do Guests Decide in the Winter Season?
A guest planning a winter holiday behaves differently from a summer one. The decision window is often shorter: because the dates for New Year and the school break are fixed, search intensity rises a few weeks before the holiday and last-minute bookings also take a significant share. This means delaying preparation turns out expensive.
The questions guests ask also change with the season. Frequently asked winter topics are: heating and hot water, snow or road conditions, the New Year’s Eve menu and program, family-friendly facilities, distance to regional activities such as skiing, thermal springs or nature, whether winter tires are required, and transport. If your website does not answer these questions clearly, the guest looks at reviews on intermediary platforms or at a competitor’s page.
So the first step of winter preparation is to list your own guests’ winter questions. The questions that came to reception or WhatsApp last year, and the complaints and praise in reviews, are the most reliable source. If you have no past data, looking at competitor reviews and the Q&A sections on intermediary platforms is a good start. The answers to these questions will turn into page content and profile information in the following sections.
Search Visibility: Winter-Focused Pages and Location Intent
Some winter searches are general (“hotel”), and some are very specific (“hotel with a New Year program”, “family hotel for the school break”, “city name + winter”). If your site has no pages to meet these specific searches, the traffic is collected by intermediary platforms.
A few page types that work in practice: a New Year program and price page (with capacity, menu, program and cancellation terms), a school-break and weekend packages page, a guide to the region’s winter activities (with distances from your location) and a “how to get here in winter” page. Link these pages to your existing room pages with internal links. Keep the page addresses permanent and update them every year; opening a new address each year resets the signals.
Each of these pages should have a short, clear answer block: for how many people, between which dates, what is included, what is the cancellation condition. If you give prices, keep them current; a wrong price both damages trust and creates booking friction. If you are full, do not remove the page; put a redirect such as “these dates are full, join the waiting list”.
On the technical side, mobile speed and an easy booking flow are critical; most winter searches are made from phones. On speed see our website speed-up post. You can find our accommodation-specific service on our hotel and tourism digital marketing page.
Google Business Profile: Update Winter Information and Special Hours
In accommodation searches, Google Maps and the business profile often appear before the website. In the winter season, having current profile information makes a difference both in search and in call and directions actions.
Check these: have special opening hours been entered for New Year’s, holidays and festive days (reception and restaurant may differ)? Have winter photos (warm atmosphere, fireplace, snowy view, breakfast) been added? Is the list of services and amenities (heating, parking, pets, breakfast included and so on) current? Does the booking or call link go to the right page? Have the New Year program and school-break package been announced in the posts section?
We explained step by step how to enter special hours in our New Year and holiday Business Profile guide. If you have a setup or verification problem with your profile, see our profile verification post.
Reviews are decisive in this period. When a guest is leaving, ask for a review with a short message; reply to reviews quickly and politely. Buying reviews or promising the guest a discount in return may violate platform guidelines. For a plan to collect reviews from real guests see our 30-day review plan post.
Make Direct Booking Attractive and Easy
In winter peaks, intermediary platforms remain an important channel; the aim is not to leave them but to make the direct channel a serious alternative. For a guest to book directly with you, three things are needed: a reason, an easy path and trust.
Reason: Offer a clear advantage for direct booking: a free room upgrade (subject to availability), late checkout, breakfast or a small treat for New Year’s Eve. You do not have to give a discount; you can turn your commission saving into a concrete value. If your contract with intermediary platforms has a rate parity clause, check it beforehand.
Easy path: The booking button should be visible on every page and reachable with one tap on mobile. If you have no online booking engine, at least make the WhatsApp and phone routing clear and answer questions quickly. In limited-capacity periods like New Year, a fast reply is the most practical way to win the booking. To measure response time you can see our first response time post.
Trust: Write the cancellation and payment terms clearly, show real photos and reviews, and keep contact information prominent on the page. For high-priced nights like New Year’s, a clear prepayment and cancellation policy prevents problems from the start.
Ads: Right Timing with a Small Budget
It makes sense to split the winter-season ad budget into three periods: early (collecting demand), the last two weeks (the intense decision period) and last minute. Spending the whole budget early makes you miss last-minute demand.
In Google Ads focus on searches that include your region and accommodation intent (city name with hotel, New Year program, school break and so on); keep your brand name in a separate campaign so you do not mix brand searches with general ones. The ad landing page should be not the general home page but the relevant winter page; this raises both quality and conversion. For account structure and budget decisions see our Google Ads vs SEO post and our Google Ads service page.
In social media and retargeting ads, target users who visited the site but did not book. Messages like “last 3 rooms” or “waiting list for New Year” should be used only if true; artificial scarcity messages damage guest trust and may violate ad policies.
A note on targeting: if you also host foreign guests, manage language and country targeting in separate campaigns. Mixing all targets into one campaign makes measurement and budget control harder.
A 6-Week Preparation Calendar
The calendar below starts 6 weeks before New Year’s week. If time is short, compress the items while keeping the order.
Weeks 6 and 5: List the winter questions. Finalize New Year, school-break and weekend packages and prices. Check price and availability information on intermediary platforms.
Week 4: Write and publish the winter pages (New Year program, school-break package, regional guide, transport). Test the booking flow on a phone.
Week 3: Update the Business Profile: special hours, photos, posts, amenities. Prepare the review request message.
Week 2: Launch the ad campaigns and verify conversion tracking with a test booking. Add the direct booking advantage to the page.
Week 1: Retargeting and last-minute messages. Set the WhatsApp and phone reply routine; write who will handle it on busy days.
During the season: Look weekly at the booking channel distribution, ad spend and new reviews; fix any problem quickly.
Measurement: Which Channel Did the Booking Come From?
To be able to talk with data rather than saying “it went well” or “it went badly” when the winter season ends, set up measurement from the start. At a minimum, record: the distribution of bookings by channel (direct, intermediary platform, phone, WhatsApp), the average nightly revenue and net return after commission for each channel, booking requests coming from the website and the conversion rate, the number of calls and directions from the Business Profile, and the cost of ads by channel and campaign.
To measure phone and WhatsApp clicks you can use our WhatsApp, phone and email clicks in GA4 post. If this measurement is not done, the real contribution of the direct channel is not visible; most bookings are recorded as “came by phone” and it cannot be understood which page or ad worked.
At the end of the season make a short review: which packages and dates filled fastest, which questions were asked most, which page brought bookings? These notes go directly into next summer’s plan. To plan the transition between seasons, look again at our hotel season calendar.
Common Mistakes in the Winter Season
No winter page. If the site has no special page for New Year and the school break, intermediary platforms take the demand.
Old price and date information. A price or wrong date left over from last year damages both trust and bookings.
Not entering special hours. Showing as “open” on New Year’s Day in the profile while being closed creates problems for both guests and reviews.
Not replying quickly. Not answering a message for hours in a busy period loses the booking to a competitor.
Spending on ads without measuring. Ads without conversion tracking leave the question “did it go well” unanswered.
Blaming intermediary platforms. The aim is not to destroy the intermediary channel but to strengthen the direct channel. Manage both by measuring.
How Does Soft Ajans Help Accommodation Businesses?
At Soft Ajans we run location- and intent-focused SEO, Google Business Profile and review management, direct-booking-focused advertising and season-separated reporting for hotels, guesthouses and boutique accommodation. In season periods we first measure the current situation, determine priority work and provide implementation support. We do not guarantee occupancy or the number of bookings; results vary with location, price and season.
For details take a look at our hotel and tourism digital marketing page, and for an overview you can request a free preliminary analysis.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it too late to start preparing for New Year now?
The calendar is tight but not impossible. First fix the New Year program page, the Business Profile special hours and the booking flow; then set up a short ad campaign. If you cannot do all the steps, give priority to these three.
Should I give up intermediary platforms?
No. Intermediary platforms provide visibility; the aim is to balance dependence and commission by strengthening the direct channel. Measure each channel’s net return and set the distribution accordingly.
Should I give a discount for direct booking?
Not necessarily. Concrete advantages such as late checkout, a room upgrade (subject to availability) or a treat also work. Check the price terms in your contracts with intermediary platforms in advance.
Is a separate page for winter really necessary?
Winter searches are often specific (New Year program, school break, region + winter). If you have no page that meets these searches, intermediary platforms take the traffic. The page stays at a permanent address and is updated every year.
How should I distribute the ad budget?
Splitting it into early demand collection, the intense last two weeks and last minute makes sense. Keep brand searches in a separate campaign and verify conversion tracking with a test booking.
What should I measure at the end of the season?
Booking distribution and net return by channel, the site’s conversion rate, Business Profile actions and ad cost. Note the packages that filled fastest and the most-asked questions; they feed the next season’s plan.
