Calgary, Edmonton and Seattle are poised to be three of BC’s most important drive markets for winter bookings this year. Here are five strategies to attract travellers from these cities for fall getaways and early-bird ski packages.
How do you want your winter to be developed? Somewhere in Calgary, Edmonton or Seattle right now, a traveller is deciding where their November spa weekend and January ski vacation will happen. The only question is whether your hotel is on the list. The property that gets introduced in living rooms with real trip ideas to travel to BC this month will win the drive market for the winter. Other competitors will then realize that instead of developing a winning strategy for the winter, they only have to lower rates for the remainder of the year in December, calling it a great strategy.
Why our neighbours matter more than ever
Traveller sentiment reflects a continued “Canada-first” mindset, with 92% of Canadian travellers intending to take trips within Canada this year. To date, the majority of short-haul travellers from within the province as well as from Alberta have been pouring into BC for wine country fall getaways and other activities. And from the US, after a long 12 months of decline in arrivals in Canada by US residents, there’s been a dramatic about face in recent months with 6.9% growth in April (latest available), with growth coming from the exact markets of interest to us for drive-to ski resort destination, Seattle and Bellingham residents driving rather than flying.
Play 1: Own the Alberta Corridor
The Calgary and Edmonton regions are not markets to ‘dabble’ in. The DMOs in these markets have already set in place a solid winter marketing campaign to target travellers from Alberta, as well as from Ontario and from BC. Individual properties need to follow a similar strategy to promote their Fall offer (e.g. a long weekend getaway in wine country for the season; drive to the Rockies and then off to the coast for a weekend; etc.). Convert these visitors into winter guests by promoting an early-bird ski package offer prior to when they might consider a trip to Banff out of habit.
Play 2: Roll out the Welcome Mat for Washington State.
So instead of trying to target I-5 corridor weekend visitors from the US with general packages for visitors from the US, BC properties near the US/Canada border could develop special packages to lure these visitors for weekend getaways. Late Sunday check-out, free parking, flexible cancellation policies (should the Coquihalla Highway or border crossing be affected by inclement weather or events such as flooding) and marketing efforts in English and Spanish would be key components of these packages. With a property offer lodging in Canadian dollars, they should make note of the positive exchange rate in their Canadian market by advertising in Canadian dollars to American markets – make it blatant.
Play 3: Steal the Early-Bird Playbook
Contrary to popular belief, packages typically get promoted as early as December for the following winter. Typically ski packages get advertised with the premise of great early season snow, but many ski resorts wait until the snow starts to fall before promoting their ski packages. What most people do not realize is that the big early-booking money makers are the ski resorts who are offering up to 30% off of their regular winter rates for advance bookings plus a $100-$250 per person in resort credits that can be used for anything from dining to equipment rentals to lessons with a ski school. These same types of packages can be very successfully offered by hotels and aggressively marketed to lock in their average base rate for their peak season and keep guest spending dollars on property.
Play 4: Package the Drive Itself
A very different strategy is needed for the drive market. While earlier sections provided tourism insights around potential travellers, it is the actual booking behaviour and criteria of potential car-based guests that form the focus for the drive market. Such properties can now capture the road trip market by being pet-friendly. Clearly, for car-based travellers, free parking trumps any rate discount, especially for large vehicles travelling with a family and/or pets. Finally, in the drive market, a flexible cancellation policy (even clearly communicating any restrictions) is the key conversion factor, especially for November bookings of mountain resort-based ski trips. Even then, EV charging stations are becoming a booking criterion.
Play 5: Capture in the Fall and keep for the Winter!
Every guest that books in October from Calgary or Seattle, for example, is a prospect for a winter booking in January for which you did not have to pay any commission to acquire their business. Make sure you capture their email at the time of booking, put them in your CRM with their home market as a tag, and then three weeks post-stay, hit them up with an offer for winter based on the offer they just took in the Fall that was based on their stay. This is the cheapest form of marketing, and it compiles or adds value. That is the fact that a neighbour that books twice stops comparison shopping and starts booking your property by default because of the habits that you have created with them.
Three cities — Calgary, Edmonton and Seattle — hold more winter revenue for BC hotels than all our foreign markets put together. They’re a tank of gas away, they’re itching to travel, and this year every current is pushing them toward us. Promote your winter packages in those markets this month, and by January the only discounting you’ll be watching is your comp set’s.
Got a better trick for luring Calgarians past the Banff exit? Spill it — Brent O’Connor – brent.o@telus.net