• The ORB Team
• Social Media

Seasonal Marketing For Kent Hotels, Restaurants And Holiday Parks

Running a hospitality business in Kent means living by the calendar. The coast gets busy in the summer holidays, the countryside fills up for spring walks and autumn weekends, and the run-up to Christmas brings its own rush. Then January arrives and the bookings go quiet. Seasonal marketing for Kent hotels, restaurants and holiday parks is about planning for those swings, so you are not scrambling for guests when it is already too late.

This guide sets out a simple way to plan your year, with ideas for each season and the channels that tend to work best.

Plan Three Months Ahead

Most guests book well before they travel. Families plan summer breaks in the new year. Couples look for autumn getaways in late summer. Office parties are often booked by early autumn. If you only start posting about Christmas menus in December, the tables have already gone elsewhere.

A simple rule is to start promoting each season around three months before it begins. Write a rough calendar with your key dates and work backwards.

• January to March: promote spring breaks, Easter and early summer bookings
• April to June: push the summer holidays and any events you host
• July to September: autumn weekends, half term and Christmas party bookings
• October to December: festive menus, gift vouchers and New Year stays

Know What Brings People To Your Part Of Kent

Your guests are not only booking a room or a table. They are choosing a trip. Tie your marketing to the reasons people visit your area, whether that is the beaches, the cathedral city, the castles, the vineyards, the walking routes or the seaside towns. Visit Kent lists events and attractions across the county, which is a useful source of ideas for timely posts and packages.

A holiday park near the coast might build posts around beach days and rock pooling in summer, then switch to cosy lodge breaks and winter walks later in the year. A restaurant in a market town can link its specials to local produce as it comes into season.

Use Social Media To Show The Season

Social media suits hospitality because it is visual and it is timely. People want to see what a stay or a meal actually looks like right now. Good seasonal content includes:

• Photos of new seasonal dishes as they go on the menu
• Short videos of rooms, lodges or pitches with the current weather and light
• Behind the scenes posts as you get ready for a busy period
• Reminders of dates, events and booking deadlines
• Posts about nearby things to do that week

Keep a steady rhythm through the whole year, not just the busy months. An account that goes silent from November to March looks closed. If you do not have the time to keep it going, our social media management covers content, weekly posting and Meta Ads, with a monthly report so you can see what worked.

Fill The Quiet Months

The low season is where planning pays off most. A few approaches that tend to work for Kent businesses:

• Midweek offers aimed at retired couples and remote workers
• Themed evenings or set menus that give locals a reason to come out in winter
• Gift vouchers promoted from November, which bring spending into the quiet months when they are redeemed
• Packages that bundle a stay with a meal or a local attraction
• Offers for returning guests, sent by email before you promote them publicly

Keep the offer simple and give it a clear end date. People act on deadlines.

Make Sure Your Website Keeps Up

Your social posts will send people to your website, so the site needs to match the season. If a post promotes a Christmas menu and the website still shows the summer barbecue page, people lose confidence. Update your homepage banner, opening times and menus as each season changes. Make booking easy on a phone, with the book button visible on every page.

We have written more about what guests look for in our pages on hotel websites, restaurant websites and websites for caravan and holiday parks. For pubs, cafes and venues, see our page on hospitality web design.

Keep Your Google Profile Seasonal Too

Many visitors find you through Google Maps when they are already in the area and deciding where to eat or stay. Update your Google Business Profile with seasonal opening hours, holiday closures and fresh photos. You can also add posts for events and offers. The Google Business Profile help centre explains how to set special hours so customers do not turn up to a locked door on a bank holiday.

Collect Emails All Year

Your past guests are the easiest people to bring back. Ask for permission to email them when they book, and then send a short message a few times a year with your seasonal news. A guest who stayed last August is a good person to tell about next August's availability before it goes on general sale.

Look Back After Each Season

At the end of each season, spend an hour reviewing what happened. Which posts got people talking? Which offers led to bookings? Which weeks were still quiet? Write it down while it is fresh. Next year's plan will be better for it, and you will spend less on ideas that did not work.

Getting Started

You do not need a big budget to market through the seasons. You need a calendar, a steady flow of real photos and a website that keeps up. If you would like help planning your year or running your social media, get in touch. We are based in Ramsgate and work with hospitality businesses across Kent.