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Blog
How hospitality businesses can create ‘Superfans’
Lunch leads the way for the Easter 2025 bank holiday weekend
Diners ditched dinner and large group bookings this Easter weekend, new insights from leading hospitality technology provider, Zonal, show.
The data shows that nearly half (44%) of all bookings made during lunchtime hours over the long weekend happened on Easter Sunday, with lunch making up 60% of total reservations on that day.
Across the four-day weekend, lunch remained the most popular time to dine on Sunday and Monday, comprising 56% of all bookings compared to just 28% for dinner.
In contrast, dinner proved to be more popular on Good Friday and Easter Saturday, making up 44% of bookings made on those days, compared to only 34% for lunch.
The data also revealed that experiences with fewer diners were favoured over larger group gatherings, with bookings for two people making up 33% of all reservations across the Easter weekend.
Tim Chapman, Chief Commercial Officer at Zonal, commented: “This Easter weekend, lunch clearly led the way in dining preferences, particularly on Sunday and Monday, when it accounted for 56% of bookings compared to just 28% for dinner.
“Unlike other celebratory events that are often associated with evening socialising and late-night gatherings, Easter typically emphasises daytime activities, such as family lunches, egg hunts, and community events. As a result, many chose to dine out earlier in the day, reinforcing lunch as the dominant mealtime.”
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Mother's Day bookings up, as the trend to book further in advance continues
The number of guests booking more than a week in advance to celebrate Mother’s Sunday rose 10%
New insight from Zonal reveals a rise in bookings for Mother’s Day, driven by a notable increase in organised consumers making reservations further in advance.
Bookings made more than a week ahead were up by 10%, reflecting a growing trend of consumers forward planning for special occasions or events. Zonal research from earlier this year, revealed advance bookings (those made more than a week ahead) for the opening match of the Guinness Six Nations rugby tournament were up nearly 40% on the comparable period for 2024.
Lunch continued to be the most popular dining session for Mother’s Day celebrations, accounting for over half (59%) of all bookings, followed by dinner reservations, which made up 29% of all bookings. Potentially reflecting a growing preference for earlier dining times, bookings before 7pm accounted for the vast majority of total bookings (91%).
Tim Chapman, Chief Commercial Officer, Zonal, commented: “The rise in early bookings for Mother’s Day highlights a clear shift in consumer behaviour, with guests increasingly planning their celebrations in advance and favouring lunch as the main event of the day.
“For operators, this offers a valuable opportunity to plan ahead for next year – by engaging guests early, promotions around quieter times, and ensuring they’re prepared to meet the demand. Capitalising on the growing trend for early lunch bookings will allow operators to optimise service, elevate the guest experience, and drive revenue growth during this key occasion.”
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Join us at the Profitable Beds Seminar 2025
We are excited to join Stay In A Pub at the McMullans Spice for Life pub in Soho on Wednesday, 26 March 2025 for the Profitable Beds Seminar 2025. We will join other speakers from across the industry to share invaluable learnings, insights and discussions for key marketing and revenue management personnel in the pub accommodation sector.
Topics covered on the day
Supported by Zonal, TXGB and Visit England, this is Stay In A Pub’s fourth seminar with topics including:
- New research by CGA on the pub accommodation sector
- Visit England – how they can help
- Better connectivity to your customers
- How to maximise accommodation revenues
- Sustainability with a case study by Fuller, Smith & Turner
- Plus more….
The event is being hosted by McMullans at their Spice of Life pub in Soho, which is a newly refurbished pub with rooms. For more details, or to book visit the event booking site. What’s more, there are two free tickets available to pub operators by using the code SIAP25.
Hear from our customers
Why the Provenance Collection choose to work with Zonal
“We wanted something user-friendly with a good support network and ultimately the ability to manage remotely. With the head-office function, we can set pricing, analyse sales data and manage everything back-of-house centrally.”
“Having a fully integrated tech stack is really useful, it helps us share data across different departments within the business, but more importantly, allows us to move that data towards marketing and attracting new guests.”
Chris Cartledge, Former Head of Operations, Provenance Collection
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RoomPriceGenie announces special offer for Zonal customers
Our room pricing software integration, RoomPriceGenie, has announced a huge three-month 50% discount for all Zonal Customers.
RoomPriceGenie provides automated revenue management, specially designed for independent hotels, pubs & inns. The software works seamlessly in partnership with the Zonal Hotel Solutions PMS to enable time-saving hands-off pricing updates, 12 times per day, for your hotel.
A simple and fast setup will ensure that RoomPriceGenie is integrated effortlessly into your PMS. From there, RoomPriceGenie’s smart technology analyses your hotel’s area, competitors, booking patterns and specific demand as well as any seasonal or local events, to create the perfect pricing strategy, tailored to you. Your pricing is constantly monitored and updated, using accurate, real-time data.
Make the most of this amazing one-time offer and optimise your pricing to save time and boost revenue. Take a look at RoomPriceGenie and the benefits it could bring to your business today.
To redeem your 50% discount, you need to sign up before the end of April 2025 and to then integrate with your PMS, contact our support team.
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Zonal Hotel Solutions soon to launch Google Hotel Booking Link
We are excited to announce Zonal’s Google Hotel Booking Link is coming very soon.
The integration of Google Hotel Booking Link carries some incredible benefits for our customers, helping to increase visibility and bookings to boost profits.
Guests can now book hotel rooms directly via Google search results and Google Maps when searching for accommodation, increasing exposure for your hotel and bypassing third-party booking platforms, to save on commission fees.
Google Hotels will also ensure the most accurate pricing and availability information is displayed, giving guests confidence to book and increasing your conversion rates.
The direct link to your hotel website will give you full control over the branding and messaging visible, providing guests with accurate information, plus giving hoteliers the opportunity to upsell their latest offers and events.
We can’t wait to share this exciting new feature with you.
Get the latest news and insights from Zonal
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How hospitality businesses can create ‘Superfans’
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How loyalty can help tackle no shows
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Research
GO Technology: More Than a Meal
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Pubs set for a bumper Six Nations
Bookings already up by nearly 40% compared to last year, new data shows
With the Guinness Men’s Six Nations rugby tournament set to kick off this week (Friday 31st January), the latest figures from leading hospitality technology provider Zonal, reveal bookings in pubs and bars are up a huge 38% for match times, compared to the comparable period last year.
Moreover, the insight from previous years’ trends shows that most bookings for Six Nations games are made just a week ahead of fixtures – in 2024, for example, 81% of bookings for the first day of the Six Nations were made within a week of the event. This suggests pubs can expect a further surge in fan bookings.
As the tournament progresses, in order to cope with demand, operators could think about offering incentives to persuade customers to book further in advance to help with planning for stock and staff requirements and ensure their booking systems are easy to use, optimised, and well promoted. Digital ordering, whether that be via the web or an app, can also help improve guests experience by enabling them to place orders directly from their seats, ensuring they don’t miss any of the game and help to reduce bar queues.
Tim Chapman, Chief Commercial Officer, Zonal, commented: “Technology is a crucial tool in making sure venues can handle the increased volume of bookings during major events like the Six Nations. Ensuring your booking platform is robust, and that staff are trained to manage busy match days efficiently, will be key to taking full advantage of this busy period.”
“By leveraging tools that provide real-time table availability and streamline the booking process, operators can ensure they’re well-prepared to capitalise on these high-demand dates and drive revenue throughout the year.”
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Zonal Hotel Solutions announces new AI partnership
We are delighted to announce a brand-new partnership with HiJiffy, a chatbot provider that will help us offer our customers cutting-edge AI technology
As AI continues to transform the hospitality industry, we will be operating at the forefront of this technological change, to benefit hoteliers, staff and guests.
The HiJiffy integration can answer 85% of your guests’ queries instantly, via your website, social media, or WhatsApp. Pre-stay, the ChatBot can answer FAQs, manage direct bookings and arrange upgrades and additional extras, streamlining the booking experience for guests.
For your team, HiJiffy provides notifications, assigns priority status to requests and enquiries and improves internal communications, ensuring staff are providing the best possible customer service whilst cutting operational costs. The solution centralises information, preserves history and creates guest segmentation to facilitate a more targeted and personalised service to help build customer loyalty.
By boosting guest satisfaction with 24/7 multi-lingual responsiveness throughout each stay, HiJiffy promotes positive feedback, by gathering reviews and recommendations to increase repeat bookings and entice future guests.
If you’re looking to transform your customer communications and embrace the benefits of AI, HiJiffy could help your hotel thrive. If you’d like to learn more or are interested in adding this integration to your PMS, contact us today or speak to your account manager.
For more integrations, visit our PMS Marketplace.
Get the latest news and insights from Zonal
-
Blog
How hospitality businesses can create ‘Superfans’
-
Blog
How loyalty can help tackle no shows
-
Research
GO Technology: More Than a Meal
-
Blog
The power of personalised communication in driving loyalty
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How important are effective comms in building customer relationships?
-
Research
GO Technology: Why 6:12pm is the new 8pm
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How can smaller hospitality businesses make loyalty work?
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How to nurture loyal customers
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Zonal Hotel Solutions celebrates strategic payment partnership
We have launched a groundbreaking collaboration with FreedomPay, to seamlessly integrate Zonal’s PMS with a state-of-the-art payment entry device (PED).
This PED provider enhances operational efficiency and boosts customer satisfaction, by sending all payments, including room transactions and F&B charges, to a card payment machine. The partnership offers a fast, secure commerce check-out system for our customers.
What’s more, all payments are recorded for operational simplicity and reporting, further streamlining the payment process, making it easier for hoteliers to manage their channels and making expenditures more convenient and secure for guests.
FreedomPay is an industry-leading fully integrated solution, bringing payments together on one unified platform for hoteliers, and we are delighted to offer this technology to our Zonal customers.
To find out more about FreedomPay and our other leading integrations, visit our integrations page.
Get the latest news and insights from Zonal
-
Blog
How hospitality businesses can create ‘Superfans’
-
Blog
How loyalty can help tackle no shows
-
Research
GO Technology: More Than a Meal
-
Blog
The power of personalised communication in driving loyalty
-
Blog
How important are effective comms in building customer relationships?
-
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GO Technology: Why 6:12pm is the new 8pm
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How can smaller hospitality businesses make loyalty work?
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How to nurture loyal customers
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Recent research reveals that 90% of the top booked dates for 2024 were Sundays, with only two exceptions: Valentine’s Day and the Saturday before Mother’s Day. Of the top 20 dates which had the most bookings, 18 fell on Sundays.
Taking Christmas/December bookings out of the equation, Mother’s Day emerged as the most popular date for bookings followed by Father’s Day and Easter Sunday. The top 10 booking dates were revealed as the following:
- Mother’s Day
- Father’s Day
- Easter Sunday
- Valentine’s Day
- Sunday 5th May (Day before 1st May bank holiday)
- Sunday 26th May (Day before 2nd May bank holiday)
- Saturday 9th March (Day before Mother’s Day)
- Sunday 27th October
- Sunday 28th April
- Sunday 11th February
The data also showed a trend in consumers booking last minute, with all of the top 10 booking dates, having a substantial amount of reservations made on the day itself. When looking at which day drove the most last-minute reservations, Sunday 26th May tops the list with nearly half of bookings being made on the day. Easter Sunday, also saw a surprisingly high-number of on the day bookings, with over a quarter (26%) of people booking on the day.
The research also revealed that over 50% of all Sunday bookings in those top 10 dates, were lunchtime bookings, demonstrating the priorities for key occasions and Sunday bookings.
This emphasises the importance of having robust systems in place to handle bookings efficiently. A digital booking platform with real-time table availability can help operators streamline operations, better manage table covers and staff schedules, and handle last-minute booking adjustments. Such tools are crucial for maximising revenue, especially during high-demand periods.
Commenting on the findings, Tim Chapman, Chief Commercial Officer, Zonal, said: “Our research shows that Sundays dominate the top booking dates for 2024, highlighting the importance of these days for the hospitality industry. Our GO Technology research with CGA by NIQ and UKHospitality earlier this year, revealed that 44% of Britons wanting to spend time in hospitality venues to celebrate a special occasion, so it’s no surprise that key occasions like Mother’s Day and Father’s Day lead the list, reflecting how integral these moments are to customer dining habits.
“By leveraging tools that provide real-time table availability and streamline the booking process, operators can ensure they’re well-prepared to capitalise on these high-demand dates and drive revenue throughout the year.”
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Zonal Hotel Solutions launches new upselling integration
We’re excited to announce the launch of our newest integration, Enhance My Stay.
The upselling platform enables guests to upgrade their experience before arrival or at optimum points throughout their stay, with perfectly timed product and service alerts, discounts and offers.
Boost your hotel’s revenue with Enhance My Stay, which offers guests personalised up-sells, tailored to their preferences. From spa treatments and gym passes to champagne or fresh flowers upon arrival, this new integration helps hoteliers create the very best experiences for their guests through special touches that leave a lasting impression.
The platform is fully customisable, allowing hoteliers to custom-build emails and landing pages in their brand’s own unique style.
We’re so pleased to welcome Enhance My Stay into the Zonal family to help our customers further boost their income.
If you’d like to learn more or are interested in adding this integration to your PMS, contact us today or speak to your account manager.
For more integrations, visit our PMS Marketplace.
Get the latest news and insights from Zonal
-
Blog
How hospitality businesses can create ‘Superfans’
-
Blog
How loyalty can help tackle no shows
-
Research
GO Technology: More Than a Meal
-
Blog
The power of personalised communication in driving loyalty
-
Blog
How important are effective comms in building customer relationships?
-
Research
GO Technology: Why 6:12pm is the new 8pm
-
Blog
How can smaller hospitality businesses make loyalty work?
-
Blog
How to nurture loyal customers