Why gift vouchers pay off for your hotel
Vouchers are not a discount tool but advance sales with a personal recommendation built in.The first benefit is cash flow. The voucher is paid for today, and you provide the service weeks or months later. Especially in December, when many properties are quiet and fixed costs keep running, that makes a difference. The right attitude matters here: the money is only yours once the voucher has been redeemed. Until then it is an open obligation to the guest.
The second benefit is new guests. Whoever gives a voucher usually already knows your property. Whoever receives it often does not. You win guests through a personal recommendation, without paying commission to a booking platform. Many recipients book directly with you, and anyone who enjoyed their stay is happy to come back without a voucher.
The third benefit is steering occupancy. You can design vouchers so that they are mainly redeemed in quieter periods, for example a “Winter Escape” package from November to March, excluding public holidays. That way vouchers fill the weeks in which you would otherwise be thinking about discounts.
Monetary voucher or experience voucher
A monetary voucher is for an amount, for example €100. The guest can use it for accommodation, the restaurant or the spa. It is flexible and simple for the giver. An experience voucher describes an experience, such as “Two nights in a double room with breakfast and dinner”. It works better as a gift, because the recipient can picture something.
In practice, many properties offer both: three to five popular packages plus free amounts. With an experience voucher, you should define what happens if your prices change before redemption or the package is no longer offered. A note such as “Value at time of purchase: €320” on the voucher creates clarity for both sides.
The difference can also matter for tax. Whether a voucher counts as a single-purpose or multi-purpose voucher determines, among other things, when VAT becomes due. That depends on your offer and the VAT rates of the services included. This classification should be made by your tax adviser, not by reception.
| Feature | Monetary voucher | Experience voucher |
|---|---|---|
| Example | €100 towards your stay | Two nights with breakfast for two people |
| For the giver | Simple, always fits | More personal, feels like an experience |
| For the recipient | Can be used freely, also in part | Clear what is included |
| For the hotel | Flexible, remaining balance possible | Good control over periods and room types |
| Watch out for | Set a minimum and maximum amount | Define rules for price changes and availability |
Design and price points
A good voucher looks like your property and can be understood in ten seconds.Choose price points that fit your room rates. A €50 voucher is a nice small gift but does not cover a night. Amounts that correspond to one night, a weekend or a package make sense. Free amounts are popular but need a lower limit, so the effort is worthwhile, and an upper limit that suits your property.
In the design, what counts is the moment the voucher is handed over. Logo, house colours, a beautiful image, a personal message from the giver and the recipient’s name turn a receipt into a present. Clearly legible, it should also include: voucher number, value or service, validity, the key terms in two sentences and a code reception can scan.
Promotions such as “€100 voucher for €90” can boost sales before Christmas. Work out beforehand whether the discount still pays if the voucher is redeemed in high season. A promotion on a low-season package is often the better choice than a flat reduction.
| Voucher | Value | Intended as |
|---|---|---|
| Small monetary voucher | €75 | Dinner or a spa treatment |
| Overnight monetary voucher | €150 | One night in a double room with breakfast |
| “Short Break” package | €320 | Two nights with breakfast and one dinner |
| “Winter Escape” package | €290 | Two nights, redeemable from November to March |
| Free amount | €25 to €1,000 | For anyone who wants to decide for themselves |
What every voucher should include
- Hotel name and logo, contact details for bookings
- Unique voucher number and a scannable code
- Value or an exact description of the service
- Validity and, if applicable, redemption periods
- Short terms: partial redemption, transferability, cash payout
- Personal message from the giver
Sales: website, reception and the right occasions
The most important place to sell is your own website. Someone looking for a present for their parents at 10 pm will not call reception. An online shop that sells around the clock, is paid instantly and sends the voucher straight away as a PDF takes work off your team. Place the link visibly in the navigation, not hidden in the footer.
Reception remains the second strong sales channel. Guests who have just had a lovely stay are happy to buy a voucher for friends or family. A small display at check-out or a sentence in the departure conversation is enough. Important: vouchers sold at reception must go into the same inventory as the online vouchers.
For most of the year, vouchers sell quietly in the background. Around certain occasions, a targeted mention in your newsletter, on social media and on the home page is worthwhile. Plan these dates two to three weeks in advance.
| Occasion | When to promote | Suitable offer |
|---|---|---|
| Christmas | Mid-November to 24 December | Monetary vouchers and packages, instantly as a PDF to print |
| Valentine’s Day | End of January to 14 February | Romantic package for two |
| Easter | Three weeks before Easter | Family weekend or spring break |
| Mother’s Day | Mid-April to the second Sunday in May | Spa or gourmet package |
| Birthday, wedding, anniversary | All year round | Free amounts with a personal message |
| Companies | Autumn | Vouchers as gifts for staff or clients |
A Christmas promotion in four steps
- 01Define the offer
Choose two to three packages and free amounts, and set redemption periods deliberately.
- 02Check the shop and copy
Update images, terms and the voucher template, and make a test purchase.
- 03Make it visible
Home page, newsletter, social media and email signatures from mid-November.
- 04Prepare reception
Printed vouchers and a short sentence for the departure conversation, so nobody has to improvise.
Redemption, partial redemption and accounting
Redemption is where vouchers either bring joy or cause trouble. Reception must see in seconds: is the voucher genuine, still valid, and how much balance is left? A scannable code and a central inventory prevent a voucher from being redeemed twice or a remaining balance getting lost in a spreadsheet.
Partial redemptions are the norm for monetary vouchers. A guest with a €200 voucher books a night for €160, and the remaining €40 stays on the voucher. Specify in your terms whether remaining balances are paid out in cash, and have this point checked too. For the guest, what matters most is that the balance is still there on the next visit.
For accounting, the general rule is: a voucher that has been sold but not yet redeemed is an open obligation. When it becomes revenue and how VAT is treated depends on the voucher type. At year end, your tax adviser should receive a list of all open voucher values. How you book them is for your tax adviser to decide; your system should deliver clean figures for it.
For smooth redemption
- Every voucher has a unique number and a code that can be scanned.
- Online and reception sales sit in one shared inventory.
- Reception sees validity and remaining balance before redemption.
- Partial redemptions are recorded with amount, date and booking.
- If a booking is cancelled, the redemption is reversed traceably too.
- At month or year end, there is a list of open voucher values.
How STRYK handles gift voucher sales
In STRYK, gift voucher sales are a module of their own and included in the base price. You set up the voucher shop in the booking engine: fixed products such as packages and monetary vouchers, free amounts with your own lower and upper limits if you wish, copy and terms in your guests’ languages, and a validity in months per product. A product’s selling price can be below the voucher value, for promotions such as “€100 voucher for €90”. The shop is published together with the booking engine, as a direct link or embedded in your website.
Online, the guest pays. The voucher is only issued once payment is confirmed, and arrives by email as a PDF in your property’s design: with logo, colours, number, value, validity, terms and QR code, in one of 18 languages. The buyer can also retrieve the voucher via a secure link. At reception, you sell vouchers with the actual payment method and print or send the same PDF. For vouchers paid online, the terms for online payments through STRYK apply, as shown on the pricing page.
For redemption, reception scans the QR code with the camera or a standard scanner, or enters the number. STRYK checks validity and balance and redeems the requested amount against a booking or invoice, also in part; the remaining balance stays on the same voucher. Guests can also use their voucher directly in the booking engine. Redemption is recorded as a payment, not a discount, and an overview shows open voucher values and redemptions for your tax adviser. You decide through roles which staff may issue, redeem or cancel vouchers.
