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The scent of cinnamon and cloves, lights on houses, decorated streets and squares and, of course, Home Alone on our screens. Yes, that time of year has arrived. That period which always seems to come too quickly and end even faster. It is a time of joy, happiness, togetherness and spending time with family and loved ones – the holiday season. We have slowly recovered from the work and hectic pace of the tourist season, while preparations for the next one still feel somewhere far away.
And of course, this is the time of year when you should definitely reward yourself for all the effort and time you invested to make the season go as smoothly as possible. But keep in mind that this special atmosphere is something shared by both you and your guests. That is exactly why you should show your past – and future – guests what great hosts you are and let them know you are thinking of them by sending them a holiday greeting and wishing them all the best.
The holidays are the perfect opportunity to remind your guests that you are there and to make sure they remember you when they soon start planning their next holiday.
We bring you several good ideas on how to wish your guests happy holidays and pleasantly surprise them. In this way, you also send the message that they are not just a number to you, which can trigger emotions – and we know that emotions are often the best trigger for action, in other words, for a booking.
Play with design: free online tools that can help
Of course, you can send a holiday greeting as just a few lines in an email – and that is still better than not sending a greeting at all. But if you want to leave a special impression, it is worth making a little extra effort and designing your own greeting card to send to your guests.
There are many free online tools that can help you with this. One of the most popular is Canva. In Canva, you first choose the format you want, for example for a Facebook post, Instagram story or online greeting card dimensions, and then you can let your imagination run free. You can play with fonts, colours, shapes, effects, graphic elements, decorations and even animations.
You can make the greeting even more personal by including a photo of your apartment in the design or, even better, cheerful faces of your family members wearing Christmas hats and raising a toast in the apartment living room. Promotion of your property and a greeting card in one.
For those who want more: video greetings
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Then a video is worth a million. Send your holiday greeting in the form of a short video in which, for example, you share your wishes in English and Croatian. Guests will find it interesting to hear our language as well, and video gives you the opportunity to express emotion much better through gestures and tone of voice than a photo ever could.
If editing videos is not unfamiliar to you, add a festive effect or two and create a greeting that will truly be remembered.
No inspiration? Let AI think for you
You definitely want to send your guests a holiday greeting, but you simply do not have time to think about how to phrase a nice and interesting message? In that case, you can make it easier for yourself and leave that part to artificial intelligence.
Type “AI text generator” into an internet search engine and you will get suggestions for various websites through which you can often ask for the help of artificial intelligence for free. If you have not tried this yet, do not worry – it is very simple and quick to learn. In one of these AI tools, you simply type what you want the tool to do for you.
Example prompt: “Write a Christmas and New Year holiday greeting in German, in 50 words, and include an invitation to spend a holiday in Croatia.”
Try it – the results may pleasantly surprise you.
Be careful with the content of your greetings
The holiday atmosphere around us exists because Christmas, one of the most important Christian holidays, is approaching. But that does not mean that all the guests you are addressing with a Christmas greeting are Christians or that they will react equally positively to a message saying “Merry Christmas”.
That is why it is often wiser to stay neutral and wish your guests to enjoy the holidays, their time off and the cheerful events that fill December in many parts of the world. Wish them health, love, joy and – plenty of vacation days to enjoy in Croatia.
Go one step further: a discount voucher
The holiday season is also a season of giving. You can give your guests a voucher for a discount on booking accommodation with you. This can be a purely symbolic discount, but you can also be more generous and, for example, offer a more significant discount for bookings in a specific part of the year, especially outside the main season.
Such a gesture can be an extra incentive for guests to book with you again. In this way, you combine something pleasant with something useful.
A personalized approach is the best approach
We mentioned video greetings, online design tools and even artificial intelligence. But do you know what surpasses all of that? A good old pen and paper. Your guests may be most surprised if you write your wishes by hand, on real greeting cards like the ones people used to send.
Of course, it is unlikely that you communicate with all your guests by post, but if over the years you have gained loyal guests with whom you have developed real friendships, why not?
For everyone else, it is still a big plus if you create your greetings to be as personalized as possible. Generic texts with expected wishes will not trigger emotions nearly as strongly as messages in which you address the guest by name. And if you add a small memory or anecdote you remember from their stay with you, a good impression is almost guaranteed.
And finally… holiday wishes from the Apartmanica team!
We are approaching the end of another year, and this is already the eighth year in which we live and work in tourism, with you and for you. Every day, during the season and outside it. That is why we know very well how much effort you put in and how much of your own time you sacrifice to make your business as successful as possible.
So take a little time now to wish your guests happy holidays, and then take some time for yourself as well. Wrap yourself in a blanket, make some tea or mulled wine, watch Kevin’s adventures once more and gather around you the people who bring a smile to your face.
Enjoy, make the most of every moment and recharge your batteries. Before we know it, work will return – forms, deadlines, bookings and the new season will be here again. But do not worry, we are still here for all of that. We will continue to remind you of your obligations, encourage creativity and advise you on how to be even more successful.
For now, relax and may the upcoming holidays be as beautiful and peaceful as possible. You deserve it.
Your Apartmanica
