Why should Sunday be the check-out day?

For the majority of people who spend a weekend in a hotel, Sunday morning brings closure to their weekend as they check out of the hotel to return home, to prepare for the new week ahead. And that’s been the norm for years – particularly in resort hotels and during the low season.

To the few guests who stay on Sunday nights, the sudden quietness that descends upon the hotel (fewer guests, less staff and no noise) can be a totally different experience; soothingly quiet in fact to some - if not to all. Not so soothing though to the hotel, because fewer rooms occupied translate to less revenue earned.

Sunday night, whichever you look at it, is for many hotels, an ‘in-between’ night, with the majority of weekend guests having checked out on Sunday morning. If the hotel has a fair share of corporate travelers, business guests aren’t checking in until Monday - which then obviously leads to low occupancy on Sundays. Consequently, like the good lord proclaimed; many hotels rollover Sunday as a day of rest from work - particularly when Saturday nights’ are feverishly busy.

Consider Hotel X, which has cyclic high demand from Monday to Saturday, where average occupancy between Monday and Thursday is 75%, rising to near 100% on both Friday and Saturday nights, finishing the week with 45% occupancy on Sunday nights. The hotel considers this the norm and does nothing, particularly since all other nearby hotels encounter a similar occupancy pattern.

The bottom-line is that many such hotels are happy been busy on six of the seven days in the week whilst accepting Sunday as a day of rest. Then there are a few hotels that treat Sunday as no different to the rest of their busy weekday business, and price Sunday night (rather irrationally) the same as the high demand Monday to Friday weekday nights.

Very few hoteliers recognize that, Sunday nights can contribute some revenue opportunities in many markets and a singular focus on a weekday strategy that misses the mark by not pricing dynamically; can end up sacrificing incremental profits. . If your hotel could use some remedies for mending a Sunday night slump, here are a few possible areas for consideration;-

• Be creative; make Sunday a ‘must stay on’ day, making it difficult for those taking for a weekend ‘break’ not to extend their stay one extra night. If your hotel has a very popular restaurant, which like the hotel is near empty during Sunday dinnertime, tempt them with a Sunday Dinner special. Not many would want to drive back after a wonderful meal? Take advantage of that reluctance by combining the Sunday dining experience with an attractively priced room rate.
• Come to think of it, after COVID drove people to stay at away from the office and work from home, for many, the need to go to the workplace on Monday no longer exists – hence the adaptation of remote working has generated a completely new market opportunity…one that very few have taken advantage of. That dream of beginning the work week working in the comfort of an air-conditioned hotel room overlooking the ocean can now be reality. What a game changer!
• Have your chef offer your guests lessons to cook meals in the kitchen on Sunday afternoons where they get to eat what they cooked for dinner, with a movie night included. Get the team involved to come out with similar attractive activities and initiatives that can really appeal to potential guests and boost your occupancy levels on days when demand tends to be low.
• Remember the emerging tribe of digital nomads; Target them too for a Sunday night stay with complimentary late checkout (if possible) and the freedom to work in public spaces.
• What about those corporate guests who check-in on Monday and leave for home on Friday? Is there a possibility of incentivizing a Sunday night check-in so that business travelers can get in a day earlier to get some rest before starting the Monday meetings.

Shafeek Wahab – Editor, Hospitality Sri Lanka, Consultant, Trainer, Ex-Hotelier.

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