Why Tourism Businesses Love Last-Minute Travelers (And How to Become One)

Walk into almost any hotel three days before the weekend and ask if they have a room available and you will probably get a place to stay that’s cheaper than anyone who was sensible enough to book ahead of time. The same goes for any tours, rental cars, experiences, etc. This isn’t some secret insider guide. This is just how the travel industry works. Businesses want to sell as much inventory as possible, and they’d prefer to sell it at a discount to last-minute travelers rather than have empty spaces.

What’s even more interesting than last-minute travelers being rewarded in such a way is the fact that businesses don’t just sit and wait for these types of travelers to show up. In fact, they actively seek them out — often more so than they advertise for early bookers. Understanding why can help you get the inside scoop on how travel actually operates.

The Cost of Empty Inventory

Every empty hotel room, open tour spot, and rental car sitting on a lot costs the business money that can never be recovered the moment those dates have passed. Unlike purchasable goods, tourism activities are time-sensitive. An open hotel room can’t be sold for a previous date. The costs of running any tourism business don’t change depending on whether that business is running at 60% or 90% capacity. Employees still need to be paid. Utilities still need to run. Premiums don’t shift. And any money that comes in due to filling the few last spots in a tourism business at a discount just goes straight to the bottom line.

Tourism businesses love last-minute bookings for more than just additional revenues that come directly to the bottom line. Last-minute bookings create less work for the business.

A booking that takes place well in advance still requires the business to offer a ton of back-and-forth communication between the business and the booker. Cancellations require attention and changes have to be executed. This creates a large amount of work.

Last-minute booking tourists have already done all their pre-activity communication by the time they show up to partake in the services that they booked. They require less attention from the managers as the managers don’t need to manage their time.

Last-minute tourists tend to spend more money once they arrive than people who plan ahead. When someone books a hotel stay three days ahead of time, they book their dinner reservations, they sign up for tours, and they make deals about what other special things they’re going to do.

Getting Reach To Last Minute Travelers Quickly

The challenge in finding last-minute deals isn’t whether or not to advertise them. The challenge is ensuring these advertisements reach people quickly enough. Someone who books a flight or rental room six months out already has time to study their inboxes and their social media feeds. Tourism businesses can’t rely on these platforms to provide ads for last-minute travel.

This challenge is often met via rapid digital advertising via the best cpm ad networks rather than on physical objects like flyers and billboards placed in tourist areas.

Digital ad networks can easily place tourism ad businesses in websites and digital areas that tourists are already visiting for other reasons. Instead of forcing tourists to see these ads in social media accounts, businesses own and control and such time-sink activities, these ads are instead placed front-and-center, allowing both tourists and businesses to agree that last-minute travel doesn’t appear out of thin air!

The Flexibility Factor

Last-minute travelers are also inherently more flexible than the tourists who book six months in advance. A person who plans their trip six months ahead of time has specific plans already locked in. They know exactly what kind of room they need. They have specific travel paths they need to follow. They might even know specifics on what type of room they’re going to stay in. They’re much less willing than the average last-minute traveler to take anything.

This adds another layer of value to last-minute tourists. Less logistical work is needed once these last-minute reservations are filled. Businesses can level out their loads and use what may be otherwise unused economy-class suites and lower-priced rental cars.

How To Become A Last-Minute Traveler

If you want to learn how to be a last-minute tourist so that you can take advantage of these lessons and experiences and discounts from businesses, you have to travel very differently from the way most tourists do — and not actively seek out these types of deals or types of excursions.

If you want to be a last-minute traveler, you have to build more flexibility into your life and your schedule than most people do. You have to know your baseline prices versus actual deals if you want to take advantage of what is given to you on a cheap platter.

If you want to be able to notice as many of these deals as possible, you should know about as many of the platforms as possible. You have to be less picky than most people (create a checklist of places you’d be willing to visit rather than one specific destination with one very specific checklist).

Ensure that you are prepped with your phone and dates ready rather than delaying who you are and what you need by frantically searching around. If you want to stay organized in how you plan these excursions or trips, be sure that your plans are easily accessible

The tourism industry needs last-minute travelers just as much as last-minute travelers need touristy areas willing to give them sweet deals on spontaneous adventures. By using these tips, both those in the industry as well as those who wish to encounter commercialized experiences can both get what they want!