The gift card industry is worth £7 billion each year. Credit: MK photograp55 via Shutterstock.

New research from Gifted – a UK gift voucher platform by Journey Hospitality – has found that 43% of total revenue from hotel gift voucher sales is generated in November and December.

Black Friday has the highest average spend per hotel voucher at £152 and generated more than £2m in sales in 2022 with a reported increase of 741% on regular business days.

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Hotels then face a busy end to the year as they juggle gift voucher fulfilment with the operational demands of the festive season.

Major hoteliers such as IHG include vouchers within their loyalty programmes, while national tourism boards use hotel vouchers as incentives for inbound tourists.

Hotel gift voucher demographics

The research looked at the consumer demographics of gender, age and regionality for the purchase of hotel gift vouchers.

Women buy the most hotel gift vouchers each month (apart from December) while men buy three in every five sold on Christmas Eve.

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A quarter of all hotel gift vouchers are bought by 25 to 34-year-olds. Over 65s are the least likely to buy gift vouchers, at just 10% of all sales.

London shoppers buy almost 3 in 5 vouchers (59%), with Birmingham (3%), Plymouth (2.9%), Norwich and Milton Keynes (2.7% each) rounding out the top five purchaser locations.

66% of vouchers bought in 2023 are delivered via email, while post is preferred by 20% of shoppers, particularly when purchasing from a high-end luxury hotel. The highest price for a gift voucher in a UK hotel in 2022 on the Gifted platform was £25,560.

Journey Hospitality CEO Simmon Bullingham commented: “The gift card industry is worth £7bn each year, and hoteliers have become more savvy at staking their claim to that pot. Afternoon tea, spa treatments and hotel stays are the staples, but consumers are also searching for more quirky experiences. Murder mystery events, cookery schools and wild water swimming experiences are just some of the hotel vouchers sold in the last year.

“To maximise business opportunities, hotels need to provide gift vouchers that are easily shoppable to customers. In today’s digital age, selling vouchers online is a sure-fire way to boost revenue and give your customers what they want – memorable experiences and a deeper brand connection.”