Reduce Stress this Christmas with Restaurant Vouchers and Pre-Orders

The festive season can be the busiest time of year for many hospitality businesses.  

This can be both good: research from ResDiary’s festive report shows that 69% of venues take significantly more revenue during the months of November and December, and bad: 46% of operators from busier venues say they feel overwhelmed during the festive season. 

Plus, 79% of venues still say that they want to improve further and earn even more across the festive season. So, it’s vital that hospitality businesses capitalise on every opportunity to increase revenue. 

Between managing bookings, training staff, and delivering a great guest experience, it’s easy to overlook two powerful tools that can boost revenue and reduce stress: Christmas restaurant vouchers and pre-orders. 

In this article, we’ll break down why these two features should be at the top of your festive checklist: 

Vouchers: Guaranteed Revenue and Future Bookings 

Gift vouchers and Christmas go hand in hand, and the numbers prove it. In fact, leisure and experience gift cards were among the strongest-performing categories over Christmas 2024 according to the GCVA Consumer Report. 

82% of venues surveyed in our festive report also reported a spike in restaurant voucher sales during the festive season. That’s not just extra income; it’s guaranteed revenue upfront and a strong chance of a future booking. 

Even better? Many voucher redemptions lead to additional spend beyond the voucher value. Anyone who’s spent a restaurant voucher probably knows that the temptation is always there to treat yourself when there’s free money in your pocket. 

So, not only are you locking in future guests, but you’re also increasing average spend per visit through upselling and add-ons. 

Top tip: Promote Christmas restaurant vouchers early and often. You could add a banner to your website, include them in your email campaigns, and make sure your staff mention them to guests.  

With ResDiary’s Vouchers add-on, venues can create their own vouchers and manage them all in one place. Our smart analytics dashboard can also make it easy to see how your voucher sales are doing, so you can measure their success and plan for the future, based on the number of bookings and revenue you expect them to generate.  

You can also use ResDiary’s integration with Acteol CRM to create and send promotional emails to your customer database, which makes it easier to promote your vouchers to the people who are probably already most engaged with your venue. 

Pre-Orders: Less Stress and More Profit

Pre-orders aren’t just about convenience, they’re about control. With large group bookings on the rise (80% of venues say they host more big parties during the festive season), pre-orders help your kitchen stay ahead and reduce waste. 

With pre-orders, customers will choose and sometimes even pay for their meals prior to the date of their booking. This gives your staff time to manage inventory and prepare well in advance to deliver a smooth and speedy service during busy sittings. It can also help to minimise the risk of errors, last-minute changes, and wastage.  

In fact, venues that used pre-orders in 2024 reported higher guest satisfaction and smoother operations, especially during peak weekends. 

Top tip: Use your booking system to automate pre-order collection and reminders. With ResDiary, it’s all built in - no spreadsheets or chasing guests required.  

ResDiary’s Pre-Order add-on enables you to create and manage your festive menus in one place. These can be created to cater for different party sizes or made bespoke for specific enquiries. Then, with the help of ResDiary’s smart booking widget on your website, you can start offering the pre-order menus to anyone who wants to make an online reservation for your restaurant during the festive season.  

41% of venues said that they spend too much time chasing and confirming pre-orders - but with ResDiary, customers can simply choose their options when they book online.

Summary

The festive season is a major revenue driver for hospitality, but it can also bring stress.  

According to ResDiary’s festive report, 69% of venues earn significantly more in November and December, yet 46% of operators feel overwhelmed.  

The good news? Christmas restaurant vouchers and pre-orders should be top of your festive season preparation list to help you boost income and ease the pressure. 

Vouchers offer guaranteed revenue and future bookings, with 82% of venues seeing a spike in sales during the festive period, and many redemptions leading to extra spend. Promoting them early and managing them through ResDiary’s Vouchers add-on, especially when paired with Acteol CRM and DesignMyNight, can maximise their impact.  

Meanwhile, pre-orders help streamline service, reduce kitchen stress, and improve guest satisfaction, which is particularly important as 80% of venues host more large parties during the festive season. With ResDiary’s Pre-Order add-on, customers can select their meals when booking online, cutting down on admin and last-minute changes. In fact, 41% of venues say they spend too much time chasing pre-orders, a problem easily solved with automation.  

Together, vouchers and pre-orders are simple, effective ways to increase festive revenue while making life easier for your team. 

For more insights into how to make the most of the festive period, download our report Beyond the Booking - Festive Season Success Unwrapped today: