Pre-August Christmas Preparations = A Fully Booked Festive Season

The festive season is a golden opportunity for restaurants, bars, and venues, but only if you’re ready for it. 

ResDiary analysed the impact of the festive season on hospitality venues in our report Beyond the Booking - Festive Season Success Unwrapped. Our research revealed a flurry of fascinating statistics about the experiences of UK venues across the festive season. 

For example, while almost 8 in 10 restaurants (79%) state that the festive season is their busiest time of year, the same proportion also state that they want to be busier still. And a surprising 34% admit they are never fully booked during the festive period.  

So, what’s the difference between those who thrive and those who fall short? 

It all comes down to when you start planning.

What are the benefits of pre-August Christmas preparations and promoting your festive offering ahead of time?

A quarter of hospitality venue operators who start their Christmas preparations and festive roll-out before August said they are fully booked by September.  

For those who aren’t so fortunate, early planning still yields a positive impact, with the proportion of venues described as never being fully booked during the festive period dropping from a third (34%) of overall restaurants to just 18% of restaurants for whom planning and promotion began before August.     

Not only did this early planning fill their reservation diary, but it also provided them with more time to market their festive offering, reconfigure table plans, and implement other seasonal changes to their operations, long before their competitors.  

Early planning also proved advantageous when recruiting seasonal staff, with research finding more than half of restaurants (57%) increased their workforce to manage the festive season. Similarly, 54% increased their stock levels to meet the spike in demand at this time of year. Having bookings and pre-orders confirmed early meant that dealing with these operational adjustments was more efficient and stress-free. No last-minute scrambling needed. 

And in what is considered the season for spending, with more than two-thirds (69%) of restaurants taking significantly more revenue during the festive period, early-planners see even more substantial growth, with 82% of pre-August preppers taking significantly more revenue. 

Colin Winning, Director of Platform at ResDiary, says:  

“The festive season is a hotly anticipated and instrumental period in the hospitality calendar, so it's important restaurants have these ongoing insights in order to benchmark, evaluate their current position, and steady up their plans for the season ahead.  

“Our findings demonstrate a clear correlation between those putting their festive plans in place before August, in higher booking numbers, and subsequently higher revenue generation. We are therefore encouraging all restaurants who haven’t done so already to start promoting their festive offering now, with our report also highlighting how restaurants should be adapting their operations and marketing strategies for a successful season.”

The cost of delaying your Christmas preparations

Venues that delayed planning faced a range of avoidable challenges: 

• Last-minute staffing issues and rota gaps. 
• Missed marketing windows, especially for early-bird diners.
• Increased stress - 46% of operators from busier venues said they felt overwhelmed during the festive season.  
• Lost revenue from unfilled tables, inefficient layouts, and missed calls. 

Even though 79% of operators said they wanted to be busier, many simply didn’t have the systems or promotions in place to capture that demand.

What pre-August Christmas preparations can you do? 

Planning before August gives you time to: 

• Optimise your table layout for larger groups and peak times.
• Launch early-bird promotions to loyal customers.
• Set up pre-order and set menus to streamline kitchen operations.
• Train seasonal staff and lock in rotas.
• Automate bookings, deposits, and reminders to reduce admin and no-shows. 

With ResDiary, you can set all of this up in advance - then let the system do the heavy lifting. From automated booking rules to integrated marketing tools, it’s all designed to help you stay ahead of the festive rush.  

Based on this, we’ve mapped out a handy timeline of key planning and preparation events to help you make the most of the busier festive period. Whether you’re just getting started in the industry or simply trying to achieve your most successful festive season yet, this calendar ensures you don’t miss a thing. 

Discover the full Festive Season Guide

Beyond the Booking: Festive Season Success Unwrapped is designed to illustrate the state of the hospitality sector and provide valuable insights from your peers to inform your critical decisions around the festive season and your Christmas preparations.  
 
The report covers topics such as: 

• Customer booking and spending habits.
• How and why forward planning is key to more bookings and revenue. 
• How deposits can help you secure vital revenue at the busiest time of year. 
• Preparing to optimise your operations.
• Curing the January blues of a post-Christmas lull.  

So don't wait, start preparing your business for a busy festive season now!  

Read the full guide: