The Venues Winning Christmas Are Creating Content Now
By the time someone opens your Christmas brochure, they have already decided whether they are interested.
Introduction
Forget the 30 page Christmas brochure.
Forget the packages. Forget the pricing.
By the time someone opens your Christmas brochure, they have already decided whether they are interested.
What gets them there is the content.
Whether it is a corporate event organiser searching for the right venue or a family planning Christmas Day lunch, people buy what they can picture themselves experiencing. That is why the venues securing bookings first are creating content long before the decorations go up.
The timing matters too. Research from ResDiary found that 82% of hospitality venues that begin planning before August generate significantly more festive revenue, while 24% are fully booked before September. It also found that venues promoting their festive offering before August are far more likely to have a stronger Christmas trading period.
New revenue delivered across clients
Humbug
Last Christmas, we created festive campaign videos for Humbug's London and Manchester venues.
Those videos became the lead asset across social media, email marketing and corporate outreach.
Instead of opening conversations with menus, pricing and PDFs, the sales team could lead with atmosphere, entertainment and experience.
Corporate bookers were not being asked to imagine their Christmas party.
They could see it.
Video has become one of the strongest sales tools available. According to the Wyzowl State of Video Marketing report, 98% of consumers have watched a video to learn more about a product or service, while 87% say video has directly influenced a purchasing decision.
For Humbug, the Christmas video was not the brochure.
It was the reason people wanted to read the brochure.
More conversions across clients
Little Fires
This year we took a completely different approach.
Instead of filming a venue dressed for Christmas, we filmed it exactly as it is.
Empty.
For corporate event organisers, that is often more valuable than showing someone else's event. They want to picture their own branding, their own production and their own guests in the space.
The walkthrough becomes a virtual first viewing.
Prospects can understand the layout, capacity and potential before arranging a site visit. By the time they enquire, they are already making a more informed decision about whether the venue is right for them.
There is no single published study proving that venue walkthrough videos alone increase conversions. However, venue and hospitality marketing guidance consistently recommends strong visual content because it helps decision makers understand and shortlist spaces before committing to an in-person viewing. Propeller's guidance on driving Christmas bookings also highlights the importance of engaging campaign assets and dedicated landing pages in moving potential customers towards enquiry.
For Little Fires, that means the video does not replace the sales process, it improves it.
It also becomes a valuable piece of content on the Christmas landing page, giving visitors something engaging to watch instead of simply scrolling through text and packages.
Create now, launch later
Creating Christmas content in July does not mean posting festive reels while everyone is sitting in a beer garden — it means producing everything before you need it. Film the venue, photograph the food, create the reels, build the landing page, write the emails and prepare the paid ads, so you can launch the moment booking season begins. ResDiary's guidance on preparing for Christmas recommends using the summer months to prepare festive campaigns well before the main booking season — and none of it needs to sit on your grid in July. Content can be held for rollout from late August, with paid campaigns running as dark ads to reach early Christmas planners.
Know what you're really selling
If you are a hotel, you are not simply selling Christmas Day lunch — you are selling festive escapes, overnight stays and destination experiences that guests plan months in advance. If you are a pub or restaurant, you are competing for office parties, family celebrations and group bookings, all of which get locked in early. Every one of those customers is researching, comparing and making decisions long before December arrives — and the venues that planned in July are the ones they'll find when they do.
Conclusion
The takeaway
Your Christmas brochure explains the offer.
Your content creates the demand.
Show people the atmosphere.
Show them the experience.
Show them the blank canvas they can make their own.
Because the venues winning Christmas bookings are not the ones producing the biggest Christmas brochure.
They are the ones creating the content that gets people to enquire in the first place.