17/09/2026
Key Takeaways
They are material: successful hotels sell 5% to 10% of total booking value through vouchers
The market is growing at 12-15% a year, with spa and wellness vouchers up more than 23% in two years
Around 15% of vouchers are never redeemed: pure revenue, but breakage should not be the strategy
Q4 decides the year: a voucher shop that is not ready in September is already running late
Why hotel gift vouchers are the overlooked direct channel
Ask a hotelier how they plan to grow direct bookings and you will hear about the booking engine, metasearch and reducing OTA commission. Rarely do you hear gift vouchers. In our view that is the biggest blind spot in most direct-booking strategies. A voucher sale is the purest direct transaction a hotel can make. The buyer comes to your website, pays in full and in advance, and no third party takes a cut. And because the buyer is usually not the guest, every sale introduces your hotel to someone new.
The problem is ownership. Who owns vouchers in your hotel? Vouchers sit with reception as an admin task and nobody in revenue or marketing usually owns the number. Our position: vouchers should be run as a revenue channel, with a target, a campaign calendar, a monthly report and a champion.
How much revenue do hotel gift vouchers generate?
Gift vouchers generate more than most GMs assume. Hotels running Bookassist Vouchers typically see 5% to 10% of total booking value come through the channel. The gift voucher market is growing at 12-15% a year, and wellness vouchers are up more than 23% in two years as consumers shift from giving objects to giving time. Cash also arrives months before the stay, which matters in a thin January.
The breakage trap
Around 15% of vouchers are never redeemed and that revenue goes straight to the bottom line. It is tempting to treat this as the whole point, but it's not. A redeemed voucher delivers two contacts, purchaser and recipient, who both chose your hotel by name, and in our experience the recipient is far more likely to return than an OTA guest. Breakage is a bonus, but redemption is where the loyalty sits, so make it easy rather than hoping people forget.
Why most hotels under-sell gift vouchers
Mobile. Voucher purchases are impulse and last-minute. If the online shop does not convert on a mobile phone, the sale is usually lost.
Range. Monetary vouchers alone leave money on the table. Stays, afternoon tea, spa, dining and seasonal packages raise average order value.
Promotion. The gifting window is short. Email to past guests, paid social and a homepage entry point beat waiting for organic traffic; Bookassist's Non-room Revenue Campaigns exist for this.
Operations. Redemption at reception, in the restaurant and online must be seamless, with clean reporting on sold, redeemed and expired value.
Getting hotel gift vouchers right
Bookassist Vouchers is a branded mobile-first revenue engine personalised for your hotel, covering monetary, package, seasonal and offline vouchers, with redemption and reporting built in. Hotels moving to the platform have increased voucher sales by up to 25%. Camden Court Hotel Dublin grew annual voucher revenue by 23% in 2024 after switching.
Vouchers will not replace room revenue. But an OTA-free direct channel that pays in advance and brings new guests through the door surely belongs in every 2027 direct-booking plan.
