Hands holding a small gift box with a cream ribbon

Why having something to look forward to can be part of the gift itself

The gift of anticipation

As Christmas approaches, gift vouchers naturally move higher up the agenda for hotels. They offer a useful seasonal revenue stream but looking at them purely as a transaction misses something more interesting about why people choose to give experiences in the first place.

When we gift someone a dinner, a spa day or a night away, we are not simply handing over access to a product or service. We are creating an opportunity for time well spent, often with someone they care about, and giving them something enjoyable to put in the diary.

That feeling of anticipation has value of its own.

Something to look forward to

A dinner voucher is not life changing. Nor does it need to be. Its value might simply be an evening together that would otherwise never happen, a spa day that creates permission to relax, or a night away that offers a welcome change of scene.

Research by behavioural scientists Amit Kumar, Matthew Killingsworth and Thomas Gilovich found that people experienced more positive anticipation while waiting for an experiential purchase than for a material one. The point is not that experiences are automatically “better”, but that they create several moments of value: when received, while being planned, during the visit and later, when they become part of a shared memory.

Hands holding a white gift box with red striped ribbon and a burlap bow

More than the transaction

A £150 voucher is worth £150. Yet a dinner and an overnight stay for two gives the recipient more to picture: who they will take, when they might go and what it will feel like to spend that time together.

Hotels already create experiences that carry meaning beyond the transaction. Afternoon tea can be time with Mum. Dinner can be a well overdue catch up with friends. A spa treatment can be a few uninterrupted hours to yourself. The job is not to exaggerate those moments, but to make them easy to understand and give.

Modern neuroscience points to connections between memory, emotion and reward. Research into nostalgia shows that autobiographical memory and emotion draw on connected brain networks, which explain why meaningful experiences can stay with us and become part of the stories we remember and share.

Making your experiences easy to give

For hotels, this makes gift vouchers more than a Christmas revenue stream. They package experiences you already deliver, putting them in front of people looking for something thoughtful to give, and bringing a future guest through your door.

That is why the technology matters. Gift Voucher Brilliance from Clockwork Marketing is built for hospitality businesses, providing a secure way to sell stay, dining, spa, monetary and experience vouchers online through your hotel website.

It turns the things you already do well into experiences that are easy to browse, buy and give. Once the voucher is opened, the next stage begins: the planning, anticipation and, eventually, the experience itself.

So perhaps the most useful question in the lead up to Christmas is not simply, “What vouchers should we sell?” but: “which of our experiences would someone genuinely enjoy having in the diary?”

To make more of those experiences, talk to Clockwork Marketing about Gift Voucher Brilliance.

Let's talk