A recent increase in agent marketing towards the end of each month is boosting bookings around pay day.
At the TTNG conference in Bucharest, Chief Commercial Officer Vim Vithaldas said pay day peaks is one of several ‘peaks’ that the trade is seeing throughout the year and agents are marketing more around pay day.
He told delegates: “When we talk about peaks, you have got different things going on; you’ve got pay day peaks, where certainly more and more marketing is happening around pay day to generate business.
“We also have peaks on ‘cruising months’ and ‘touring months’, a lot of (marketing) activity is spread out across the year, so I don’t think the traditional peaks are going to be coming back.”
Vim later told Travel Gossip: “Agents are doing more and more marketing around pay day, starting about two weeks before, so customers are getting emails about holidays around about the time their salary comes in. This is driving bookings at the lower end of the market.”
Advantage Travel Partnership Commercial Director John Sullivan said that, as pay day approaches, the consortium advises members to prepare for the ‘pay day surge’.
He said: “The majority of our suppliers and business partners strategically launch targeted campaigns to capture these pay day bookers.
“This pay day phenomenon extends beyond the traditional peaks, creating a ripple effect of demand across our membership base at the end of each month throughout the year.
“This pattern mirrors what we observe in other consumer-facing sectors, including hospitality and entertainment, where pay day-driven purchasing behaviour influences monthly trading patterns.”
Blue Bay Travel Chief Executive Alistair Rowland said: “Pay day peaks is a definite thing for us, we do ‘peak’ in the latter half of pay week for sure. It’s something we have seen every month this year.”
Seaside Travel Head of Business and Commercial Paula Gleeson said the 13-branch agency typically sees a 20% sales boost on the last or first working day of the month.
She explained: “We definitely see an increase of sales around pay day dates. If we are going to run an in-store event or some kind of promotion on social media, we do tend to base it around pay days and weekends.”
Not Just Travel founder Steve Witt said customers are more likely to book at the beginning of the month, saying: “It may have become more noticeable in recent years as money has become tighter.”
Ayrshire-based Thorne Travel Managing Director Shona Thorne said: “Pay day sales have always been the case for us. We have the middle of the month when our local council have their pay day, so have a rush then and then again at the end of the month.”
