The hotel marketing calendar: what to do from November to opening day.

Why does a seasonal hotel need a winter marketing plan?

Greek tourism is still concentrated in summer. Greece recorded 31 million international air arrivals in 2025, and July alone brought 5.2 million of them, or 16.6% of the year, according to a study by INSETE, the research institute of the Greek Tourism Confederation (OT.gr).

In Rhodes the gap is even sharper. Diagoras airport handled more than 7 million passengers in 2025, but only 72,624 in December (Fraport Greece). While the island is quiet, the people who will fill your rooms next summer are already comparing destinations.

The same INSETE study found that the strongest growth in 2025 came at the start and the end of the year, which it links to the potential of off-season tourism. If your hotel could open earlier or close later, winter is also the time to decide it.

When do guests book a summer holiday now?

Not all at the same time, and not as early as many hotels assume.

• United Kingdom, Greece's largest source market with 5.4 million arrivals in 2025 (INSETE): in a May 2026 survey for ABTA of 2,000 UK adults, 30% of those considering a summer holiday abroad said they would book 2-4 weeks before departure, and a further 10% less than two weeks before (ABTA).
• Germany, the second market with 5.1 million arrivals (INSETE): Dertour, one of the country's largest tour operators, said in June 2026 that most travellers still secure their summer holiday early, but short-term demand is growing, especially four to six weeks before departure (Tageskarte).

For a hotel, this means two booking waves. Early bookers decide over the winter and spring. Late bookers decide a few weeks before they fly, in the middle of your season. A marketing calendar that stops in May misses the second wave.

What should you do in November and December?

This is the quiet window to look back and fix things before anyone books.

• Review the season with numbers. Where did bookings come from (your website, OTAs, tour operators), from which countries, and which weeks stayed empty? If OTAs carry most of your rooms, start with our playbook on getting the OTA share under 30%.
• Fix the website and the booking engine. A fast mobile site, visible prices and a clear reason to book direct. The most common leaks are in why hotel websites lose direct bookings.
• Pick one or two markets. Look at where your guests actually came from and put the budget there, instead of spreading it thin.
• Plan the content. Decide what you will photograph and film in spring, when the property is ready and the light is good.

What should you do from January to March?

This is the early-booking window. Your offer should be ready before guests start comparing.

• Give early bookers a reason to book direct on your own website: a better rate, flexible cancellation or an extra that the OTAs don't show.
• Email past guests who agreed to hear from you. They already know the hotel and need the least convincing.
• Switch on Google free booking links. They show your own rate, with a link to your website, when people search for hotels on Google, and clicks on them cost nothing. If you use a booking engine, your provider may already be connected to Google (Google Hotel Center Help).
• Start ads in your main markets while early bookers are deciding, with a budget you can keep running in summer.
• Meet the trade. If tour operators matter to you, ITB Berlin takes place on 16-18 March 2027 (ITB Berlin).

What should you do in April and May, before opening?

• Wake up your Google profile. Google's guidance is to mark a business as "Temporarily closed" during the off-season, and it notes that for broad searches, temporarily closed businesses can rank after open ones (Google Business Profile Help). Set the profile back to open before opening day, not after.
• Shoot fresh photos and short videos as soon as the rooms, the pool and the garden look like summer. They will feed your website, your ads and your social media for months.
• Prepare a content bank for the first weeks of the season, when the team has the least time.

What changes once the season starts?

The plan doesn't end on opening day. With more guests booking only weeks ahead, the season itself is a marketing period.

• Keep ads running for the weeks that still have gaps two to six weeks ahead, instead of switching everything off once the hotel looks full.
• Watch the shoulder months. That is where late bookers and off-season travellers can still change your year.
• Reply to reviews while guests are still on the island and the stay is fresh.

What does the whole year look like?

Vibrande is a digital marketing agency in Rhodes, Greece, working mostly with hotels and hospitality brands across Rhodes and the Dodecanese. If you want a second pair of eyes on next season's plan, or someone to own it for you, our Fractional CMO service is built for exactly that. Tell us where you're at.