12. The Flexible Dates Opportunity Loss
Category:
Opportunity Scenario:
Your booking engine forces potential guests to select exact check-in and check-out dates, even when they have flexible travel plans. A guest looking for “any weekend in May” or “a 5-night stay sometime this summer” must manually check multiple date combinations one-by-one, a tedious process that often leads to abandonment. Your system can’t accommodate natural search patterns, causing you to lose bookings from flexible travelers who would happily fill your low-occupancy periods if only they could easily identify them.
Strategic Approach:
A flexible booking assistant that allows guests to specify preferences (like “weekend in April” or “5-night stay in summer”) and shows availability across multiple date options. The system highlights optimal choices based on rate, room type availability, or special packages.
