For years, Black Friday has been synonymous with televisions, laptops, fashion and online shopping. However, the weekend now represents a valuable opportunity for the hospitality sector too, with consumers using Black Friday and Cyber Monday to purchase future stays, spa days, dining experiences and short breaks.
New data from hotel technology specialists Net Affinity and Smarthotel shows that Black Friday and Cyber Monday now represent 8.5% of annual hotel voucher revenue across the hotel client base analysed, making the period one of the fastest-growing gifting opportunities in the hotel calendar.
The figures point to a wider shift in how consumers approach the sales weekend, with experience-led purchases now sitting alongside more traditional retail spending. For hoteliers, this creates an opportunity to position vouchers and hotel experiences in front of customers at a time when purchase intent is already high.
From shopping event to gifting event
Hotel voucher demand is concentrated around Cyber Weekend, with Black Friday itself representing only part of the opportunity.
In Ireland, Black Friday accounts for 15.5% of voucher sales within the period analysed, making it the biggest individual day, while Cyber Monday follows closely at 14.6%.
In the UK, demand also peaks around Black Friday, which represents 12.1% of sales during the analysed window.
Demand remains healthy across the wider weekend too. In Ireland, Saturday and Sunday account for 9.5% and 11% of sales respectively, before activity rises again on Cyber Monday.
For hotels, the data supports a broader approach to Black Friday activity, with Cyber Weekend providing several days to reach consumers who are actively considering gifts, travel deals and experiences.
The opportunity can extend beyond Cyber Monday as well. The following day, now widely known as Travel Tuesday, has become another relevant moment for hotels to showcase stays, breaks and experiences to consumers specifically looking for travel offers.
Cyber Monday isn’t just about technology anymore
Cyber Monday has traditionally been associated with laptops, phones and electrical goods, yet hotel purchasing data shows that travel and experience gifting now have a clear place within the event.
Cyber Monday hotel voucher demand in Ireland accounts for 14.6% of sales within the analysed period, just 0.9 percentage points behind Black Friday itself.
For hotels, that opportunity reaches well beyond room bookings. A voucher may represent a weekend away, afternoon tea, dinner for two, a golf break or a spa experience, giving consumers the option to purchase something they can enjoy themselves or gift to someone else.
This gives hospitality a distinct proposition during a weekend that remains heavily focused on physical products. Hotels are selling experiences, time away and something for the recipient to look forward to.
Hotel offers should sell the experience
How those experiences are presented can play an important role in encouraging purchase.
The Net Affinity and Smarthotel data suggests that an effective voucher strategy should go beyond displaying a monetary value alongside Black Friday branding. Hotels can combine flexible monetary vouchers with a carefully selected range of experience-led options that make the gift easier for buyers to visualise.
The Hotel Gift Voucher Playbook highlights examples including:
● Afternoon Tea & Overnight Stay – presenting the hotel visit as a complete experience rather than focusing on the room alone.
● Golf Experience & Overnight Break – combining an existing hotel experience with an overnight stay to create a clearly defined gift.
● Spa Experience & Overnight Stay – placing relaxation and time away at the centre of the offer.
This approach reflects an important point about voucher purchasing: the buyer is often different from the eventual hotel guest. They may be choosing a present for a partner, parent, friend or colleague and want to understand quickly what the recipient will receive.
Experience-led vouchers can make that decision more tangible. A £150 monetary voucher offers flexibility, while an overnight stay with afternoon tea or a spa experience presents the buyer with a clearly defined gift from the outset.
Black Friday can also bring forward Christmas spending
The timing of Cyber Weekend makes the opportunity particularly relevant for hotels.
More than half of annual voucher sales across the Net Affinity and Smarthotel client base take place in Q4, while December alone represents 39% of combined annual voucher revenue in the data analysed.
Black Friday therefore arrives immediately before the biggest hotel gifting period of the year, allowing hotels to use Cyber Weekend as an early stage of their Christmas voucher activity rather than treating it as an isolated campaign.
Hotels can reach consumers while they are already shopping for gifts, then continue that conversation through the run-up to Christmas with relevant voucher options, experiences and last-minute messaging.
Previous Net Affinity analysis also demonstrates the commercial opportunity. During Cyber Weekend 2023, three out of four participating hotels recorded a lift in revenue, even after discounts were taken into account, while average daily revenue across the four-day weekend was 41% higher than an average November day.
The data shows the value of having a relevant offer in market when consumer interest is already elevated, while also giving hotels the opportunity to learn which products, audiences and messages generate the best response.
Convenience matters as much as the offer
How customers purchase vouchers also needs to be considered when planning a Cyber Weekend campaign.
The latest voucher data shows that smartphones account for 69.8% of UK voucher orders and 66.2% in Ireland, demonstrating the importance of a mobile-friendly purchasing journey.
Voucher sales also extend beyond traditional hotel operating hours. More than three-quarters of orders in both markets take place during the afternoon and evening, with additional purchases made overnight.
That means campaign performance depends on more than attracting the buyer. Once someone reaches the voucher journey, they need to be able to browse the available options, complete their purchase on mobile and receive their voucher without unnecessary friction.
Digital delivery becomes particularly valuable as Christmas approaches. Email is already the dominant delivery method around key gifting occasions, with 83% of UK Christmas voucher orders and 65.9% of Irish orders delivered digitally.
For Black Friday and Cyber Weekend, the combination of mobile purchasing and digital fulfilment gives hotels the ability to capture demand whenever customers choose to shop.
Hotels should think beyond the discount
Black Friday does not need to be approached solely as a discounting event.
For hotels, vouchers provide an opportunity to sell future experiences, reach new customers, generate revenue ahead of redemption and introduce recipients to the property long after Cyber Weekend has ended.
Redemption can create further commercial value too. A guest using a monetary voucher may choose to put it towards a higher-value stay, while someone redeeming an experience voucher may add dinner, drinks, treatments or other services during their visit.
Viewed in this way, the initial voucher purchase forms part of a wider direct customer journey, connecting the Black Friday sale with a future visit and the potential for additional spend on property.
A growing place for hotels in the Black Friday calendar
Black Friday may have developed through retail, but consumer spending during the period now extends across gifting, travel and experiences.
The Net Affinity and Smarthotel data shows that Cyber Weekend already contributes a meaningful share of annual hotel voucher revenue, with demand remaining high across Black Friday, the weekend and Cyber Monday. Combined with the dominance of mobile purchasing and the appeal of experience-led gifting, this gives hotels a clear reason to include vouchers within their seasonal marketing plans.
The opportunity is not for hotels to replicate traditional retail campaigns. Instead, they can focus on what hospitality already does well by offering time away, dining, relaxation and memorable experiences that consumers can give to someone else or enjoy themselves.
Net Affinity and Smarthotel’s Hotel Gift Voucher Playbook explores purchasing behaviour across more than 400,000 voucher orders, including when demand peaks, which occasions matter most, how to structure a hotel voucher offering and how to market vouchers throughout the year.
Download the Hotel Gift Voucher Playbook to explore the full findings and discover practical ways to turn voucher demand into direct hotel revenue.