Marketing planning
Holiday Let Marketing Calendar for UK Owners
A simple year of key dates, campaigns, content and emails, so you always know what to do next.
You run a holiday let or a glamping site, and marketing keeps getting pushed down the list. A calendar fixes that. You decide once what happens each month, then get on with the guests.
A good holiday let marketing calendar matches your effort to when guests are deciding. Push hard before the busy dates, fill gaps close to arrival, and use the quiet months to prepare. Below is a full UK year, with key dates, campaign ideas, content and emails.
How to use a holiday let marketing calendar
Use it as a rhythm, not a rulebook. Pick the dates that fit your place, ignore the rest, and write the content for each quarter in one sitting.
Three habits make it work.
- Work backwards. Guests plan holidays well ahead, so start a campaign weeks before the date you want to fill.
- Pick two channels. Most owners do best with email plus one social platform, rather than five half-used accounts.
- Point everything home. Every post and email should send people to your own site, where they can check dates and book without commission.
That last point matters. Guests often find a place on a listing site, then search for the owner’s own website hoping for a better deal. If your site isn’t there or is hard to use on a phone, you lose that booking.
Winter, January to March
Winter is for the quiet-season push and for getting summer ready. January is a popular month for people to plan breaks, so lead with a “book your next escape” message.
| Month | Key dates | Campaign ideas | Content and email ideas |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | New Year, Burns Night (25 January) | Early summer booking push, midweek winter deals | Email to past guests with a summer preview, a “cosy stay” photo set |
| February | Valentine’s Day (14 February), school half term | Romantic stay offer, hot tub or fire pit angle | Couples-themed post, last-minute half term gaps by email |
| March | St David’s Day (1 March), Mothering Sunday | Mother’s Day gift voucher, spring availability | Reminder email for voucher buyers, behind-the-scenes spring prep |
Spring, April to June
Spring is when Easter, the May bank holidays and early summer all land close together. Bookings for these weekends often come in late, so keep availability visible and update it often.
| Month | Key dates | Campaign ideas | Content and email ideas |
|---|---|---|---|
| April | Easter, school Easter holidays | Family Easter breaks, lambing or garden season angle | “Still a few nights left” email, short video of the site waking up |
| May | Two bank holiday Mondays, school half term late in the month | Bank holiday weekend offer, minimum-stay messaging | Packing list or what-to-expect post, local walks and pubs |
| June | Father’s Day, start of festival and event season | Father’s Day gift voucher, midweek summer offer | Guest review round-up, “last rooms for July” email |
Glamping owners can lean on the outdoors in this stretch. A shepherd’s hut with a view of lambs, or a pod beside a bluebell wood, is a better campaign than any discount.
Summer, July to September
Summer is mostly about filling gaps and collecting proof. The school holidays in England generally run from late July to early September, and Scotland’s start earlier, so check your own region’s dates.
| Month | Key dates | Campaign ideas | Content and email ideas |
|---|---|---|---|
| July | Start of school summer holidays | Last-minute gap fill, family week offers | Weekly “this week’s availability” post, guest photo shares (with permission) |
| August | Late summer bank holiday | Bank holiday weekend push, “stay in the UK” angle | Behind-the-scenes post, review request email after each stay |
| September | Schools back, quieter midweeks | Adults-only autumn breaks, September deals | “Quiet after the school run” email, harvest and foraging content |
Ask for reviews while the stay is fresh. A short email the day after checkout, with a direct link to where you’d like the review, takes a few minutes to set up and keeps working.
If you list your place in more than one spot, keep your website availability calendar up to date so a gap you advertise is a gap guests can actually book.
Autumn, October to December
Autumn is the time to sell gift vouchers, fill half term and plan for the year ahead. October is also when most owners can afford to rebuild their website, because bookings slow down.
| Month | Key dates | Campaign ideas | Content and email ideas |
|---|---|---|---|
| October | October half term, Halloween (31 October) | Gift voucher launch, autumn colour breaks | Voucher announcement email, cosy fire pit and star gazing content |
| November | Bonfire Night (5 November), Black Friday | Voucher offer, early booking for next year | “Give a night away” email, a post on how vouchers work |
| December | Christmas, New Year’s Eve | Last-chance vouchers, New Year breaks | Final postage cut-off reminder, thank-you email to the year’s guests |
Gift voucher content should be live by October, so if yours isn’t, make it this week’s job. A simple page with a clear price, a short explanation and a way to buy is enough to start.
Make one idea do five jobs
You don’t need fresh material every month. Take one good idea, such as a spring midweek offer, and use it in several places.
- Write it up as a short page or section on your website.
- Send it as one email to past guests.
- Cut three social posts from the same photos.
- Add it to your listing descriptions where they allow it.
- Mention it in your replies to enquiries.
That is one afternoon of work, spread across the month.
A quarterly website check
Marketing sends people to your site, so it needs to be ready. Once a quarter, run through this list.
If the checklist turns up more than you want to fix yourself, our holiday let website design service covers the lot, and how we work explains the steps.
Millie the Hut, a shepherd’s hut near Presteigne, took 42 direct bookings in its first year on the site we built, saving its owners over £3,000 in commission.
Rates, dates and school holiday timings change each year, so check the current ones before you plan. Dates accurate as of October 2026.
FAQs
When should I start planning my holiday let marketing?
Start in the quiet season. Guests book summer and school holidays months ahead, so campaigns for July and August work best when they start in the winter. Sit down once a quarter, pick the next three months of dates, and write the content in one go.
How often should I post on social media for my holiday let?
Little and regularly beats a burst and then silence. Two or three posts a week is plenty for most owners running things themselves. Plan them around the key dates in this calendar, and reuse the same photos and stories in your emails and on your website.
Do small glamping sites really need email marketing?
Yes, because past guests are your cheapest bookings. Even a short list of people who have stayed or enquired can fill a quiet midweek with one well-timed message. Aim for one email a month, with extra ones for a gift voucher push or a last-minute gap.
Make sure your website is ready for your next campaign
Send us your website and we’ll tell you, for free, what’s stopping it getting bookings.