Contrary to popular belief, Valentine’s Day was not invented by Hallmark and FTD Florists as a sales initiative. In fact, the holiday has its origins in the Roman festival of Lupercalia which lauded the coming of spring along with a lot of the usual debauchery we associate with ancient pagan rituals. It wasn’t until the fifth century when Pope Gelasius I rebranded it as Saint Valentine’s Day.

It seems natural for hoteliers to focus marketing efforts on February 14^th as the consumer has a clear expectation to spend on their respective loved ones. That being the case, it is logical to capture your share of consumer spending. According to Fundivo, for 2020 Americans are expected to spend about $20 billion on this holiday, so the marketing efforts to garner share seem well-justified.

But how do you know that you got your full bang for your buck? How do you know that your ROI was fully realized based upon the efforts you undertook?

By the time you’ve read this, your efforts have been fully executed as the special day is already upon us. Hence, rather than pepper your inbox with even more forward-planning ideas like artful chocolates in the restaurant, couples’ massages or and romantically themed getaway packages, I’ve put together a checklist for your team to review after the dust settles. Pass this note onto your Director of Sales and Marketing and give them a week to respond.

1. Overall, was Valentine’s Day a success? And importantly, why? How are you quantifying the return on investment relative to your comp set?
2. What was the complete timetable for the event including planning, initiation of marketing efforts and completion of all related activities? When did the average guest start to make their booking?
3. What were the advertising expenses incurred? Break them down by channel according to traditional and digital efforts.
4. Compare occupancies for the entire period both before and after Valentine’s Day, so as to ensure that you cover anomalies in data that occur when such a holiday is midweek versus weekend. And importantly, what was the geographic and demographic mix of those guests?
5. Look at total guest revenue not just RevPAR as Valentine’s Day is all about building ancillary income. What can you glean from the ratio of base hotel reservations versus all other revenue streams?
6. To get a better sense of expenditures, what marketing programs were utilized this year versus a year ago? What do you believe was successful and worth repeating?
7. For your restaurant, if there was a special menu, what were the sales specifically on that? What was the margin on any specials and how does that margin compare with typical margins for other dishes?
8. Was there a Valentine’s Day package and what’s the cost breakdown by operation? What was the value to the customer? Did the package drive sales?
9. Was there anything that you learned from operations or from TripAdvisor feedback?
10. How can we make it better in 2021 which is now less than a year away?

Too often we run annual events and seem to forget that there is applicable learning that can be useful in subsequent years. A simple review, crystalized in a short, summary memo can pay off handsomely for years to come and for other major holidays on the calendar.