When should hotels send pre-arrival offers?
Between 24 and 72 hours before arrival. Across 20,000+ guest conversations, positive response peaked at 51.2% one day before arrival and 50.0% two days before, and fell to 22.6% on the day itself and 23.8% three days out. The best moment still moves by offer: dinner needs longer.
Biteluxe · updated September 2026A window of 24 to 72 hours.
Positive response to a pre-arrival message, by when it was sent: 51.2% one day before arrival and 50.0% two days before. Same day 22.6%, three days 23.8%, four to six days 38.2%, one to two weeks 21.9%, and more than two weeks 30.1%.
| Sent | Positive response |
|---|---|
| 2+ weeks | 30.1% |
| 1 to 2 weeks | 21.9% |
| 4 to 6 days | 38.2% |
| 3 days | 23.8% |
| 2 days | 50.0% |
| 1 day | 51.2% |
| Same day | 22.6% |
The peak moves with what you are offering.
A room upgrade lands best around 24 hours out, while the room is still empty and the guest is already packing. Spa needs 48 to 72 hours. Dinner is a different problem: at some properties four to seven days is right, at others it needs thirty, because guests decide where they are eating long before they decide anything else.
20,000+ conversations, four and five star.
The Q1 Pre-Arrival Revenue Report analysed 20,043 guest conversations across four and five star independent UK hotels: city boutiques, country houses, spa resorts and coastal properties. The shape holds across properties. The exact peak is yours, so we watch what your guests do and adjust.
Follow-up questions
Should every offer go in one message?
No. Sequencing keeps changing as your commercial goals change: a quarter spent filling the spa is not the same as a quarter spent filling the restaurant.
What converts best?
Early check-in and late checkout draw a positive response 70.8% of the time, spa 26.7% and dinner 18.9%, so spa converts around 41% better than dinner.
Other questions hotels ask.
Why should hotels ask guests the purpose of their stay?
Because the occasion decides what is worth offering, and occasion-led messages drew the strongest response.
Read the answerShould hotels send pre-arrival messages by WhatsApp or email?
Both, for different jobs. Email keeps the record, and a conversation gets the answer.
Read the answerWhat is the WhatsApp 24-hour window, and what does it mean for hotels?
Free replies for 24 hours after the guest's last message. Outside it, approved templates only.
Read the answerWhat are your guests trying to do that is harder than it should be?
Bring us the action, the brand, the awkward systems and the operational reality. We will shape the message for each channel and build the easiest route through them.
Show us where guests get stuck. Nothing to prepare. Sometimes the honest answer is that you do not need us.