How Can Tours and Attractions Use Groupon Strategically?

Summary:

Tours, attractions, and activity companies—like escape rooms, boat tours, museums, and amusement parks—can use Groupon as a powerful marketing engine to get new customers and fill empty booking slots. Best of all, there's no upfront cost to get started, only a commission on each sale Groupon brings you. For the best results, these businesses can use the following tactics:

1. Fill Empty Spots During Slow Times: Use the platform to drive new customers to open time slots, slow days (like a Tuesday), or during the off-season without affecting full-price weekend bookings.

2. Increase Revenue Per Visit: Structure your offers with premium bundles or giftable packages to encourage higher initial spending and give your staff a chance to sell valuable add-ons at the time of redemption.

3. Convert Visitors into Loyal Customers: Use a strong post-visit strategy, such as offering a special in-house discount for their next booking, to turn first-time voucher customers into long-term, full-price patrons.

For owners of recreational and activity businesses, the biggest challenge is often maximizing every available slot and ensuring constant customer flow. An empty seat on a tour, an unused bowling lane, or a quiet Tuesday afternoon represents revenue lost forever. Groupon solves this by acting as a high-visibility platform that puts your business in front of millions of active local shoppers and travelers.

Here are the top strategies which tour operators and other recreational activity businesses can use to get the most value out of their Groupon offers.

1. Fill Empty Slots During Slow Seasons

The smartest way to use Groupon is as a tool to manage your flow of visitors, sending traffic to you exactly when you need it most.

• Target Your Slow Days: Use the offer's fine print to limit redemption to your quietest times (e.g., Monday through Thursday) or your slowest season (e.g., winter months). This ensures your full-price customers can still book during your busy peaks, while Groupon fills the gaps.

• Control the Crowd with Booking Tools: Make your offer bookable with Groupon’s free online booking tool or a third-party partner. This lets you:

  • Set a firm monthly limit on how many vouchers can be sold and redeemed.

  • Block out dates and times when you are already fully booked.

  • Ensure a smooth customer experience by allowing new visitors to book their slot instantly.

• Fill Seasonal Lulls: Proactively launch campaigns during your low-traffic months. For a ski resort, this might mean a summer deal on zip-lining; for a coastal tour operator, it might be a special promotion just before the busy summer season kicks off.

2. Increase Revenue with Smart Offer Bundles

To ensure new customers spend more than the initial voucher value, you must structure your offer to encourage an upsell and a higher average order value.

• Bundle Services into a Package: Instead of just offering a discount on a standard ticket, create a unique bundle for the Groupon audience. For example, offer a "Family Fun Package" that includes admission, a small snack, and a souvenir photo. This protects the pricing of your core service and gives customers a premium experience.

• Train Staff for Upsells: Encourage your team to greet voucher customers and immediately offer a higher-margin add-on. Examples include:

  • Upgrading a basic ticket to a VIP pass.

  • Adding a food or beverage package at a discount.

  • Selling merchandise or an extended experience (like a second hour of rental time).

• Promote as a Gift: Experiences make highly popular gifts. Structure your deal to appeal to gift-givers (e.g., "Date Night Experience for Two"). Shoppers looking for a gift are often willing to buy higher-value packages, and the recipient is a brand-new customer for your business.

3. Turn One-Time Visitors into Regular Guests

The true value of a Groupon customer is the revenue they generate after their first visit. You need a strategy to convert them into a loyal, full-price customer.

• Offer an Immediate Re-booking Discount: The moment a customer is checking out or finishing their experience, give them a special discount (e.g., 20% off) if they book their next visit right then and there. This is a powerful tactic for transitioning them into a full-price regular.

• Capture Contact Information: Ensure you are collecting email addresses from new customers during the redemption or booking process. Use this data to nurture them directly with full-price offers, event announcements, and loyalty programs.

• Analyze Customer Behavior: Use your Groupon Performance Dashboard to gain insights into your new customers—where they're coming from, what they bought, and their reviews. Use this data to continuously improve the offer and target the most profitable customer groups.

By leveraging Groupon's massive reach to attract new customers, and using these strategic tactics to fill your slowest hours and drive upsells, you can achieve profitable, long-term growth for your tour company, amusement park, or other recreational business.