Case Study: Celtic Manor Resort gift cards during COVID-19

3 min read

Case-Study: How the Celtic Manor Resort is triumphing with their gift cards during COVID-19 crisis.

We wanted to do a quick case study on how the Celtic Manor Resort has used gift cards during covid-19 to help mitigate some of the serious impacts of lockdown.

Since launching their Celtic at Home campaign, their gift experiences have sold out, week after week. Let us look what they’ve done!

The Celtic Manor Resort Gift Cards During COVID

The Celtic Manor Resort, like almost all hospitality and leisure businesses, has had to close its main operations due to the coronavirus social distancing measures put in place by the UK government.

With the extension of at least another 3 weeks of lockdown, we don't know how long businesses in the hospitality industry must remain closed to the public.

However, like many restaurants in the hospitality industry, Celtic Manor has utilized their gift cards during covid-19 to bring in some revenue during the Coronavirus crisis. But with one major difference- they have changed their marketing strategy to fit within the stay-at-home guidelines.  

This simple, but logical decision has turned out to be a major hit with the locals!

What are they doing?

Many businesses have swarmed to the voucher industry in a panicked frenzy while the impact of Corvid-19 has devastated their revenue streams. But few are using the correct approach in how to sell the gift experiences during this time.

The innovative ‘Celtic at home’ takeaway experience is a clever way to utilize gift experiences to keep business ticking over as much as possible during these bleak times for the hospitality industry.

In our last post, we stressed the importance of promoting your gift experiences the right way. During this Covid-19 crisis, this is now more important than ever!

We have written an extensive post on how you can use clever marketing promotions to increase sales during the Coronavirus crisis. We urge you to give it a thorough read if you want to sell gift experiences successfully during this time.

But back to the case study.

gift cards during COVID-19

Safe distancing n place to collect your gift experience meal

The Process

The Celtic at home service allows you to purchase a gift experience in the form of a takeaway meal. Essentially, allowing you to enjoy a restaurant-quality dining experience at home.

It’s a pretty simple process:

  1. Order online at home via the Celtic at home gift experience page.
  2. Call up reception to book your one-hour collection slot and read out your voucher reference code to redeem the order.
  3. Drive to the location to collect your order.

In our case, we ordered The Rib Sharing Platter for Two. The Hotel have strict social distancing procedures:

gift cards during COVID-19

Easy to prepare restaurant-quality food at home

You drive up to the gazebo, give your order number, and the staff bring your takeaway meal and place it on the table next to your car.  There is no exchange of hands. Everyone is adhering to the strict 2-meter distancing guidelines.

  1. Take your meal home and follow cooking instructions. (Which are extremely simple, you just heat up the entire meal following a set of clear instructions).

Benefits of gift cards during COVID-19 to the hotel restaurants

Keeping jobs

Over the past 2 months, we have unfortunately witnessed many hard-working people in the hospitality industry lose their jobs or be placed in furlough due to the huge impact of the Coronavirus crisis on the hospitality industry.

This successful gift experience strategy employed by the Resort not only serves as a delightful treat to customers during difficult times but ensures as many staff as possible get to keep their jobs.

Earning Revenue

With strict social distancing measures and the forced closure of dine-in restaurants, it’s likely we will witness the closure of many businesses in 2020. Without the footfall of customers through the door it’s difficult for restaurants to continue making any meaningful revenue.

The pick-up and take away dining option offered by the hotel one way to keep business running whilst adhering to the guidelines.

Big names in the hospitality industry have urged restaurants to sell gift experience vouchers, as a strategy to continue making revenue while the dining floor is temporarily closed.

But as we have stressed to our own clients, just selling gift experiences won't be enough. In these uncertain times, many people won’t be influenced to buy a gift experience with uncertainty to when it can be used.

The Celtic Manor have sensibly introduced the relevant changes to their dining gift experiences to ensure that their customers can immediately use their gift experiences while staying safe and not compromising on the government's social distancing measures.

Benefits to customers with gift cards during COVID-19

Additional option to acquire food

For many people, going to the supermarket right now can be a stressful experience. With official guidelines recommending that vulnerable people avoid going out to supermarkets at all. While the situation is improving, sourcing food right now can be quite difficult.

Online shopping delivery slots have over a two-week waiting period, and even then, many basic items on the shelves aren't available.

The dine-at-home gift experience service offered by the Celtic Manor Resort acts as the perfect solution for both the above problems.

Having great dining experiences at a reasonable price

Making gift crds during COVID-19 available is a great way to keep your business ticking along.

The dining at home gift experiences is very reasonably priced for the amount of food you get. Especially compared with the price of a coffee these days.

For £25 we received a full BBQ platter with half a chicken, sausages, pulled pork, BBQ spareribs, cheesy nachos, mac and cheese, potato wedges, corn on the cob, chicken wings and coleslaw. It was so much food we split it over two meals between two of us.

If you have vulnerable family members or friends, this is not only an enjoyable but practical gift to give them in these stressful times.  Enjoy the experience of having restaurant-quality meals at home.

Don't forget to check out our post on how you can use promotions in your restaurant.

We hope you found this post on gift cards during COVID-19 helpful. Please help us in return and share on your social media.

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