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Every year, just after the Thanksgiving dishes are cleared, outdoor enthusiasts start daydreaming about next summer: rafting trips, mountain adventures, lake escapes. This is your moment!
While retail giants race to move inventory and outdoor brands like The North Face, Patagonia, and REI champion “Opt Outside,” experience-based businesses have their own opportunity when future guests are scanning the horizon for their next big escape. Black Friday doesn’t have to mean crowds and chaos; it can be your launchpad into the next season.
For outfitters, lodges, and guides, the weekend after Thanksgiving marks a shift in attention, as guests are in planning mode, seeking meaningful gifts, future adventures, and reasons to get outside together. A well-timed offer can turn that excitement into real revenue and not just for one weekend, but for the entire year ahead.
And here’s the secret: you don’t have to run your business like a big-box retailer to make the most of it. With a few smart strategies and the right systems to support them, you can turn the holiday rush into a wave of bookings that carries you right into 2026.
In this guide, we’ll cover five proven ways to do just that: from limited-time bundles and experience gift cards to VIP packages and automated promotions. Along the way, you’ll see how Flybook helps operators simplify, track, and scale these efforts, so you can spend less time managing discounts and more time preparing for the adventures ahead.
Table of Contents
- Limited-Time Discounts and Bundles
- Push Gift Cards for Experience Gifting
- Feature Early-Bird or VIP Packages
- Automate Promotions and Discount Codes
- Track Performance and Optimize in Real Time
- Bonus Section: Tips and Pitfalls to Avoid
1. Limited-Time Discounts or Bundles
“Book your 2026 adventure now, save 15%”
Time-sensitive offers trigger urgency, and urgency drives action. For example: promote a “Book any 2026 trip by December 31 - save 15%” deal. You’re doing several smart things at once: locking in future revenue and offering an exclusive incentive for Black Friday.
How to structure it well:
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Set a clear start and end date for the promotion.
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Define exactly what is discounted: is it all bookings? Select dates? Packages?
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Add a sense of urgency (“while slots last”, “limited number of VIP seats”).
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Communicate the value: e.g., “Secure your spots early at the best price, plan ahead, and relax.”
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Make redemption easy: "copy the code now for easy use at checkout" or set parameters for an automatic discount.
When structured clearly, limited-time offers don’t just drive quick bookings; they set the tone for the season ahead. By keeping terms simple, timelines clear, and redemption easy, you turn a short promotion into a reliable tool for filling your calendar early and strengthening future sales.
With The Flybook, you can build bundles (for example: tour + lodging + gear rental = discounted gear and rental) or run a blanket discount across certain trip types. You eliminate manual coupon tracking, and you keep bookings all in one unified system.
2. Gift Cards for Experience Gifting
Holiday shoppers are looking for meaningful gifts. Experiences, especially for outdoor adventures, tours, rentals, or lodging, are a great way to check the “memorable gift” box in a way that lipstick or socks just can't. Offer gift cards or certificates tailored for Black Friday: e.g., “Buy a $250 gift card, get $30 bonus credit” or “Purchase by midnight Friday, receive an extra 20% in value”.
Why this works:
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It taps into the last-minute, “I still don’t know what to buy” crowd.
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It gives you cash now, even if redemption happens later.
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It drives new leads: gift card buyers may refer friends or convert themselves.
Flybook explicitly supports customizable digital gift cards and certificates when sold directly through Flybook. As a user of the platform, you can define the gift card value, set an expiration date or bonus discount, and push it via email/social media, as well as track redemption later.
3. Early-Bird or VIP Packages
Two words: exclusivity and value. Early-bird or VIP packages offer premium seats, added perks, or limited slots, and you can make Black Friday a launch for any of them. Example: “Black Friday only – VIP Sunset Kayak Tour + Pro Photographer included + Champagne Toast for 2.”
These packages:
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Differentiate your offering from generic deals.
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Increase perceived value while preserving margins.
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Attract higher-spend customers who are less price-sensitive.
Within Flybook’s feature list, you can offer and manage memberships, offer discounts on package purchases, and create packages that upsell offerings with your most popular activities.” You can use the platform to build a package of services (tour, gear, photo package) and set a time-limited, VIP deal. See how it all works below.
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4. Automate Promotions & Discount Codes
Manual campaigns are error-prone, time-costly, and hard to scale. The holiday rush is not when you want to be digging through spreadsheets. Automation is key: generate discount codes, schedule their activation/deactivation, deploy via email and social, and apply them within the booking flow.
Checklist:
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Define promo code(s) and rules (which packages/trips apply, minimal spend, expiry).
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Schedule start/stop times of the promotion (e.g., midnight kickoff).
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Set communication cadence: teaser email, midnight launch, reminder email.
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Use abandoned-cart triggers (e.g., someone clicked but didn’t book: send a follow-up).
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Integrate with your booking software so that when someone enters the code, the correct discount gets applied automatically.
Flybook’s marketing tools include automation: custom, automated emails, strategically placed upsells and add-ons offered in the booking flow, shopping cart re-capture emails, as well as discounting/packaging features. So you’re not reinventing the wheel, you’re firing up built-in capabilities, activating codes, and letting the system apply them.
5. Track Performance & Optimize in Real Time
Launching the campaign is just step one. To maximize Black Friday’s value, you need to measure, analyze, and adjust continuously. You’re chasing not just bookings, but incremental bookings, higher spend, improved conversion, and new customer segments.
Key metrics:
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Promo code redemption rate (how many used vs. sent or eligible).
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Average booking value for promo vs. non-promo.
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Gift card sales volume, number of gift card purchasers.
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Package uptake (VIP/early bird) vs. standard.
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Channel performance (email, social, direct traffic).
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Abandoned-cart conversions post-reminder.
Flybook provides “specialized dashboards” and business-intelligence features so you can track key performance metrics, monitor bookings, and make data-driven decisions. With real-time data, you can make decisions like: extend the offer by a few hours, increase spend minimum, change messaging, or shift budget among channels.
Bonus – Tips & Pitfalls
Watch‐outs:
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Over-discounting can erode margin and train customers to wait.
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Unclear terms (“valid 2026 only”, “non-refundable”) can cause confusion and cancellations.
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Operational bottlenecks: all these bookings must still be fulfilled; you don’t want a surge you can’t service.
Pro tip: Use the quieter pre-holiday weeks (early November) to build the tech & workflow: set up promo codes, test the checkout flow, ensure capacity is correct, and align your team.
In Summary
Black Friday is not just about snagging bargain hunters; it’s about capturing interest today for future bookings, building gift-card revenue now, and giving your business a head-start on 2026. By deploying limited-time discounts, pushing experience gift cards, rolling out VIP packages, automating your promotions, and watching the data in real time, you’ll turn holiday momentum into long-term growth.
And with The Flybook as your booking and marketing engine, the process is streamlined, measurable, and scalable. Ready to make the most of the holiday rush? Start planning now, your 2026 calendar will thank you.
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