For many children’s holiday club providers, the festive season can be quiet. The Christmas School Holidays can often fall awkwardly, with a few days either side of Christmas and even your most regular parents will likely have options for childcare within their family network.

So, while high-street and online retailers are running Black Friday deals and festive sales, you might be running reduced services — or even taking a well-earned break after a busy term.

Even if you tried to get ahead and publish your summer holiday programme now, most parents aren’t quite ready to commit that far in advance. Family schedules change, childcare needs shift — and allowing bookings too far in advance often leads to endless changes to bookings in the future.

But this does not mean that your business can’t make the most of seasonal promotions, with Hivelink Account Credit you can unlock a completely new way to generate seasonal revenue.

Account credit works in a similar way to a prepaid store card. It is a balance on your customers account that can be used to pay for, or discount, future bookings.

There are three ways account credit can appear on a customer’s account:

Account balances never expire, and you can set clear policies on what can (or can’t) be purchased using credit.

Seasonal promotions like Black Friday or New Year Deals are the perfect opportunity to encourage families to top up their accounts — even when they’re not ready to book specific sessions.

For example:

This gives parents real value and gives your business immediate cash flow at a typically quiet time of year.

It’s a win-win: parents get more for their money, while you lock in loyalty for the year ahead. With a large account balance already waiting, customers are far less likely to shop around with other providers.

Some Hivelink clients have gone even further with clever tiered incentives that encourage larger purchases:

During busy sales periods, families are bombarded with offers — so your message needs to stand out.

If your activity programmes are Ofsted-registered and you accept Childcare Vouchers or Tax-Free Childcare as a form of payment, then your offer becomes even more appealing. For many families, every penny counts during the festive period and next years childcare could not be lower down the priority list.

Any balances held within these schemes can only be spent on Ofsted-registered activities – You potentially have a demographic of customer that has funds that are ring-fenced for the services you offer.

By highlighting this in your marketing, you can show parents how they can combine their unused voucher balance with your seasonal store credit offer for even greater value.

Once your campaign is live, Hivelink’s powerful filtering tools make it easy to reach the right audience.

You can quickly identify parents who have previously used Childcare Vouchers or Tax-Free Childcare, then send them targeted messages inviting them to take advantage of your current offers.

This approach combines smart marketing, automated admin, and meaningful engagement — all from within your Hivelink dashboard.

Even when your bookings slow down, your business doesn’t have to. By offering discounted store credit through Hivelink, you can: