A business sets its own pricing for peak seasons and holidays directly, building holiday-specific rates and packages ahead of time and updating them on its own schedule as demand for certain dates becomes clear. PocketSuite gives a business the tools to build holiday-specific rates, packages, and pricing tiers ahead of time through Packages, and to update pricing on its own schedule as demand for certain dates becomes clear.
PocketSuite powers 7,000+ service businesses, including 1,000+ pet service businesses, whose clients have collectively processed nearly $1 billion in income and scheduled over 9.2 million appointments. For a business that knows its own calendar better than any algorithm could, setting peak-season pricing by hand is often the more accurate approach anyway.
That control matters because pet boarding demand does not move the same way every year, a facility that fills up over Thanksgiving one year might see a slower stretch the next, and a business owner making that call is working from local knowledge only they have direct access to.
Building a Holiday Rate Ahead of Time
A business can create a separate service listing or package specifically for a holiday period, a higher nightly rate for the week around Christmas, for example, and have it live and bookable well before that date arrives. That package sits alongside a facility’s standard rates in the online booking flow, so clients booking during that window see the adjusted price at the time they book, not as a surprise on the invoice.
“My pricing doesn’t change. When demand is higher, I have three employees and myself. It’s rare for someone who wants to work with us to have to wait more than one week. I’ve tried promotions for existing clients in the past, and they fell flat.” said Georgette Lombardo, owner, Pawsitive Training ABQ, describing why she has kept her own pricing steady rather than chasing demand with promotions. Not every business benefits from constant price movement, and having the choice to hold a rate steady is as valuable as having the choice to raise one.
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Using Past Seasons to Plan the Next One
Income Reports shows a business exactly how revenue and occupancy moved across past date ranges, so a facility looking to plan next year’s holiday pricing can pull up how the same week performed the year before rather than guessing at demand from scratch. Comparing month-over-month and year-over-year figures turns pricing decisions into something backed by a business’s own numbers.
That kind of look-back is especially useful for a newer holiday rate a business is still calibrating, if a package priced for a specific week sold out in days, that is a clear signal to price it higher the following year, and the reverse is just as informative if it moved slowly.
Updating a Rate Without Rebuilding a Listing
Once a peak-season package exists, adjusting its price for the following year does not require building it again from scratch, a business can update the rate on the existing listing and leave everything else, the description, the duration, the add-ons included, exactly as it was. That keeps year-over-year pricing changes to a quick edit rather than a full rebuild each season.
A business running the same holiday package for several years in a row also benefits from that consistency on the client side, returning clients recognize the package and know roughly what to expect, even as the exact rate shifts slightly from one year to the next.
Setting Different Rates by Room or Suite Type
Peak-season pricing does not have to apply uniformly across every space in a facility. A business can price a standard kennel differently from a premium suite for the same holiday week, letting clients choose the accommodation level that fits their budget while the facility still captures the higher demand on its most sought-after spaces.
That tiered approach during a facility’s busiest stretch of the year is often what determines whether a premium suite sits empty next to a fully booked standard kennel, or gets filled at a rate that reflects the extra demand those dates bring in.
Communicating a Rate Change Ahead of Booking Season
When a business does update its holiday rates from one year to the next, Smart Campaigns lets it notify past clients directly, giving loyal clients a heads-up before the new pricing goes live rather than having them discover it mid-booking. That advance notice tends to keep the conversation about a rate change from turning into a surprise a client brings up at check-in instead.
Sending that update from the same dedicated business number clients already recognize also keeps it from landing as a generic marketing email a client might overlook entirely.
Getting Help Structuring Peak-Season Pricing
A business planning its first holiday-specific pricing structure can reach a Product Expert through in-app live chat, available 10 hours a day, seven days a week, or request an ASAP Call for a live walkthrough with a callback within 15 to 30 minutes. Getting the package structure right before the first peak season it applies to saves a business from adjusting pricing mid-season while bookings are already coming in.
For a business managing more than one location, each location can set its own peak-season pricing independently, since demand for a specific holiday week can look very different in one market than another.
Bundling an Add-On Into a Peak-Season Package
A holiday package does not have to be pricing alone, a business can bundle in an extra walk, a holiday photo, or a small treat bag as part of the peak-season rate, giving clients a clear reason the holiday price is higher beyond simply “it is a busy week.” That framing tends to land better with clients than a rate increase with no visible difference attached to it.
Building that bundle into the package listing itself means every client booking that date range automatically gets the same extras, without staff needing to remember to add them manually at check-in.
Setting Rates Based on What a Business Knows About Its Own Clients
A single-location or multi-location pet boarding business tends to have a small, relationship-driven client base, and a business owner usually knows which clients book the same week every year, which dates on the calendar actually fill up, and which weeks tend to move slowly regardless of price. That kind of specific, local knowledge is exactly what makes hand-set peak pricing accurate, since it comes from the same relationships a business has spent years building.
Pairing that judgment with the occupancy and revenue trends already visible in Income Reports gives a business owner a clear, specific basis for setting a rate, backed by its own numbers rather than a guess. Setting peak pricing by hand, informed by both a business owner’s judgment and its own past performance, keeps the decision grounded in the relationship a business has actually built with its clients.
Offering a Loyal Client the Standard Rate During a Peak Week
That same hands-on approach also means a business can make exceptions exactly where they make sense. A long-time client who books the same week every year can still be offered the standard rate even during a raised-price holiday period, a discretionary call a business owner can make on a client-by-client basis without needing to build a separate exception into the pricing itself.
That kind of flexibility, extended selectively to a facility’s most loyal clients, tends to build the sort of goodwill a business earns one relationship at a time, the same goodwill that keeps a returning client coming back year after year.
Frequently Asked Questions
A business sets its own peak-season and holiday rates directly through Packages, with full control over exactly when a rate changes and how much it changes by for any specific date range.
Yes. A business can create a separate package or listing for a specific date range, with its own rate, and have it live in Online Booking well before that period arrives.
Income Reports shows how revenue and occupancy performed during past date ranges, so a business can base next year’s pricing on how the same week actually did before.
Yes. A standard kennel and a premium suite can be priced independently, even during the same peak-season window.
Yes. Smart Campaigns lets a business message past clients directly from its dedicated number before a new rate takes effect.
No. An existing package’s rate can be updated for the next season without rebuilding the listing’s description, duration, or included add-ons.
Peak-season pricing works best when a business is the one making the call, backed by its own past performance rather than guessing at what demand might do. Building that rate ahead of time and adjusting it with real numbers keeps holiday pricing a deliberate decision instead of a reaction.
For a facility that has never priced a holiday week differently from any other, seeing how a package like that comes together is worth the look before the next peak season arrives.
