After-Hours Bookings: Make Money While You Sleep

While you're eating dinner with your family, sleeping, or enjoying a rare day off, potential customers are picking up their phones. They're researching tours for their upcoming vacation, comparing options, and ready to book.

The question is: will they book with you, or with the competitor who answers?

Industry research paints a clear picture: a significant portion of travel bookings happen when most businesses are closed. Understanding this pattern—and adapting to it—can be the difference between a good season and a great one.

The Research: When Do Customers Actually Book?

Multiple industry studies have examined when travel and activity bookings occur. The consistent finding: customer booking behavior doesn't align with traditional 9-5 business hours.

According to Phocuswright's U.S. Online Travel Overview, online travel research and booking peaks between 7pm and 10pm local time—well after most tour operators have stopped answering phones. Google's travel insights data shows similar patterns, with evening hours representing some of the highest-intent search periods.

Expedia Group's research on traveler behavior reveals that booking activity extends well into late evening, with notable spikes on Sunday evenings as travelers plan the upcoming week. Arival's study of tours, activities, and attractions found that many bookings occur during commute times, lunch breaks, and after children go to bed.

Why Do Customers Book at Night?

Understanding why customers book after hours helps explain why this pattern is likely to persist—and intensify.

The largest driver—work schedule constraints—is particularly significant. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average American works until 5:30pm. Add a commute, dinner, and basic household responsibilities, and meaningful personal planning time often doesn't begin until 8pm or later.

The International Customer Factor

For tour operators in popular destinations, international visitors represent a significant revenue stream—and a unique after-hours challenge.

According to the U.S. Travel Association, international visitors spent $185.5 billion in the U.S. in 2023, with tours and activities representing a growing share. These travelers are researching and booking from time zones that don't align with American business hours.

When it's 9pm in London, it's 4pm Eastern—still technically business hours. But when it's 9pm in Sydney, it's 6am in New York. For a Florida tour operator, an Australian family planning their vacation is calling at times that would be completely unattended.

Calculating Your After-Hours Revenue Opportunity

What's the actual dollar value of after-hours bookings for a typical tour operation? We built a model using industry benchmarks.

For many operators, capturing even half of currently-lost after-hours bookings would represent a 10-15% increase in annual revenue—without any additional marketing spend or operational changes during business hours.

What Happens to After-Hours Calls Today?

When a potential customer calls after hours and reaches voicemail, research tells us what happens next—and it's not good.

Multiple studies, including research from BIA/Kelsey and Invoca, confirm that roughly 80% of callers who reach voicemail hang up without leaving a message. The reasons are intuitive: they want answers now, not a callback tomorrow. They're comparing options and will simply move to the next one.

The research from Dialora.ai puts a stark number on this: businesses miss an average of $126,000 annually from unanswered calls. A significant portion of this loss occurs during after-hours periods when coverage is lowest.

The "Booking Window" Effect

There's a critical timing element that makes after-hours responsiveness even more important: the booking window.

According to Arival's research on tours and activities, the average booking window for activities has compressed significantly—with many bookings happening within 48 hours of the experience. For some categories, same-day and next-day bookings represent the majority of transactions.

When someone calls Sunday night asking about Monday's availability, they're ready to book. If they reach voicemail and you call back Monday morning, they've likely already booked with whoever answered—or the opportunity has passed entirely.

Real-World Case: The Weekend Revenue Discovery

A kayak rental operation in San Diego installed call tracking before implementing 24/7 AI phone coverage. The data revealed a pattern the owner hadn't expected:

The owner's reaction: "I was leaving almost $6,000 a month on the table just because I wasn't answering the phone when people were calling."

Options for After-Hours Coverage

For tour operators recognizing the after-hours opportunity, several solutions exist—each with trade-offs:

1. Extended Personal Hours

Answer calls yourself during evenings and weekends. This works short-term but leads to burnout and work-life balance issues. Not sustainable for most operators.

2. Answering Services

Traditional answering services cost $200-800/month and can take messages 24/7. However, they typically cannot check availability, answer specific questions, or complete bookings—limiting conversion rates.

3. Staff Rotation

Hiring staff for evening/weekend shifts adds $2,000-4,000/month in labor costs and requires training and management. Difficult to scale and maintain consistency.

4. AI Phone Agents

AI agents can answer 24/7, check real-time availability, answer FAQs, and complete bookings autonomously. Costs are typically flat-rate ($250-400/month) regardless of call volume or time.

Implementation Checklist

Ready to capture after-hours revenue? Here's how operators typically approach the transition:

1. Audit your current after-hours calls. Use call tracking to understand volume, timing, and outcomes. Many operators are surprised by what they find.
2. Identify your peak after-hours windows. Friday evenings? Sunday nights? Early mornings? Focus on the highest-impact periods first.
3. Choose a coverage solution that converts. Message-taking isn't enough. You need availability checking and booking capability.
4. Integrate with your booking system. Real-time availability is essential. Customers calling at 9pm need current information.
5. Test thoroughly before going live. Call your own number at various times. Experience what customers experience.
6. Monitor and optimize. Track after-hours conversion rates and continuously improve.