Navigating the Christmas Galaxy: A Food & Beverage Consultants Guide
Issue 08 | September 2026
A periodic publication by 3AM Hospitality Consultants.
Every September, Christmas seems to take the Philippine hotel industry by surprise.
It shouldn’t. We know when Christmas is. We know the parties are coming. We know we’re going to need more people, more stock and probably more patience.
Yet what typically happens is operations starts planning late, Marketing kicks in halfway through the promotion, and then everyone blames Marketing.
By failing to prepare, we are preparing to fail.
That’s what restaurant consulting is really about — turning something predictable into a plan long before it becomes urgent.
For me, September is not when you start planning Christmas. By September, you should be executing.
I generally want product, price, promotion and place worked out at least three months ahead. If you want print magazines involved, you may need to start five months out.
Ideally, by the end of August, the major F&B plan for the rest of the year is locked. That doesn’t mean we can’t change it. It means we have something to change.
Don’t Just Plan Christmas
Start with the calendar.
Look at the long weekends and occasions that could matter to your particular business. Halloween. All Saints’ and All Souls’. 11.11. Bonifacio Day. Simbang Gabi. Christmas. Rizal Day. New Year. Not every
occasion matters to every restaurant. That’s the point.
Then overlay history.
What happened last year? What were the covers? What was RevPASH? What did Banquets do? Where were we full? Where were we quiet?
For hotels, overlay room occupancy as well. Restaurants don’t operate independently of the hotel upstairs.
And look at booking pace.
Hotels obsess about booking pace. Strangely, restaurants hardly look at it. During Christmas they absolutely should.
If Christmas Eve did 250 covers last year, that’s useful. But I also want to know how this year’s reservations are pacing against last year.
Are we ahead or behind at the same point in the booking cycle?
If we’re behind, I want to know while Marketing can still do something about it. If we’re ahead, perhaps I should be thinking about yield.
And don’t forget what I call the in-between days.
Everyone looks at Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve. What about December 26? The days between Christmas and New Year? The day after the promotion ends?
Those days can disappear from the plan. They shouldn’t.
Know Where to Yield and Where to Sell
Not every day needs the same strategy. On peak days, I want to know how we’re maximising the demand already there.
Do we simplify the menu? Can we increase yield? Do we need deposits or full prepayment?
And what are we doing with seating times?
Those restaurant seats are perishable inventory. Once the evening is gone, you can’t sell that seat again. Can we create an early and late sitting?Where are the gaps in the reservation book? Can we channel demand into those gaps rather than simply saying we’re full?
That’s RevPASH in practical terms.
I’m not suggesting we rush guests through Christmas dinner. That defeats the purpose. The guest experience sets the boundary. Within that boundary, manage the inventory intelligently.
On quieter days, the question changes.
How do we create demand? That’s when you use the levers: Marketing, Sales, loyalty, packages, events, tactical promotions and pricing where appropriate.
The menu should be part of the thinking.
For peak days, simplify where it makes sense. Use menu engineering. Think about what is popular, profitable and, importantly, what the kitchen can execute when it’s being hammered. This is where the work of a menu development consultant earlier in the year pays for itself.
Lock down imported and long-lead products early. And if we’ve committed inventory for Christmas, what’s the plan for moving it during the valleys?
The same applies to Christmas goodies.
Hotels put up beautiful gingerbread houses, display hampers, turkeys, cakes and all sorts of things—and sometimes seem to hope they’ll sell themselves.
Give Sales a quota. If it’s a commercial product, sell it like one.
Labour Is Number One
If you ask me what worries me most going into peak season, labour is number one.
Every hotel knows it will need part-timers. And every hotel will be looking for them at roughly the same time. So don’t just calculate how many you need. Commit them. And do it early.
Reservations are equally important because they tell you what’s coming and allow you to lock in business through deposits or full payment on key dates.
I also want to know where we’re going to send the business when we’re full.
What’s Plan B? And if Plan B goes wrong, what’s Plan C?
These sound like simple questions until you’re standing in a full restaurant on Christmas Eve.
January Is Part of the Christmas Plan
For some hotels, Christmas is really Banquet season.
Look at the historical number of corporate Christmas parties, weddings and social events. Look at outside catering.
Then decide what you’re trying to maximise.
Volume or yield?
If everyone wants the same Friday night in December, perhaps I don’t need another promotion. I need to make sure we’re getting the right price for it. If Tuesday is empty, that’s a different conversation.
Outside catering deserves particular attention because many hotels don’t do large volumes of it
throughout the year. Then Christmas arrives and suddenly we’re doing it constantly.
That’s when things get forgotten.
I once had an outside catering event in the middle of nowhere. We got there and realised we’d forgotten the cooking oil for the tempura station. The only thing we could find was a sari-sari store. We paid cash and bought lard because that was all they had.
This is hospitality consulting in the Philippines: truck bans. Traffic. Loading times. Transport windows. You can have a perfect event plan sitting in the hotel. It doesn’t help much if something you need is sitting in traffic.
January Is Part of the Christmas Plan
This is probably the part most hotels forget. Do the review.
And don’t just tell me: Revenue was up 10%. Christmas was successful.
I want to know where the business came from.
Was it Marketing? Hotel guests? Walk-ins? Loyalty members? Corporate accounts?
Which segments drove RevPASH? Which promotions created incremental business, and which simply discounted guests who were coming anyway?
Where could we have yielded harder? Where were the gaps? What did booking pace tell us? Where did we turn business away? Then use it.
That’s the bit I find strange. Christmas gives us a huge amount of data about our business every year, yet twelve months later we often start again with a blank piece of paper.
Christmas shouldn’t surprise us.
We did it last year.
About the Author
Paolo Campillo is the Managing Partner of 3AM Hospitality Consulting, advising hotel owners and developers on hotel development, operations, and long-term value creation. His philosophy is simple: make better decisions before they’re poured into concrete.
Planning for Peak Season?
The most valuable festive-season decisions are usually made months before the first Christmas promotion goes live.
If your hotel, resort or restaurant needs an independent review of its F&B strategy, revenue opportunities or operational readiness, contact 3AM Hospitality Consulting to start the conversation.
Disclaimer
This article shares general hospitality perspectives. The appropriate brand and operating model depends on each hotel's market, ownership objectives, and circumstances.
