How to increase childcare occupancy in Australia: fill empty days and rooms without discounting

To increase childcare occupancy, work out exactly where the gaps are (which room, which days), then fix the steps that lose families before you spend more on ads: slow replies, tours that end without a next step, and waitlists nobody contacts. After that, market each gap on its own. Offer extra days to the families you already have, and aim local ads at the parents who fit that one room and those one or two days.

Most centres don't need "more awareness". They need the right family for the Tuesday and Thursday places in the 2 to 3s room.

Why is childcare occupancy harder in 2026?

A lot of operators are feeling this, not just you. In its half-year results, G8 Education reported average group occupancy of 57 per cent, well below the year before. It pointed to cost-of-living pressure, fewer long-term enrolments, falling birth numbers, new centre supply and more competition in some local markets. Valuers are saying similar things. Opteon's 2026 childcare property overview notes oversupply in some catchments leading to lower occupancy.

There is also a policy change that matters for marketing. Since 5 January 2026, the 3 Day Guarantee means every family eligible for the Child Care Subsidy (CCS) can get 72 hours of subsidised care per child each fortnight, roughly three days a week. Families with more recognised activity can still get up to 100 hours. It doesn't change how a family's CCS rate is worked out, and most families still pay a gap fee. But it does mean some families who used to book one or two days may now be open to a third.

None of this is fixed by a bigger ad budget alone. It's fixed by being precise.

Where are your vacancies, exactly?

Start with a simple grid: rooms down the side, days across the top, and the number of open places in each box. Do it from your booking system, not from memory.

Room	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri
Babies (0 to 2)
Toddlers (2 to 3)
Preschool / kinder (3 to 5)

When you fill it in, a pattern usually jumps out. Mondays and Fridays are often the softest days. One room is often full with a waitlist while the room next door has gaps. Children moving up to school at the end of the year will open places in the preschool room that you can see coming months ahead.

That grid becomes your marketing plan. Each box with a gap is a small campaign with its own audience and its own message.

Are you losing families after they enquire?

Before you pay for more enquiries, check what happens to the ones you already get. Parents usually contact several centres at once. The centre that answers first, and answers properly, has a real head start.

Look at the last 20 enquiries and ask:

1. How fast did we reply? Same day is the minimum. Within the hour, during opening hours, is better.
2. Did we answer the actual question? Most parents ask about availability for their days, fees, and what a day looks like for a child their age.
3. Did we offer a tour with a specific time? "Come in anytime" gets fewer visits than "Can you come Thursday at 10 or Friday at 2?"
4. What happened after the tour? Every tour should end with a clear next step: an enrolment pack, a start date to hold, or a follow-up call booked.
5. When did we last contact the waitlist? Families on a waitlist from six months ago may have found care, or may be ready now. You only know if you ask.

If you track enquiries, tours and enrolments each week, you'll see which step is leaking. It might be that plenty of families tour but few enrol, which points to the tour itself. Or that many enquire but few book a tour, which points to the reply.

How do you fill empty days with families you already have?

Your current families are the cheapest place to start. They already trust you, and the 3 Day Guarantee gives you a timely reason to talk.

• Offer specific days, not "more days". "We have one place on Fridays in the Possums room. Would you like it for Mia?" works better than a general newsletter line.
• Explain the 3 Day Guarantee simply, and link to the official ACECQA explanation. Don't tell a family what their subsidy or gap fee will be. Point them to the CCS calculator on StartingBlocks.gov.au and to Services Australia. You're a childcare centre, not a financial adviser, and getting someone's numbers wrong costs trust.
• Ask siblings early. Families with a younger child on the way often plan care a year ahead.
• Make referrals easy. A short message families can forward to friends, with a link to book a tour, does more than a poster at the door.

Keep it honest. If a family can't afford a third day, they can't. The point is to make sure nobody misses out on a day they would have taken if they'd known it was there.

How do you market one room and one day at a time?

This is where most centre ads go wrong. "Now enrolling, all ages" is aimed at everyone, so it lands with no one. Parents with a 14-month-old want to know about the babies room, and whether you have their days.

When we plan occupancy campaigns for a centre, we build them around the grid:

1. Pick one gap. For example, Monday and Friday in the toddler room.
2. Picture the parent. Usually a parent of a child the right age, living or working within a short drive, who works part time or flexibly and needs those days.
3. Show that room. Real photos and short videos of the room, the outdoor area and the educators (following your photo consent policy and never identifying children without permission). Stock photos don't help a parent picture their own child there.
4. Say the days out loud. "Places available Mondays and Fridays for 2 to 3 year olds" is clearer than any slogan.
5. Make the next step small. A short form or a tour booking, not a long enrolment application.
6. Stop when it's full. Then move the budget to the next gap.

Local Meta ads (Facebook and Instagram) aimed at parents near the centre do much of this work. Your Google Business Profile matters too, because many parents search "childcare near me" and read reviews before they ever visit your website. Keep the hours, photos and contact details right, and reply to reviews.

Also keep your listing on StartingBlocks.gov.au up to date. ACECQA says families can use it to find fees, vacancies and quality ratings and save services to a shortlist. If your vacancies there are out of date, you're invisible to families searching for exactly the days you have free.

Should you discount to fill places?

Usually not as a first move. Discounts can fill a gap quickly, but they can also train families to wait for a deal and make your standard fee look negotiable. They're also hard to undo.

There's often a better lever. Parents are frequently unsure what care will really cost them after the subsidy, so clear fee information can do more than a discount. Show your daily fee plainly, explain what's included (meals, nappies, excursions), and point families to the official calculator so they can work out their own gap. A parent who understands the real cost is easier to enrol than one guessing at the full daily fee.

What should you track each week?

Keep it to a short list you can check every Monday:

What to track	Why it matters
Vacancies by room and day	Shows where to focus this week
New enquiries (and where they came from)	Tells you which channels work
Average reply time	Slow replies lose families to the centre down the road
Tours booked and tours held	Shows whether your reply is working
Enrolments and start dates	The only number that pays the bills
Families who reduced or left, and why	Helps you fix retention, not just intake

You don't need fancy software for this. A shared spreadsheet the centre director updates weekly is enough to see patterns within a month or two.

The short version

Find the exact gaps. Fix the reply, the tour and the follow-up. Offer extra days to the families you have. Then market each gap on its own, to the parents it suits, with real photos and the days spelled out. It's less glamorous than a big launch campaign, but it's how centres move from "we have some places" to full rooms.

If you'd like help putting this in place, see how we work with childcare centres, or get in touch.