How do you manage gaps between bookings?

[Jenny]

Hi everyone!

A full calendar is a thing of beauty, that I’m sure many of you aspire to! The shape a full calendar takes can however change from one Host to the next, depending on how you approach gaps between bookings.

On one hand, taking into account the time required to prep and clean a listing from one guest to the next, you might be planning some breathing room between stays. On the other, those few free days may seem like a lost opportunity and some Hosts could try offering some last minute promotions to get them filled in instead.

What is your strategy, when it comes to gaps between bookings? Do you purposefully carve them out, or try to avoid them?

Looking forward to reading your tips and experiences!

Jenny

[Marie6762]

@Tracey0 

I hear you!  Home share has its unique rewards and challenges but, like you, I find bookings and the occasional down days equally satisfying.  

My market, being a 5 minute walk and 20 minutes by transit to SFO, is equally young business travelers and a large percentage of International tourists; my price is very attractive because of the inconvenience of a shared shower.  
This combo has resulted in all the bookings we could want.  Since there are two of us, we can easily do things ourselves- it just so happens that my partner cheerfully does everything I hate to do, and vice versa!

[Stephen1156]

Define "manage"?

We deliberately put a minimum of 24 hours between bookings. Any longer than that, and it's a chance to tidy gardens, do a bit of a deep clean, do repairs to buildings, and replace broken bits and pieces inadvertently damaged by guests. When your place is 25km out of town on a rural property, it's pretty much a full-time job anyway.

As it is, the two cottages on our place are consistently booked an average of 4 nights a week. Breaks are a welcome chance to breathe and maintain the place.

[Sabi̇t0]

If a new customer arrives before the current customer leaves? I take new customers' belongings and send them directly to the nearest beach or restaurant. Meanwhile, I clean the house.

[Laurelle3]

@Jenny  we have 24 hrs after and 24 hrs prior to bookings closed, which I find suits us. Sometimes I take off the fixed closed books if it is on a public holiday or school holidays and the booking is over part of the weekend.

I find it is a pressure on me as I am the cleaner. Then I say I  am not going to do that again.

In reality the $ sign calls. But we have been taking breaks this year to catch up with family and friends and it is worth the short time between guests. But in the end you have to keep enjoying what you do.