Optimising search exposure with a Friday to Friday listing

[Jon3154]

Hi,

We had a very successful 2021, with 100% occupancy over the 3 months we let our home. We had Saturday to Saturday 7 day only as our availability, due to housekeeping constraints. 

This year we want to keep our current housekeeper as she did an excellent job, and effectively co-hosted for us, living very nearby. However her commitments mean we can only offer Friday to Friday rentals.

I'm concerned that our exposure on guest searches may be limited, as I would imagine most of our prospective guests would search weekend to weekend. If the property is already let from a Friday that overlaps the searched week, it doesn't show up at all.

So, is there any way we can get our property to show in this situation, or must we rely on people clicking the 'I'm Flexible' tab?

Thanks in advance!

[Maxine33]

@Jon3154 - congratulations on a great first year!  I am not sure how the search algorithm works but we have not had good luck with Friday to Friday rentals.  Most guests coming from more than an hour away prefer either Saturday or Sunday check-in dates with Sunday being the most popular.

I hope this helps!  Happy hosting. 🙂

[Anonymous]

@Jon3154  I can understand limiting your listing to Friday check-ins, if that's the only day your co-host is available to greet guests. But checkout shouldn't be so time-sensitive, as long as the doors are locked. Do your local laws require you to have a 7-day minimum, or could you possibly accept guests who prefer to depart earlier in the week?

You'll certainly show up in more searches if you have a shorter maximum stay. You could toggle the pricing by raising the nightly rate and setting a weekly discount, so that longer stays are incentivized but a 4, 5, or 6-night stay still generates the target revenue.