Pricing Strategy for Room in Shared House

[Kathleane0]

I've been evaluating which days of the week are most and least booked. Since I have a single room for one guest in a shared house so my bookings are all about someone coming for a particular event (only a very few are coming just to enjoy the area) I think that raising the price on heavily booked dates isn't the way to go. I think lowering the price on the day before and the day after these heavily booked dates may encourage someone to stay longer. I'm putting this out to the community to see what ya' all think.

[Elisa]

Hi @Kathleane0 😊, 

thank you for asking this question here!

What days of the week are most or least booked for you?

I’m also tagging a few other hosts in case they have suggestions to share: @Tara0, @Oksana127, @Dave-and-Deb0, @Karen114 and @Guy991.

Thank you in advance everyone!

Warm regards ‌🌻‌,

[Kathleane0]

Since a large part of my cost is flipping the room - cleaning & replenishing amenities, my goal with this strategy is to encourage longer stays.

Tuesdays and Thursdays are most heavily booked. So for this to work I'd be discounting Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays and that doesn't feel as if it would accomplish what I'm looking for, which is to encourage someone to book an extra day around their stay. They may have already been planning to stay on M, W or F. 

What I have been doing is to send out a "gap message". So if I have a day or two open on my calendar between bookings I message both guests a few days prior to their stay to offer them a discount if they extend their booking either on the back end or front end. I've had very few guests take me up on this, mostly because they're time off from work or flight plans can't be changed. What happens more often is that once they arrive they then ask to extend their stay and by then I'm often booked up. That sounds like a good problem to have (and it is), however if I had been able to extend the 1st guest's stay I wouldn't have to flip the room for the new guest coming in.

A new strategy I'd like to experiment with is instead of waiting to see if I have a short gap between bookings before offering a discount, offer a discount at the front and back end of each visit on the same day a guest books their stay. This gives them the flexibility to adjust their flight or work commitments.

[Tara0 · Accepted solution]

Hi @Kathleane0 I would look at all the similar listings in your area and base your event-date pricing on that - e.g. if your listing is nicer and/or has better amenities than others (which looks likely!) then charge a bit more than they do for event dates, etc.

If the general booking pattern is that guests tend to stay only on event dates, then yes, it sounds like a good idea to offer a lower rate either side to try to encourage a longer stay. 

Also, a few comments re your listing.

- Mention female-only in the first or second paragraph. Ditto Wifi and free parking on premises (some guests don't read the amenity list). 

- Add a photo of the outdoor seating/table. (I don't get a sense of the outdoor area).

- Lose at least half the clothes hangers. Nobody needs that many!

- Take a new photo of the bed without the boxes underneath, plus a couple more photos giving a sense of the whole bedroom. 

[Kathleane0]

Thank you so much @Tara0 for taking the time to give me tips on enhancing my listing description and pics, much appreciated.

[Karen114]

@Kathleane0  What an adorable space, so warm and inviting.  I can certainly see why you have 30 5 star reviews!  I don't have much to offer other then agreeing with what @Tara0  has recommended.  Keep up the great work 🙂

[Oksana127]

That's a smart and nuanced approach - especially given that you're hosting a single room in a shared house and most of your bookings are event-driven. Your strategy of lowering the price slightly on the “shoulder days” (the day before and after peak demand) makes a lot of sense for your setup. Since you're not offering a whole unit or luxury experience, spiking prices on high-demand days might just push guests to competitors - especially if they’re already watching their budget. Extending a one-night booking into a two-night stay increases revenue and reduces your turnover and cleaning workload.

Track your conversion rates and adjust gradually. If you notice longer bookings starting to happen, you’ll know your pricing tweak is working!