What should our Minimum Stay strategy be?

[Dale7]

Help us solve a marital dispute!

We're experienced Super-hosts in downtown Phoenix, Arizona, and want to maximize the number of nights we host.  Our business is mostly seasonal with much of it January thru May.  We get primarily convention business, with some vacation stays, and a few folks staying one or two nights for sporting event or concert.

One of us wants to continue with the new policy of a two-night minimum during high season.  The other wants to accept one night stays figuring some income is better than none.  

Rather than setting the minimum 2 night stay and hoping for the best, what is the best way to evaluate whether or not we should set the calendar to a two-night minimum during the high season?  We began in this location last January, having hosting in another location in Phoenix since 2010.  Bring on your expertise, fellow hosts!

[Pete28]

I would go look at how pricing is working on the Airbnb website before you do anything. Everything is listed by base price which makes the cleaning fee a more important variable. Long stays are not as profitable.

You max revenue with on night stays, especially if you do the cleaning.

[Dale7]

Pete, you're right, I did the numbers and we make more on 1 nighters, but that also prevents someone from booking for a longer stay.  More marital discord!  🙂

However, I'm thinking about a compromise...setting dates coming up quickly on the calendar, which are more likely to go unbooked, to a one night minimum. That would seem to use the advantages of both settings.

Thanks for your reply, it helped me clarify this.  Anyone else have any input?

[Pete28]

In the current conditions, I have a max of 2 nights to avoid making almost nothing per night.

In the Seattle market you need to go down to $40-50 night and make up the loss through the cleaning fee. 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Dale7

it all depends how much time you want to spend for preparation and check in, do you charge for cleaning fee, how much demand is in your area,  how long is the average stay in your area and how desperately you need every penny...

 in our area 90% of hosts have 1 night min stay because Zagreb is transit destination and the average stay is just 1,7  nights.

We have 2 nights minimum. Yes, we are not 100% booked all the time but I don't care, we are off site hosts with 2 apartments and 1 night stays bit would be too time consuming .

If I would rent just a room or two in the same house where I live then it would be different.

[Dale7]

Branka and Silvia,

Great to hear from you, and thanks for your ideas. This is helpful.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Dale7

I think it comes down to (1) how dependent are you on the hosting income and (2) the time+cost for a turnover between bookings vs. your nightly rate - then finding a sweet spot that works for you within your area/market.

Henry and I host a private room in our home so quick turnovers are possible and it wouldn't cost us much since we do our own cleaning BUT we simply don't want to be cleaning and doing endless loads of laundry 🙂 I guess we prefer what some people would call "lazy hosting" but we both have full time jobs and I happen to travel for work a lot so 1 night stays would make our life too hectic and be a huge burden on Henry and in the end, the extra money would not be worth it.

[Dale7]

Henry, thanks for your advice. With the addition of the cleaning fee, a 1-night stay is actually more lucrative by the night.  We clean on our own as well, so that is bonus money.  I've learned that you can set the 2 night minimun on any series of dates you want.  That means that that when we have some open nights in the near future that we want to get booked, we'll eliminate the 2 night minimum and see what happens.

[Susan151]

@Dale7. My strategy is to have longer minimums for high season. I start with 4-night stays. And as the days fill in, I change the "orphan" nights to a lesser minimum. For me, the cleaning and turnovers take true effort. I don't charge a cleaning fee so I make the same money for less work. There are actually three weeks a year that I have a five-night minimum and they are also the only weeks that I charge a true top-dollar.

There might be a way for your marital dispute to be a compromise that works for both of you.

[Dale7]

With the help of our AirBnB community, we've narrowly avoided the divorce courts.  🙂

Thanks very much for your input.  I've done some simple math (not easy for a music major) and feel that especially on upcoming dates that may be otherwise unbooked, the cleaning fee makes the lower rate worth it.

Thanks again.