How to ensure 'whole' w/e's are booked

[Katharine10]

Few questions - please....?

I have 2 properties on Airbnb.  The first has been a great success, a 'romantic, quirky, 1 bed' property - ideal for couples.

I have a higher w/e rate (Friday/Saturday nights) as these are the most popular nights.

Occasionally I get a booking with guests just taking one of these nights, leaving me with the other free = loss of one of my biggest earning nights. 

Is there any setting to ensure bookings over a w/e include Fri AND Sat nights?

NEXT:  I have just put my home on Airbnb, a 3 double bed house and just don't know the market.  It's in a very popular country village, AONB, Cotswolds, UK.  Aiming for families or 3 couples - guessing this will be more seasonal.  Are weekly bookings popular?  Or is this only feasible during school holidays?Can't have noise or parties so have noted that in the Listing.  Does anyone have a similar sized property who could advise me?   

Another option is 2 booking periods Fri-Mon or Mon-Fri - but it was a nightmare trying to set this up in the calendar - well, I couldn't!  

Open to ALL suggestions!  I have set it up with minimum bookings of 3 nights and tried to do it via 'Customise your minimum stay requirement based on check-in day' to prevent w/e's being split.  Is this how to do it?

I would REALLY appreciate some help with this as I seem to have spent hours on it and am now TOTALLY confused!

Many thanks

Katharine

[Steve143]

Hello @Katharine10,

Can I suggest that you start another conversation for your second question?

The heading suggests it's purely a technical "how to" question and it may be skipped by someone who could offer advice on your second question.

I can offer advice on the question about weekend dates.

You can set a minimum stay of 2 days for checkins on Fridays and Saturdays.

Click on "Host", then on "Listing" and then on "availability settings". Then click on the "Edit" button in the "Trip length" section.

Then click on the "Customise minimum stay requirements by day of week" link and check the boxes for Fridays and Saturdays. Then click "Done" followed by clicking on "Save".

This will mean that anyone checking in on a Friday or a Saturday must have booked two nights minimum. You may, of course, get the odd Saturday to Monday booking but it's main effect should be to stop Saturday night only bookings.

Another option would be to set a two night minimum stay for Fridays as above but then disallow checkins in Saturdays. That would, of course, stop guests booking for any period, no matter how long, if it starts on a Saturday so you may not want that.

You can set a day as no checkin by going to the "Check-in and checkout" section below the "Trip length" section above. Then click on the "Edit" button and choose the link to specify days when guests can't check in.

If you do this be aware that Saturdays will then show with a line through on your calendar. Guests who see the calendar may think that they can't stay on a Saturday even though they can. They just can't check in on a Saturday. Your listing would still show up in a search result for a stay that includes staying over a Saturday. This is a much complained about calendar display issue here in this forum.

Steve.