single nights between bookings

Elizabeth186
Level 2
Portland, OR

single nights between bookings

Hi there-

Forgive me, I'm new at this. Ideally I'd like 3 night minimums but am going with 2 for now to try and get some reviews going. I don't want to get flooded with single night stays, but am open to it if there is a night between longer bookings. Is there a way to set this up so its available for people searching for 1 night, or do I just need to leave my settings at 1 night minimum? Maybe just mention in my profile? But then my concern is someone won't see my profile if they enter 1 night in the search engine. Thanks for any tips you can provide!

13 Replies 13
Sandra126
Level 10
Daylesford, Australia

You are forgiven, I am old at this but have not managed this problem. Am watching for anyone who has a good idea. How I solve it is having the settings to one night min, but in my header writing I say TWO NIGHTS MIN ON WEEKENDS. Works fairly well, but I do still get a few inquiries for one night weekends stays from those who ignore writing.

We were also keen to avoid one night bookings, but found that if we raise the cleaning fee, which really is the hassle for us on one night turn arounds, we are more at peace with it. Just another option. 🙂

Robert142
Level 4
Kissimmee, FL

Hi! I have found that it is always best to be in as many filter searches as possible. So you are correct in thinking you should list one night minimum and set the price as what you want for it. Then for longer stays, week or more, set up a discount rate. Also mention in profile that if booking more than one night and less than a week you can send a special offer. This will help but not ultimately fix it. You also could set up no instant books that way you have to have a request first and could adjust pricing but then, again it's less of a filter search. Hopefully air bnb will implement this into an update in the near future. Best of luck until then! Happy hosting!
Deborah1
Level 10
Beaufort, SC

You can keep it at the two night minimum and then use custom setting to set minimum of one night for specific dates. You can also set different minimum for week days than for weekends. This setting is in availibility.

Deborah1
Level 10
Beaufort, SC

 
Dede0
Level 10
Austin, TX

@Elizabeth186 If you want to limit your one-night bookings to single nights in between longer bookings, then DO go ahead and set a 2 night minimum as your default. Then, whenever you end up with a single day in between two bookings, you can individually make it available for one-night bookings. To do that, go to your calendar and click on Availability Settings near the upper right. Scroll down until you see the Min/Max Stay fields. Just below that there's a link saying something like "Add a requirement". Click that and fill out the fields for the single date you have in mind.

 

In addition to doing that, you can also custom-set a 3-day (or more) minimum for date ranges 2, 3, or more months in the future, and then drop it back to your default minimum as the dates get nearer. For example, our default min is 2 nights, but when we first open dates 3 or 4 months in advance, we set that entire block to a 3-night min. After it begins to book up (we tend to book up 50% or more 3 months out), we drop that custom minimum and let the dates use our default 2-night min. We prefer longer bookings, and this helps us get more of them,

Thanks so much! So helpful!
Sandra126
Level 10
Daylesford, Australia

Thanks @Dede0, super useful. It is complex and annoying but it is making the best of it.

Wow, thank you for figuring this out when it should be waaaayyyy simpler.  I even asked help on Aribnb site and they had no answer.  I had to come here.

Thanks again for the great solutions!

I would suggest try the instant book option with a minimum night stay of 2 or even 3 nights; make sure to check that you want government ID and good prior reviews checked on your instant book page. Guests tend toward instant book so use it to make your rules rather than bend to them. Single night stays are fine every now and then, but if you want longer bookings, make those the more appealing options. 

Richard531
Level 10
California, United States

I have been asking this question for over a year.  I'm so happy others are thinking about it!  What's frustrating is that a simple instruction/code could resolve this. 

 

It would funcionally go something like this:

 

Set minimum to 2+ nights for all bookings.  However, IF 2+ night bookings are confirmed on either side of a SINGLE day between those bookings, THEN make that SINGLE day bookable for a SINGLE day.  Keep all remaining consecutive days bookable for 2+ nights only. 

 

It's a simple instrcution option that would resolve this.  Trust me, Airbnb is a whole lot smarter than me and can easily roll this out.

Or, even simpler, going to calender, and selecting the date, and instead of just buttons for "Available" or "Blocked"  There could be an additional button that changes to "Single Night Available."

Juanita4
Level 1
St. John's, Canada

This is all very useful information. Thank you. I'm wondering though is there any way of preventing guests from leaving single nights between bookings. I have a 3 night minimum and allow instant book. More often than I'd like, I'm left with one or 2 nights vacant between bookings. Until now I didn't even know there was a way to offer them for rent without changing my minimum stay calenderwide. Still, If they don't get picked up I'm out the fee for those nights. I find in my market people don't usually stay for singles or deuces. Any suggestions or is this just something I have to live with.