Suggestion about isolated "unbookable" (aka "orphaned") days

[Dede0]

Since this is the Tips and Tricks forum, I thought I'd toss out a tip about something we've started trying lately.

If your listing has a multi-day minimum booking requirement (ours is 2 nights), then it's possible to end up with a single open day surrounded by two other multi-night bookings. That single night won't be available for bookings because of your policy.

When that situation occurs, I send a message to either or both guests on either side of that isolated day. I *very* briefly explain about how the day is otherwise unbookable. Then I ask them if they might want to extend their stay by an extra day for a very low rate. (I typically offer to knock $20-25 off the rate in effect. If they accept, I handle the added day as a Special Offer, and I don't include the usual cleaning fee in the offer. So the guest can add the day for minimal money.

In general, about 1/4 of guests take me up on this offer. Extra money for no extra effort.

By the way, if you found this information useful, consider clicking the Thumbs-Up icon near the bottom.

[Aunt-Betty0]

YES!!! I do the same thing. by offering my guests a discounted rate if they would like to exetend their stay BUT I think Airbnb is missing out on a lot of potential additional revenue for 1-night stay bookings. I would LOVE if Airbnb could create an option that would permit hosts to rent out random single nights (when they have booked nights on either side of a vacant date). I am NOT suggesting for us hosts to change our minimum night stay requirement (mine is 2 nights) because 1-night stays for established hosts could block the ability to book a longer term stay from someone else and loose a lot of revenue. what I AM suggesting might be either an option we can elect that permits 1-night stays when we have a single vacant night between two booked nights AND/OR  a special section of the website dedicated exclusively for one-night stays that would permit hosts to enter in specific single night dates s and when they become available and a link to their listing. I have 4 listings I manage and next month I will have 8, random, single nights vacant. thats a loss of over $1500!!! I am surprised this program has not been created yet. Single nights might also attract those skeptics who have never tried airbnb and simply want to test it for a night or perhaps the random business man who flies into Los Angeles from san Francisco for a night. This could also be a great option for hosts who accidentally double book a guest when external calendars dont sync fast enough or properly. I was actually going to create a facebook page for me and all my friends (other airbnb hosts) who are often looking for single night stays.

[Dede0]

@Aunt-Betty0, you already can easily override your minimum stay requirement on a per-date basis. When your calendar is showing, click on Availability Settings near the upper right. Scroll down, and near the bottom, just above the Sync Calendars line, you'll see a link saying "Add another requirement". Clock that and define away! You can use that to set longer or shorter minimums by seasons, or for specific dates, or for weekend stays.

To set a specific day back to a 1-day minimum, select Specific Dates and when the start/end fields appear, enter your start date (the day you want to make available). The end date will default to the following day.

Be aware that there's currently a bug in this process, which might or might not surface for you. If you're opening up a single "orphan" day that was originally the subject of this post, you won't be affected by the bug. But if you're changing a single day's minimum requirement and that day is followed by another currently open day, the change will also affect that following day. In other words, it will also now have a 1-day minimun requirement. This bug has been reported to AirBnB, so I hope they'll fix it soon, if not already.

If this information was helpful, consider clicking the Thumbs Up icon below. Thanks!

[Dede0]

In an issue related to the "orphan" days, if I don't get any uptake from the adjacent bookings for the "extra day" offer, I've played around with this:

Set the open date to a 1-day minimum (as described above) and then change the daily rate to something 15-25% greater than the former rate.  The reason for the higher rate is that unless someone is willing to pay a premium for that single day, I really don't find it worth it to have to clean two days in a row. So far, this has never resulted in any bookings, so I'll probably discontinue this experiment after awhile. I *really* don't like cleaning two days in a row...

If this information was helpful, consider clicking the Thumbs Up icon below. Thanks!

[Suzanne75]

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! I have been trying to find a way to fill those orphan days for a few years, and you just solved it. Spread the word!!!!