Minimum of 2 nights stay

[MicheleandLouw0]

Dear hosts I would like to ask your opinion about one night stays. Are they  worth it? I have a cottage listed and feel that it is a lot of cleaning and washing for only one night. I have not had many one night bookings but I am  wondering if I change to a minimum of 2 nights  will it affect by bookings badly? To those of you  who have done this how did your bookings change after this? I think a room only will be much easier to accomodate one nighters than a whole  cottage. Looking forward to hear from you. Michele

[Andrew90]

I manage my property remotely and use a cleaning service so its cost prohibitive for me do short stays. 

I set a 3 Day minimum and charge a $100 cleaning fee. It actually costs me more but its a way of discouraging short term stays. 

[MicheleandLouw0]

Thats one way of doing it @Andrew90. Good thinking. We do no have cleaning services here in Maun burt I do have a housekeeper, but mainly for my own house.

[Mary90]

Hey Andrew,

Is it possible to only have that cleaning fee applied to short stays? That would discourage short stays, but still welcome longer term guests.

I want Airbnb to make this an option!

Peace,

Mary in Durham, NC

[Jennifer178]

Hi, I used to do one night stays and I am sure I lost longer stays because of it. I went to a 2 night minimum and my bookings increased and the workload went down. Esp. on wknds most people want both nights so I lost a 2 night stay because the other 

[Jennifer178]

Sorry, as I was saying most people want both wknd nights. I rent a room in my house but I still do not like 1 night stays.  Even though a 1 night stay did result in repeat business. Plus I do get tired of scrubbing the toilet 😉

[MicheleandLouw0]

I cant agree more. hahaha!!!

[Frank268]

I found that 90 percent of my 3 rankings came from 1 night stays. They are unrealistic and do not communicate well usually. Eliminate them and you will be better off with workload and income.

[Frank268]

I found that 90 percent of my 3-star rankings came from 1 night stays. They are unrealistic and do not communicate well usually. Eliminate them and you will be better off with workload and income.

[Monica1154]

hahaaha,so my thoughts right now regd the toilet : )))))

[MicheleandLouw0]

@Jennifer178 Thank you so much, I did not even think anout thees one night bookings blocking  longer stays. Yes that is definately another way to look at things.

[Alice-and-Jeff0]

We love one night stays because they are more lucrative.  This is mainly because of our cleaning fee, which we do our own cleaning.  So a single night at $50 plus $15 is a $65/night, vs a 2-night stay $50x2=$100+$15 cleaning =115/2 nights = $57.5/night.  If you are following along with the math, single nights net us 12% more than 2 nights. Over the course of 20 days, single nights bring in $1,300 vs 2-night stays at $1,150.  At the end of the year, that's $1,800 more because I am willing to book single nights.  Additionally, single nights fill in the holes between other longer stays. 

Now I can't justify for you if that's "worth it" but I could definitely suggest yo run the numbers and give you real, quantifiable data to determine "worth".  

[MicheleandLouw0]

@Alice-and-Jeff0 Thank you very much for your insight. Mmmm I dont charge a  cleaning fee. I was always worried that this extra charge might put  guests off. But apparently not?

[Alice-and-Jeff0]

@MicheleandLouw0 -  Our cleaning fee does not seem to be a deterrent, but it's only $15.  Some fees are much higher for the same kind of space as ours so it "looks" like the listing is cheaper and then it ends up being more expensive if the guest isn't savvy enough to notice.  

[Jennifer178]

I did ask various people if the cleaning fee turned them off and some people said yes. I charge $100 per night and $125 on the weekend so that pays for my cleaning supplies and I do my own cleaning. You could just charge more .