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

[Fabienne217]

I usually decline my guests when they ask me if it's possible to book for one night instead of two. First, it's rude since I require 2 night. Second, I'm wasting time and money with the cleaning and utilities bills, doewsn't worth the amount of work.

[Taylor141]

The question of one night guests depends on your specific situation. I do it, but my place is easy and efficient to clean, I'm retired and have the time,  and my cleaning fee is $50. Plus I am in a high demand area and can fill those odd empty weeknights. So basically I am getting $50 for about 1 hours worth of cleaning, because 1-nighters don't make much mess.  If I had to drive to my unit and lug supplies, then I might have a different policy.

[Richard1014]

Hi Hosts,

I'm a regular guest, mostly for more than one night but in Decmeber, I need to visit relatives and can only stay for one night. Search in Castleton Derbyshire shows up about 40 properties, as soon as I filter for one night, there are none.

Shame, I'll just need to book a hotel or regular BnB where the hosts will sell one night.

Also noticed recentley lots of hosts adding huge "service charge" as well as "cleaning fee". Just in case you're interested in the feedback, when I book a hotel, the advertised price is the price I pay. With Air BnB I now find so many properies give me a shock once I try an book.

Be honest hosts - if you want £$€120 per night for your place, advertise that price. Not £$€55 + £$€20 service + £$€45 cleaning - imediately creates a bad feeling from the start.

Rgds - Richard

[Jeff158]

 @Richard1014 the service fee is what airbnb charge guests for using the platform, the more you spend the lower the % you pay, we as hosts have no idea what they will charge you, hosts also pay another service fee for advertising on the platform.

I agree the cleaning fee should be included in the nightly charge as B&Bs and hotels do

[Anna9170]

.@Richard1014   what difference does it make to you what the price consists of, if you pay TOTAL, and this price either frightens you or does not suit you.)

[Paul1255]

@MicheleandLouw0 I have a 1 night minumum stay, but I just host a private room!

I often have 1 night stays, guests are often just down for work and want somewhere to sleep before they start, or want a night in London before heading off to the airport.

I charge a £10 cleaning fee, so the room fee plus cleaning fee actaully gives me a decent price for a 1 night stay- and it doesn't take me long to turn the room around and do the laundry.

You could try adjusting to a 2 night minumum and see how this affects your bookings!

[Huma0]

It totally depends on your market. If you are in a location where one night stays are very popular, e.g. right by an airport, and longer stays are not, then it makes sense to have a one night minimum.

I started out with that, but very quickly realised it was too much work to be worth it and no, I don't charge a cleaning fee for various reasons, but I might reconsider that down the line seeing as how Airbnb is now showing places in the results as being the same price as mine when they are actually not because they are charging a huge cleaning fee on top!

Even if I did start charging a cleaning fee, I wouldn't go back to one nighters. There is more involved than just the cleaning. There is the correspondence with the guest before, during and after the stay, the check in and welcome tour, the review etc. etc. This time needs to be factored into the equation, but it's not like you can charge extra for that!

I don't think having a two night minimum has affected my bookings as I rarely have a day unbooked and when I do I am glad for the breather! It's also a very good point that having very short bookings dotted around your calendar could prevent you from getting longer bookings and therefore more days for less work. Often when I have a two night booking cancelled, the room immediately gets booked by someone for three or four nights instead, who was prevented in doing so by the shorter booking.

[Marie82]

@Huma0, i am with Huma, 1 night booking dont always attract the good one but also the party guests, and the correspondance and making sure guests find the place and check in being online all that time is really not worth. 

Sometime i only do 1 night when prices are very high because of an event in town or high season but i avoid it as much as i can 

[Mark1401]

Because of this string I have changed my weekdays to minimum 1 night w/ weekends left at 2. Thanks for the great discussion. It was a great learning lesson for a newbie such as myself

[Ian458]

My experience is if you are cleaning yourself it's lucrative to do one night stays. If you are paying a cleaner then it is not. My airbnb manager / cleaner changed my listing to one night stays to get more cleaning fees which resulted in a lot of missed longer stays and awkward single night slots which couldn't be filled. Now I manage and clean myself so it's worthwhile to have one night stays. I should also note that I live immediately next door and work from home so it's convenient.

[Sarah977]

I clean myself and I feel the opposite. It's not lucrative at all for me to clean for 1 night stay- my private room is $28 /night, I spend an hour and a half cleaning the guest room and their private bathroom, plus making sure the common areas are cleaner than I would keep them normally if I didn't have guest. My time has value, just as if I were being paid to clean, but I don't have a cleaning fee. I actually have a 3 night minimum, but that doesn't really lose me bookings, because people come here on holiday and usually stay for a week to 10 days.

[Anna9170]

@Sarah977  It depends on the region and in your case it is logical, guests go there consciously for a few days at least. My city is located between Barcelona and France, and it can be said to be a "transit point", and a very fashionable youth hangout. So once again I will make an off-top, target is the most important thing, who is your guest. And paying for cleaning is a great tool , but maybe it requires a separate topic.)

[Sarah977]

@Anna9170  It sort of all happened at once, when I was first setting up my listing and deciding on my booking settings. The combination of factors- that people don't just "pass through" here for a night, that I didn't want to clean for a stay less than 3 days, or charge a separate cleaning fee, that I have a lot of other things on my plate, like a full-time upholstery business and can't just drop everything to prepare for, or deal with a guest, etc.

But I know a ton of hosts rely on one night bookings and that may make up the bulk of their business. 

If I hosted a entire place listing, I would charge a cleaning fee. But for just the one small bedroom and the guest bathroom I list, I felt it could put a lot of guests off, especially since my listing is fairly budget-priced anyway. And it attracts really nice guests, mostly seasoned travellers, who really never leave a mess, and most do a stellar job of cleaning up, both in their own space and in my kitchen I share with them.

[Annette158]

I have a one night min on my two bedroom beach house and charge a $50 cleaning fee, it is extra cleaning, laundry etc but I clean myself and also do the garden maintenance. I think guests don’t mind paying a cleaning fee for a house and also feel that it is great for reviews & future return visits. 

[Jackie584]

Am in the same situation, would be great if for a 1 night stayer we had a cleaning fee, which doesn’t seem to be an option, whilst 2 nights plus don’t get charged for cleaning!