Pros/cons of 2-night minimum stays?

[Adrienne234]

Hello fellow hosts!

We are brand new and currently hosting guest #16! Things are going well enough but I wonder if anyone can weigh in on their experience requiring a 2-night min stay? We've been super booked up with mostly single-night guests. While I am pleased at the low vacancy rate we have thus far, cleaning almost daily is time-consuming (I clean it myself at this time). I'm concerned if I make our place a 2-night min our requests to book might disappear! I'd love to hear what others have done. Thanks!

[Shirley26]

When I first started with Airbnb, in 2016, I had a two night minimum and after that first year I wonder why I wasn't getting the bookings I expected. So, I went with the one night option and bookings picked up... The area in which you live might play a role in the number of nights people want to stay. In my case, people are usually traveling through. Since I do all my own cleaning, I decided to keep the night before a reservation and the night after a reservation blocked, so I'm not killing myself trying to keep up with changing bedding every day of the week. But, what works for me may not work for you. Good Luck and hope you find a happy medium and one that works for you.

[Ana2038]

@Adrienne234 , I do the same as @Shirley26 . When we first started we had a 2 night minimum.  Just last year we changed it to 1 night minimum and block 1 day before and 1 day after each booking. This allows us enough time to clean without feeling the pressure to get cleaning done in 2-3 hrs. It works for us!

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Adrienne234 we have a 3 night min stay. It definitely loses us business but it also definitely reduces our cleaning load. Our circumstances thankfully allow us to live with these reduced bookings.

Another idea might to add 50% to your rates and then give a 33% discount for 2+days. That way if you do get a 1 night booking it is at least well paid.

[Adrienne234 · Accepted solution]

Thanks for the super helpful perspectives! I think, being new, optimizing bookings and reviews, and absorbing the learning curve is what we're prioritizing now. Once we get our hosting-legs better beneath us we'll probably experiment with the suggestions folks have offered. Thanks again!