Hi there. New to Airbnb this year, we are advertising our Dorset based home out for 2 weeks in the summer, is it reasonable to put a 7 night minimum stay in for bookings? It’s big enough for two families to stay but we are keen not to end up accepting a 4 night booking that messes up the rest of that fortnight block. Any advice greatly appreciated
I can’t comment on your area but I believe the reason we have such a high occupancy is because so many people in our area have a 2 night plus minimum. You are banking on finding someone that wants to stay on that exact date, for that amount of people, for that exact period of time. Is that feasible, is the question you need to explore?
The other option is you try it and see if you get the booking you want. If you don’t you change your strategy. 80% of my bookings are in the week before guests want to stay.
I love one nighters. As long as the cleaning fee covers your costs everyone is happy.
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Thanks for the response Poppy, that’s really helpful. Can I ask, is your place a family+ size or couples size?
IMHO you will find it harder to book family-sized groups for 7 day minimum.
Most people these days like to move around. Foreigners (like us Americans) mostly want to see as much as they can. My partner & I will be in England (she was born in Brighton) for 2+ weeks in May/June, and will be around Birmingham, for a few days, Brighton a few days an elsewhere. I think we’re fairly typical. Brits on holiday may stay for a fortnight at a time, but probably not others.
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I would think a week in Dorset or Devon in Summer would be heaven and happily use the excuse “oh dear looks like we will have to book the whole week” to stay longer. You could try what I do over the summer holidays (your August, our January) which is initially set a requirement for 7 days and if it isn’t booked by December reduce that to a minimum of 2 or 3 nights. I know from my time living there that Brits tend to plan well ahead over Summer whereas us Aussie are more let’s see what the weather forecast will be like on Wednesday and then book for Friday. So worst case scenario you get some late booking Aussies which is not as bad as it sounds.
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@cafedelmarlowe I generally accept 7-plus days’ stays only. However, I initially (90 days in advance) set it for a 14-day stay minimum, and then, if there are no takers, I will drop it to a 10-day minimum, and so on. I suggest you try set it for a 7-day minimum and it gets closer to the date, reduce the minimum numbers of days little by little…
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I have both, ones that sleep only two and others that sleep 5-6. The cleaning costs and laundry on the bigger ones are a killer.
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We sleep 10 people at our rental, all in beds, and have a 2-night minimum, except at major holidays or the Ironman Competitition, when it becomes 4-nights. Our average stay is 4-5 nights. Since we opened 10 months ago, we have only had maybe six 7-night reservations. We would have lost an incredible amount of income had we had a 7-night minimum.
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Thanks guys! All really insightful. Think we’ll put our minimum duration a little lower and then react to bookings.
From my limited knowledge it would seem to be incredibly difficult to financially cover housekeeping costs on a property that sleeps 10 guests for a one night stay. However, if there was a way to implement the cleaning costs pro-rata to the amount of guests the extra cost to the individual guest would not be prohibitive. So I can see a time in the future where this will work well for both groups of guests and the relevant host.
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Housekeeping charges me a flat rate for cleaning the 10-bed rental, whether it is for 1 night or 6 nights. Anyone who plans to use one bed for one night would still pay the same cleaning fee. While we have never had a one-night request. We have had families of 4 for 3 nights, who paid the same cleaning fee as a family of 8 for 3 nights. Housekeeping has worked it out. Their flat fee is based on an expectation that all 10 beds will need to be changed. And our cleaning fee is a pass-through. The housekeeper gets 100% of the fee charged to the customer.