I was listening to a STR podcast earlier and the guests were 2 people who have been hosting multiple properties for a number of years. They stated that some of their larger vacation type places (not geared toward business stays) will get weekends booked and have midweek openings. The exact scenario I was curious about in my situation. They said that they have put keypad locks on some of the bedrooms and then had a listing for fewer guests. They can then lock up the rooms not paid for but still get people in during slow times. They stated that they are more likely to get guests that is just a couple, or maybe 2 couples that will still want to book because of amenities, or the location, but can’t justify spending the price of a 8 or 10 person house for just 2 or 4 people. My house would be very easy to set up like this, put a lock on the basement which is where the bunkroom is, or either of the 3rd floor bedrooms. You save on not having to a turnover on those locked rooms, but still get some people in the house.
Has anyone done something like this? I can totally see a smaller group still wanting to stay at my place because of the proximity to wineries, bike trails, or to be right on the river, but not have a big group to share the cost.
There have been many threads on this over the years. Just from memory I would say this is absolutely something that you can do successfully. Also, if it doesn’t work for you then you just quit doing it. It’s very low risk.
Thanks so much for the quick reply. I did a search but as I had no idea what that would be called I think I searched on terms that don’t make sense LOL. You are right, I can always try it out and if it seems to be problematic, I can shut it down. It occurred to me that making the basement it’s own listing, I may get mountain bike enthusiasts who don’t really need the whole kitchen and such and may be good with just the bunkroom and adjoining living room with kitchenette. The basement does have it’s own access through an exterior door, so that’s a plus.
Annette
I think it’s called a “child” or “linked” listing. We have that setup - one listing for 2 people at a lower price, and the other for as many as six.
Other hosts might just charge a base price for a couple and then an extra-person fee after that.
The advantage of the second listing is that you can have it open only on certain dates. If you use an extra-person fee for a single listing, it has to apply to all dates and be the same price (you can’t make it $10 on the weekends and $50 during the week).
Whichever you choose, I encourage you to put a high penalty in your house rules for bringing more people than they booked for. My 2-person listing has a penalty of the price difference between the listing and it applies for every night of the stay, regardless of how many nights they exceeded the two people. I haven’t had issues with it so far, but we are an area that attracts a LOT of honeymooners, who don’t normally bring other people on vacation with them.