This never usually happens but someone has booked one night for the 20th December. I am normally happy for one night bookings as they slot inbetween. However obviously this booking will disrupt future bookings (I normally get nice Grandpops over Christmas). Is there a way of allowing single nights in the short term and preventing them in the future? My calendar is open for 3 months.
My calendar is closed by default. I only add days about a month out and yes you can have different minimums for different timeframes go to booking settings and make a rule I believe.
RR
Edited to add:
Availability then trip length then additional requirements.
You might consider writing them and asking them to cancel and tell them it slipped your mind to block off days for Grandpops. If someone told me right away and paid any cancel fees I probably wouldn’t mind canceling. Or maybe you’ll get lucky and their plans will change and they will cancel anyway. People who book well in advance are more likely to cancel or need to change their dates in my experience.
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Adjust your availibility settings accordingly:
You can define different trip length … say 7 days for in 3 month, 5 days in 2 month, 3 days in 1 month …
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To directly answer your question, yes it is possible to allow single nights short term, but not in future. Under “Availability > Trip Length > Edit”, set up the minimum nights you prefer for future and save. Then go back in same area and choose “Add a custom rule for seasons or specific dates”, and custom set up the time period you want to change it to one night.
Example: You can have minimum 4 nights overall, but custom set for 1 night from Nov 13 - Dec 15. Or you can reverse it and set up min. 1 night overall and make min. 4 nights over the holidays. Hope this helps 
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As others have highlighted, it is possible. We allow 1 night bookings on a rolling basis within the next 1-2 weeks. This is done by adjusting the dates in the rules (by moving the dates in the current rule back):
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Sounds good. I am being a little slow. Must the dates/settings be edited regulary manually, or is it possible to set up general automatic principles? I would like to allow single nights 2 or 3 weeks in advance, then a minimum of 4 nights 4 weeks in advance and so on.
Nope, it would be a manual adjustment unless there is a magic button I have not discovered yet myself.
In your case I would recommend: set the minimum to 4 nights ALWAYS - then make a customized adjustment for the 2 or 3 weeks in advance for the single night stays. That would be easier to handle.
Ah Ok. So I was hoping for something which doesnt exist! I’m a bit of a dreamer clearly!
Agree. In a high demand area, I’ll set it to 3-4 nights minimum. Many guests will only book the weekend slot, leaving the weekday slots much less likely to be booked. I have a 3 day minimum in Dec , and a 2 day for off peak.
Alex you are Awesome! Thank you for the heads-up on this. I now setup 1 day except for Fridays where it’s 2 days so I avoid lost weekends.
I would advise you to never do one nighters unless you are new starting out and need business and need reviews.a One nighter on Saturday kills your weekend potential of a 3 day booking! If you put minimum 2 or 3 day booking you should be able to still sell all weekends. You will make more money.
@Jefferson Unless all of the other hosts in your neighborhood also require 2 or 3 day minimums and there’s a big event on Saturday. Release that Saturday as a single day and charge nearly double for it. You’ll still book that Friday because so many people have had to book more than one day because of all the minimums for that weekend, but you’ll make extra for that Saturday. As an option.
It’s always worth running a search for things like this. Sometimes you’ll see that the Saturday alone has “7 listings available” but that the Friday and Saturday together has “31 listings available” and that’s how you’ll know.
Well I just noticed when I put three day minimum booking and I still sell out every single weekend so that’s good enough for me and when summer comes I’m going to have a one week minimum like somebody suggested here. I don’t like having to service the room every day that is a real PIA.