I am a new host, going on 6 weeks; so far doing okay; booked 95 % so far for July. I have a minimum 2 day stay BUT it takes me a long time to clean; I am very picky(lint roller on all towels and sheets, etc takes me hrs to clean. Has anyone of you put a minimum one week stay into your calendar for the month of July? I mean I know Im going to book up July so why not make people stay 1 week in July? I HATE 2 day stays! But I am new and trying to build up to superhost…
You can also charge a cleaning fee, that will help offset the day long cleaning you do.
I need to get the cleaning down to 2 hrs, not 4 to 6.
Yes add that to the wish list.
You CAN make 7 day minimum stays. Go to your single calendar, click on Settings to the right, and at the bottom of Reservation Settings you type in what your minimum and maximum stays are. You can also set special prices for weekends. You can also adjust your calendar to always block 1 day or 2 days after a reservation to give you time to clean, then you can clear it when you’re done.
I think you’d totally lose bookings by requiring a week minimum. I used to not like the quickie stays but now I prefer them… The guests are in and out and if they are bad I don’t have to live with them for long. Also they tend not to make as big a mess as someone staying longer.
Raise your cleaning fee to equal the cost of one night and you can make more money by frequent turnovers. Try to find ways to cut back on the cleaning time to make more per hour. Your place might be priced really cheaply… that’s why all the bookings and turnover. Raise the rates and see if you continue to get bookings…
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I disagree, if you keep your room rate low you will always get eager people to book longer then 7 nights, at least where I am located. I set a MAXIMUM night stay because I get so many requests for people who want to stay a month or more.
True… I guess it would depend on where you are located. I’m in Hawaii so I get lots that want to book a few nights on one side of the island and a few on the other. One time I set a minimum and my bookings totally plummeted…
Another thought… I compete against many properties who do have at least a five day max… just because cleaners are so hard to come by. Because I do my own cleaning, I can profit from have a no minimum. Mind you, I do get guests who ask for one night, but quickly balk when I tell them it’s not a good value! They still have to pay cleaning and deposit!
Regarding the maximum, it is a good idea to set it to 29, not 30. If they book 30 days or longer, their status changes from vacation renter to actual month-to-month tenant! Which means you could have to serve them with 30 days notice and go to court to get them out via an unlawful detainer situation… Remember that ghastly case in Palm Springs. The guests just squatted and the poor host was forced to go through the courts to get them out, and was even forced to provide them with utilities during the process, which took about 6 months.
If you do get that kind of guest and they want to stay several months, rent it to them in 29-day block increments.
How large is the area that you have to clean in between guests? Do you already have a back up set of clean linens and towels, kitchen linens, bath mats, etc. that you can use immediately, and then do laundry later on your own time to prepare for the next guest?
I too am very finicky when cleaning and you never know when there will be surprises. Being able to make the beds right away and save 6 loads of laundry for later takes so much stress off…only if it’s possible of course
Agree on the backup sheets and towel sets… you should have this regardless because there will be those times when you have back-to-back check ins.