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Browsing some nearby Airbnbs, I realized almost no hosts allow one night bookings. I decided to try them, at least until I get more reviews. The nightly rate is on the high side, so it’s kind of worth it.
Had one group of guests who were fine.
But the requests I’ve been getting lately just seem to be worse and worse…
First a bunch of local sorority girls who wanted a host a birthday party. Then, a college guy from the next town over. His request stated that his parents gave him money so he and his buddies could book a place to “hang out” together one night before they all go back to uni after winter break…Ummm. Nope!
Then a teacher who wanted to book for just one adult but have 15 of her students who were coming for a chess completion spread out all over my floors. Nope again.
So, I’m going to change my settings back to no more one nighters. My decline rate is suffering.
So interesting. I do many many one nighters and have no issues. I check stringently for good reviews etc before accepting… but maybe it has just been luck for me.
That’s certainly one way to do it. Besides a relatively high nightly rate having a relatively high cleaning fee is another way to do it. Also, re your decline rate. Don’t decline. Avoid declining. Reply with “sure you can have a birthday party. There is a $500 deposit payable before checkin. Extra people over two are $40 per person (40 x 15 = $600 maybe that’s worth it?).” Reply with a request for more information. If they still seem interested there are a number of ways to make them not want to book your place.
Every listing is different. I’ve hosted 100s of one night stays with no problem but I don’t have an entire place.
I have one night stays and have no problems with it. They are usually people just travelling thru the area and need a place to stop. Make sure you settings lists no parties/events, have your extra person rate enabled.
Maybe one thing that could work is putting a 2 nights minimum, stating in the description that you may be able to accommodate one night stays, that guests should reach out to you. In that case, if you feel comfortable with the guests, you can accept - if not, you don’t accept and I believe your decline rate would not suffer (however I’ll leave it to more experienced Air hosts to confirm)
I don’t do one night stays - first because where my listing is, it would not make much sense so if someone would want to stay one night, that’d actually be a red flag (it’s a beach apartment at the very end of a very tiny peninsula, not the place where you would just stop for the night en route somewhere else - I had a request once, a couple with their 4 dogs and 3 cats -what a happy family:)- but I did not host them), also it would mean a lot of work for just one night and even if I would charge higher, ultimately we still have to account for the time to drive to our listing (it’s about 40 minutes drive one way), to clean, etc so a one night stay would be a hassle. That being said, my listing is not my primary source of income so I can make this decision easily and I understand it’s different for other hosts.
I think one nighters are great, but it obviously depends on where you are located and who are your target guests. We are in a tourist town and I think too many hosts in our area insist on a two night stay. Close to a major city lots of people with busy lives are time poor but cash happy so don’t mind paying the cleaning fee. A win for everyone!
My problem with one night stays is they always want to check in early and leave late. I can’t accommodate that with our cleaning needs. No one wants Friday night if Saturday is booked.
If someone is staying a week and leaving Saturday morning I will open up a one night stay for a high price Sat night, then sigh and decline when they ask for extra time. No one in my area allows Saturday night only will get booked.
I do 2 night minimums on Friday and Saturday nights, but if one ends up a loner then I remove the restriction. We have free parking which isn’t as common in the city so we get a lot of road trippers that book for one night. We also get business folks here for one night. I don’t mind them. Obviously a little more work, but haven’t had any specific problems. Some don’t even use the shower.
I love one nighters, they usually do not cook, are in and out and the pay is good.
Do not decline the ones you do not want, just respond with questions or tell them no but do not hit the decline button…
@GardenGnome Do you have the setting that you allow Events/Parties? @MarieZuri’s idea is a good one to put 2, then if someone wants one, they can do an inquiry and explain themselves.
