ABNB now account for over 80% of our bookings for two two-bedroomed lets near Stratford-on-Avon.
We currently have a minimum stay of two nights and ask for a day between bookings, as it become a lot of work with endless two night stays back to back. I was talking to another owner who said that going to a three night minimum had not damaged her overall occupancy rate. Does anyone else have any views or experience?
Thanks
Jonathan
ABNB
We have stuck with a 3 night minimum but now get very few ABNB bookings, but do get many with Booking.com.
I think there is probably more demand for 2 night bookings, particularly for a city break (not sure how close to Stratford you are). Our issue with 2 night breaks is for a weekend Friday Saturday they then expect a late checkout on Sunday, which really means they want almost 3 nights. We therefore offer a weekend rate with a checkout as late as you like on Sunday offer.
At the end of the day it depends a lot of the rates you can get, we don't want 2 night breaks as the turnaround cost makes it hard to make a profit. At times we will offer 2 nights but at a rate that justifies the turn around cost. We sometimes get a booking of 3 or more nights at this rate which then works out much better for us!
I think there is probably more demand for 2 night bookings, particularly for a city break (not sure how close to Stratford you are). Our issue with 2 night breaks is for a weekend Friday Saturday they then expect a late checkout on Sunday, which really means they want almost 3 nights. We therefore offer a weekend rate with a checkout as late as you like on Sunday offer.
At the end of the day it depends a lot of the rates you can get, we don't want 2 night breaks as the turnaround cost makes it hard to make a profit. At times we will offer 2 nights but at a rate that justifies the turn around cost. We sometimes get a booking of 3 or more nights at this rate which then works out much better for us!
I mostly take direct bookings through my website, but find that at this time of year 2 nights is the norm (although I did get a 4 nighter recently). I usually have plenty of time in between to prepare for the next guest. In April to October however, I get back to back weekly bookings.
It really depends on demand, which only you know for your property, but your place looks lovely and I would have thought a three night minimum would be fine in your busiest periods. Perhaps if this is a success you could then gradually introduce it at less busy times to see how it goes.
It really depends on demand, which only you know for your property, but your place looks lovely and I would have thought a three night minimum would be fine in your busiest periods. Perhaps if this is a success you could then gradually introduce it at less busy times to see how it goes.
Forget anything more than "min 2 nights"
Apart from the odd outlier booking, ABB are only good at one and two nights only (at least for us). The longer gigs come from our own website. So they are a useful channel to market albeit with these caveats.