How do I create a flexible calendar?

Modified on Fri, 24 May at 12:36 PM

Here are our best tips to help you maintain a flexible calendar and avoid missing out on potential bookings.

Having a flexible calendar leads to more bookings for our property owners. The top 20% of the most flexible properties get nearly twice as many nights booked as the least flexible 20%. Flexibility in your calendar is, therefore, key to increasing your search ranking, views, and ultimately, bookings.

Allow check-in and check-out on as many days as possible

Some property owners set a specific day and length of stay during peak holiday times, i.e. Friday to Friday, or Saturday to Saturday with a minimum 7-night booking. That may be OK for high season, but away from peak season, it is a good idea to offer potential guests more flexibility.

Think about the guest that wants to book your property and arrive on a Monday. If you don’t allow this your property won’t show up in their search and you’ll lose out on a potential booking. By allowing check-in and check-out on every day, you’ll automatically appear in all searches.

Allow short stays

While this is a continuation of what we’ve just said, it’s definitely worth repeating! Our most successful properties are the ones offering shorter stays.

The most popular length of stay is 1,2 and 7 nights. For people with a minimum of 3, 4, 5, or 6 nights, they simply won’t appear in searches made by weekend or professional travellers. Reducing the minimum number of nights people need to stay can result in twice the number of bookings.

Travelnest Tip: We recommend spending some time thinking about your target market, and who you really want to appeal to. For example, if you have a large property and are appealing to groups then you can probably rely on longer stays. However, if you’ve got a smaller property and are appealing primarily to couples then you should definitely consider offering shorter stays.

Be flexible with check-in and check-out times

Although most properties stick to established timings to make sure they have time to clean and reset after guests have been in, your check-in times don’t need to be set in stone. Consider whether you can offer guests the option of early check-in or late check-out. If so, consider whether it’s something you’ll charge for or include as a complimentary service.

Charging makes sense if you need to alter the timings of your turnaround staff (if you have them), and if they will in turn charge you for different timings. Not charging for a later check-out will keep your guests happy.

Offer discounts

Who doesn’t love a good deal? Discounts can work in everyone’s favour, particularly if you’re offering late availability discounts to fill specific dates or low occupancy. As time draws closer to a vacant peak season weekend, lowering the price can help you attract more interest.

Think about when you want to publish this lowered price - keep it close enough to the date so you give potential guests the chance to book, but not too far away to negate the original non-discounted price.

Reward customers who like to plan ahead, too. Early booking discounts for guests that book well in advance is a nice little pat on the back for them and means you also have a booking secured well-ahead of time.

Discounts are typically rewarded by booking sites such as Booking.com and Airbnb. These discounts result in an automatic boost in search rankings, and your property will receive specific badges or icons to draw attention to the lowered rates.
For Booking.com, promotions like Mobile rates, Last-minute deals, the Genius programme, and Preferred Partner programme can be particularly effective to boost bookings. You can opt in for these promotions on your Travelnest account under the 'Promotions' section. For more details about promotions you can find them in our guide.
For Airbnb, you have options like the New Listing discount, last-minute deals, and early bird promotions. You can opt in for these promotions on your Travelnest account under the 'Promotions' section. For more details about promotions you can find them in our guide.

Be realistic when blocking dates in your calendar for family and friends

Your property may also be a holiday home for you and your family to enjoy, but blocking out lots of popular holiday dates isn’t going to get you far when it comes to making a decent profit margin.

Try to be realistic in terms of when your family can visit and when you want to make it available for paying guests. If you consistently block out swathes of dates, the property will lose its appeal, fast on booking sites.