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Category: Pricing & Revenue
By: Chris Nakamura
Reply by Rachel Patel:
Love this topic. I went through the same learning curve. Here's the math that made it click for me: **Before (no minimum):** $150/night, $120 cleaning fee, 22 bookings/month averaging 1.8 nights = 39 nights booked - Revenue: 39 × $150 = $5,850/night revenue - Cleaning: 22 × $120 = $2,640 cleaning cost - **Net: $3,210** **After (3-night minimum on weekdays, 2-night on weekends):** $165/night, $120 cleaning fee, 9 bookings/month averaging 3.5 nights = 31 nights booked - Revenue: 31 × $165 = $5,115/night revenue - Cleaning: 9 × $120 = $1,080 cleaning cost - **Net: $4,035** So I booked FEWER nights, charged a bit more per night, and made $825 more per month. Plus way less wear and tear on the property and less stress. The key insight: **cleaning costs are per-booking, not per-night.** Fewer turnovers = lower costs per revenue dollar. PriceLabs (https://pricelabs.co) lets you set different minimum stays by day-of-week which makes this strategy easy to automate.
Reply by Camille Dubois:
Great breakdown. I'll add that minimum stays should be seasonal too: - **Peak season:** 3-7 night minimum (you'll fill those nights anyway, maximize per-turnover revenue) - **Shoulder season:** 2-3 night minimum - **Off-season:** Drop to 1-2 nights to keep occupancy up The exception: if a last-minute gap opens up (within 3-5 days), drop your minimum to 1 night. Better to fill it at any length than leave it empty.
Reply by Michael Thompson:
I ran this exact analysis on my 3 properties using AirDNA (https://airdna.co) data and DealCheck (https://dealcheck.io) for the financial modeling. The magic number for my market (mid-size Midwest city) was a 2-night minimum. Going to 3 nights dropped my occupancy too much because my market is mostly weekend warriors, not vacationers. Know your market demographics before setting minimums. Beach markets can go longer, city markets typically need shorter windows.