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Category: Pricing & Revenue
By: Nolan Peters
Reply by David Okafor:
Last-minute discounts are smart revenue management IF you do them correctly. An empty night earns $0 — even a discounted booking beats that. My rules: - **7+ days away:** Full price, no discounts - **3-6 days away:** Drop 10-15% if not booked - **1-2 days away:** Drop up to 25% - **Same day:** I'll go as low as 35% off — it's pure profit at that point The key: **set these as automated rules, not manual adjustments.** Wheelhouse (https://usewheelhouse.com) and PriceLabs (https://pricelabs.co) both have "last-minute discount" settings that do this automatically. That way you're not stressing about it daily. The "training the algorithm" fear is overblown. Airbnb's algorithm actually rewards booked nights, so fill rate helps your search ranking more than a few premium-priced empty nights.
Reply by Heather Barnes:
Personally, I never discount more than 15%. Here's why: the guests who book absolute last-minute at deep discounts tend to be the most problematic. They're often impulse bookers who didn't plan ahead, and in my experience (3 years hosting), they're more likely to leave messes or cause issues. That might be anecdotal but several hosts I know in Austin have the same experience. I'd rather have an empty night than fill it with a $50/night guest who leaves a 3-star review. If you do discount, at least require verified ID and positive past reviews. That filters out the worst of the last-minute crowd.