Sometimes, you may want to charge a different rate to guests who stay 1 night versus guests who stay 2 or more nights. This might help cover housekeeping costs, discourage guests from staying only stay 1 night, or encourage guests to stay at least 2 nights. ThinkReservations supports a few ways to handle either the discount (carrot) or the higher rate (stick). The most common option, and the one that we recommend first, is to use the discount to encourage your guests to stay 2 or more nights when their travel dates are flexible. For an alternative solution, see our article on creating a single-night rate type here.
Creating a Multi-night Discount Promotion
This option entails raising your base rate by a certain amount and then offering that amount as a discount to guests who book 2 or more nights. The result is that guests pay less when they stay 2 or more nights and more when they only stay 1 night. We will walk you through every step in this article.
Above: Guest experience when searching for 1 night.
Above: Guest experience when they are searching for 2 or more nights.
Step 1: Decide what the price difference will be
The amount that you want to charge more for guests that only stay 1 night is the same as the discount that guests get when they stay 2 or more nights. The only difference is how your guests perceive this.
The first step is to determine the difference. This could be a dollar amount or a percentage. In our example, we will use $30.
Step 2: Raise your rates in preparation for the discount
Next, we need to adjust our rates. This step might seem daunting, but the bulk editing tools offered make it a snap. Because our example calls for a $30 difference, we will raise our "base rate" types by $30. This becomes the price for guests who stay only 1 night.
Navigate to Settings > Rate Types > click on your first base rate, such as your Best Available Rate
Consider adding a description so guests know that if they stay longer they get a discount. This encourages them to stay longer, and helps them know that if their dates are flexible, they will get a better rate.
Click on Rates & Restrictions
Click Modify...
In the popup, use a date range that covers all dates where pricing you have set.
Leave all boxes checked. Click Select on the bottom of the popup.
For Price, adjust by either percentage or dollar amount. For our example, we are adjusting by a dollar amount of $30.
Click Update in the popup.
Review the prices on-screen. You will now see that the prices seen previously are now increased dynamically by a flat $30.
Click Save on the bottom right of the rate type to commit your changes.
Repeat for any other base rate types you have.
Step 3: Create the Promotion
The Promotion will reduce the price by $30 so that guests who stay two or more nights receive the price before the adjustment we made in Step 2 above. This means only guests who stay 1 night pay the premium.
Navigate to Settings > Promotions > Click the New button on the top right.
Enter the following Promotion details:
Name: Multi-night discount (or similar)
Description: Enjoy a discounted rate when you stay 2 or more nights! (or similar)
Activate/enable the following Promotion requirements:
Min/max stay: 2 days
Enter the discount. Our example calls for a reward of 30 dollars deducted from every night of stay.
Click Save when done to commit your changes.
Done!
Optional: Only offer the discount during the week
If you would like only to offer the discount during weekdays, then guests who stay 1 night on weekends will get the higher price set in Step 2, and guests who stay 1 night during the week will get the discounted rate. To accommodate this, make the following simple adjustments to your promotion:
Activate/enable the Days of the week parameter:
Booking must include at least one of S M T W T
Adjust the discount:
Deducted from specific days of the week: S M T W T
With this adjustment, only Sunday through Thursday nights will receive the discount.
Guests that only stay on Friday and Saturday won't see the discount.
Guests that stay a combination of midweek and a weekend will have the weekday nights discounted only.
Optional: Set other Promotion requirements
Review the other options available to you when setting up a promotion and apply them as you see fit.
You can use the Stay date ranges to set blackout dates. Set the promotion's applicable dates and skip over your blackout dates.
Select Room Types to specify the rooms that this promotion will apply to.
Select Rate Types to specify which rate types this would apply to. Keep in mind the base rates that you did not increase the price in Step 2.
This concept can be applied to some OTAs as well. If you can set a similar promotion up on the OTA with their platform directly (such as in Expedia Partner Central or the Booking Extranet), then you can offer an incentive to stay longer and charge more for those single-night stays at the same time.
Raise your OTA Rate the amount needed, and set the promotion up with the OTA. Work with the OTA for instructions on how to set up the promotion on their side.
Related: Setting up a Single-Night Rate Type
There is a lot of nuance that can be programmed to support multiple different options to suit your needs. If you need any guidance, please reach out to support!