Throughout the year, most of the demand for accommodation in the region is for shorter stays covering approximately 300 nights per year. All public holiday's that create 3-day long weekends and some special events (Moto GP, World SuperBikes, etc) have a longer minimum night stay (or we apply
rate forcing) to ensure we capture as many of the more profitable bookings as we can (see
Minimum Night Stays for more details).
We are of course mindful that guest bookings come with some fixed costs for owners, in particular the cleaning fee (see
Expected Running Costs for more details). Some years ago we trialled one-night stays, before we had access to the sophistication of our current Property Management Software (HomHero). We found that in many cases those one-night bookings weren't particularly profitable for owners, primarily due to those fixed costs.
One Night Stay, 100% of a two-night stay
As a default, all homes in our group allow one night stays (for the price of two nights).
Utilising rate forcing, we have introduced one-night stays for all homes in our Group, where the default price for these one-night stays charges guests at the same rental rate as two-night stays (i.e. guests pay for two nights but only stay one night). This has been done to address the (justifiable) concern some owners have had with the fixed costs outweighing the benefit of taking one-night stays. We have seen a steady volume of these one-night bookings (at two-night rates) come through - perhaps surprisingly, there is demand for them and a small number of guests who have the budget to justify this offering. Most importantly, being available for one-night stays assists in the visibility of your home on the 3rd party websites. These one-night stays are not available to guests during Victorian school holidays, on Public Holiday weekends or during Special Events (Moto GP, etc) - see the end of this article for a complete list of dates that one-night stays apply.
Example Pricing for 1-night @ 100% (of 2 nights)
| Nightly Gross Rental | Booking
Gross Rental
|
2-night booking | $ 500 | $ 1,000 |
1-night booking | $ 500 | $ 1,000 |
Of course guests pay more than the Booking Gross Rental; depending on how they book, they also pay Service fees, Booking fees and the State Government Levy (see
Understanding Booking Earnings for more detail). In the current holiday rental market, we know that
most guests are price conscious and may not be willing/able to pay what is effectively double the 'normal' Nightly Gross Rental rate. We have therefore created
two additional Pricing Strategy options for owners to choose from, if you would like to generate more revenue for your home by making the pricing for a one-night stay at your home more appealing:
Option 1: One Night Stay, 80% of a two-night stay (1 Night @ 80%)
If your home has higher fixed costs (for example pool or spa servicing) we would recommend using this Pricing strategy, rather than Option 2.
Choosing this option, would allow guests to book your home for one night, and pay 80% of the Gross Rental for a two-night stay. In the example below, if the Gross Rental for your home is $500/night, guests would be able to book and stay for one-night, and the Gross Rental would be $800 for that one night.
Example Pricing for 1-night @ 80% (of 2 nights)
| Nightly
Gross Rental | Booking Gross Rental |
| 2-night booking | $ 500 | $ 1,000 |
| 1-night booking | $ 500 | $ 800 |
This option is a slightly more aggressive pricing strategy, and would generate more revenue, albiet at a slightly lower percentage return. If you are interested to choose this option for your home (or would like more details around how this works) please contact us.
Option 2: One Night Stay, 60% of a two-night stay (1 Night @ 60%)
Choosing this option, would allow guests to book your home for one night, and pay 60% of the Gross Rental for a two-night stay. In the example below, if the Gross Rental for your home is $500/night, guests would be able to book and stay for one-night, and the Gross Rental would be $600 for that one night.
Example Pricing for 1-night @ 60% (of 2 nights)
| Nightly Gross Rental | Booking Gross Rental |
| 2-night booking | $ 500 | $ 1,000 |
| 1-night booking | $ 500 | $ 600 |
This option is the most aggressive pricing strategy, and would certainly generate more revenue, albiet at a lower percentage return. If you are interested to choose this option for your home (or would like more details around how this works) please contact us.
Days of the Week - available for either Option 1 or 2
The strongest demand for one-night stays will be on weekends (in line with historial demand). Therefore if owners wish to have the biggest impact on their rental returns, we recommend leaving Option 1 or Option 2 to apply to all nights of the week during the dates on offer.
However, owners may choose if they would like one of these additional two options to apply only to weeknights (Sunday - Thursday nights) during the period that Option 1 or 2 are available to guests. If you decide this is of interest, it would mean guests could book and stay for one-night at your home mid-week (during the seasons when one-night stays are offered) for 80% or 60% of a two-night stay, but if they booked one-night on a Friday or Saturday night, it would be for 100% of a two-night stay (i.e. the same Gross Rental as a two-night stay).
If you are interested to choose this option for your home (or would like more details around how this works) please contact us.
What date are available for guests to book one-night stays?
The range of dates available for guests to book one-night stays (irrespective of the pricing strategy option chosen) are:
- January (after Australia Day Weekend)
- February (except World SuperBikes weekend)
- March (except Labour Day weekend)
- April (except Easter or April School Holidays)
- May
- June (except Kings Birthday weekend)
- July (except July School Holidays)
- August
- September (except the September School Holidays or AFL Grand Final weekend)
- October (except Moto GP)
- November (except Melbourne Cup weekend)
- December (until the Thursday before Christmas)