Short Or Long-Stay Bookings?

There are many areas a host needs to consider when listing a place on a vacation home rental website. Many of these aspects also have an impact on booking and cancellation policies a host needs to set. One of the major issues a host needs to consider is the minimum amount of stay for each booking. There are many pros and cons hosts need to consider for both short and long-term stays at their rentals.

To start with, short-term stays have many advantages to consider. If a host has a distinguished place with great scenery, nice interior decorations, and good reviews, then he/she might want to list the place for a slightly higher rent than compared places in the area. Short–term stays that rent for a higher price are usually more profitable than long-term stays that rent for relatively less money with a possible discount being applied too. So, this enables you to have more frequent bookings of your place with more profit being made had you booked your place for a long – stay of a guest with less profit.

In addition to that, you don’t have to worry about the key exchange process for every booking made. Keyless entries to holiday homes are taking over so fast. As a matter of fact, a host doesn’t need to show up at all when a guest arrives at the property. This will save the host a lot of time, money, and effort.

However; the disadvantage of short-term stays is that the host needs to explain the house rules to guests every time a new guest arrives at the doorstep. The host will also need to put more money into the cleaning service every time a guest leaves the house. So, short-term stays mean you will have more work and money put into services.

Also, long-term stays mean less frequent guests and less money put into the services you will need to provide every time a new guest shows up (like the cleaning services). However; the host might need to consider giving discounts to guests if they’re staying for a longer time. Eventually, more discounts mean more needy guests who are more demanding and are always asking for high maintenance.

In addition to that, short-term stays usually require special attention from the host’s side to the zoning regulations (if applicable) in which the rental property lies. Recently, many big cities have considered zoning areas of short-term rentals in terms of a minimum number of days to stay in a short-term rental property. The last thing a host wants is to receive a fine or penalty for not adhering to laws and regulations applied in the rental zone.

Another problem that may arise when renting your property for short–term stays, is the neighbors’ complaints from guests. A lot of people who rent short-term listings come to celebrate a bachelor/bachelorette, a birthday party, or any event. Short–term rentals are more likely to draw guests who want to party till late at night, make a lot of noise, and bring a lot of cars to the area, causing parking problems. However; as a lot of hosts think that long-term rental guests tend to be more responsible, other hosts believe that other factors such as the amount of money charged, the age of the guest, and the relationship status are more predictive of trouble.

Another aspect to consider is the type of the listing property. In order to accommodate guests’ needs, corporate or business-ready listings should not be restricted to a minimum stay. Alternatively, they should be considered more as hotel-like listings that are not time-restricted. A businessman or a company group coming on a business trip does not need to worry about being restricted to doing business in a fixed time frame. Some business trips require short stays to accomplish a quick business goal. Others, on the other hand, require more time to be able to achieve the business target.

Finally, deciding to rent your property for short-term or long-term periods of time is the host’s choice. Both options carry advantages as well as disadvantages that need to be seriously considered before making a decision.

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