Airbnb Discounts: How to Set the Ideal Discounts

As any experienced vacation rental host knows, offering Airbnb discounts is a smart way to attract more bookings, because everyone loves a good deal. By strategically applying discounts, you can attract new guests, increase repeat bookings, and even prevent those dreaded empty nights that can eat into your profits.

However, the key is to set the right discounts at the right times.

In this article, we’ll explore the different types of Airbnb discounts available to hosts. You’ll also learn how to set them up in a way that maximizes bookings, all while protecting your bottom line.

With tools like Hostex, managing your discounts and pricing strategies becomes straightforward, especially if you’re juggling multiple platforms. And its automation features also handle over 70% of your daily tasks, saving you time and effort. All with plans starting at just $4.9/month.

What Are Airbnb Discounts?

An Airbnb discount refers to a price reduction that hosts offer to potential guests to make their listing more attractive and encourage bookings.

These discounts are designed to attract travelers, especially during low-demand periods, and can help hosts fill their calendars more quickly.

Types of Airbnb Discounts: Which One is Right for Your Listing?

As an Airbnb host, understanding the variety of Airbnb discounts available to you is key to optimizing your booking strategy. In this section, we’ll explore the different types of Airbnb promo codes, discounts, and special offers that you can use to boost your bookings.

1. New Listing Promotion

When you list your property on Airbnb for the first time, the platform allows you to offer a 20% discount on your first three bookings.

This promotion is designed to help new listings gain visibility and attract their first guests. It’s an effective way to get those first reviews and ratings, which are crucial for building your reputation.

Pro Tip: Make sure your listing is fully optimized before offering this discount, including high-quality photos and a well-written description. First impressions matter, and a discounted listing that looks great will always attract more guests.

2. Length-of-Stay Discounts

If you want to attract guests looking for longer stays, length-of-stay discounts are an excellent choice. You can discount by a different set of time frames:

2 to 6 nights
1 week or up to 3 weeks (for weekly discounts)
4 weeks up to 12 weeks (for monthly discounts)

These discounts can help you secure more extended bookings, reducing turnover and cleaning costs.

Pro Tip: Discounts of 10% or more will be displayed in search results, and all discounts will be highlighted next to your original price in the price breakdown on your listing. After the discount is applied, your minimum daily price must be at least $10 per day.

3. Early-Bird Discounts

Many travelers prefer to plan ahead, especially for holidays or summer vacations. If you’re looking to secure bookings well in advance, early-bird discounts are an ideal tool.

Offering a discount for bookings made several weeks or months ahead can help you fill your calendar before high-demand seasons.

4. Last-Minute Discounts

On the other hand, last-minute discounts allow you to fill up empty dates as your check-in date approaches.

These discounts can be especially effective if you have some unbooked nights, and offering a last-minute Airbnb deal can entice guests to make a spontaneous booking.

Pro Tip: Be mindful of your nightly rates. Offering last-minute deals can sometimes lower your revenue, so it’s crucial to ensure that the price reduction still allows you to maintain a reasonable margin.

5. Special Offers

Another way to attract guests is by sending special offers directly to potential guests.

If a guest contacts you before booking, you can respond with a customized price that suits both you and the guest. These offers are a great way to turn inquiries into confirmed reservations.

However, there’s a catch. Once the guest accepts the special offer, the reservation is automatically confirmed, so be sure to double-check that your calendar is open before sending it.

Tip: Use special offers to give guests flexibility, such as suggesting alternative dates or pricing. This can be particularly helpful if the guest is interested in your property but has some reservations about the price.

6. Custom promotion

For hosts with more experience, custom promotions provide greater flexibility. You can create your own promotion with any discount percentage and apply it to specific dates.

If you offer a discount of 15% or more, your listing will feature a special callout, making it more attractive to potential guests. Airbnb suggests that creating a promotion for at least seven consecutive nights increases your chances of standing out in search results.

However, there are a few important requirements when creating a custom promotion:

Your listing must have a minimum of 3 bookings, with at least one in the last 365 days.
The dates you wish to promote must be unblocked when the promotion is activated.
Those dates must also have been available for booking for at least 28 days.
You can promote up to 50% of the nights per month.
The nightly rate for the promoted dates must not exceed your highest booked rate from the previous year.
Custom promotions cannot be applied if you already have length-of-stay discounts.
Airbnb Luxe listings and hotels are not eligible for custom promotions.

Why Offering Airbnb Discounts Makes Sense for Hosts

1. Increase Visibility and Exposure

Discounts often help your property rank higher in search results, which is crucial for standing out among the thousands of listings. Airbnb tends to prioritize listings that offer competitive pricing, and offering a well-timed discount can make your property more appealing to travelers.

For instance, applying a last-minute Airbnb deal or a custom promotion can push your listing to the top of search results. The more visible your listing is, the more likely you are to attract bookings.

2. Fill Gaps in Your Calendar

One of the biggest challenges for Airbnb hosts is keeping their calendars full, especially during slower months or when certain dates remain unbooked.

By offering Airbnb coupons or promo codes for specific dates, you can fill those gaps and reduce the number of empty nights in your calendar. This is particularly important if you have many last-minute openings or a slow season ahead.

3. Attract Repeat Guests

Offering a special offer for future bookings can make previous guests feel valued and appreciated, motivating them to return to your listing in the future. By building trust and rewarding loyal customers, you foster relationships that go beyond one-time stays.

Moreover, a well-placed discount could prompt a guest who had previously only stayed for a short trip to book a longer stay the next time.

4. Establish Positive Reviews and Reputation

Discounts, when offered strategically, can also help you enhance your property’s reputation. Guests who feel they’ve gotten a good deal are more likely to leave a positive review.

Reviews are crucial on Airbnb, as they help future travelers decide whether to book with you. Positive reviews and high ratings lead to better visibility in search results, and as a result, more bookings.

How to Set Up Airbnb Discounts (Step-by-Step)

Hostex offers seamless connections to your Airbnb listings. Setting up Airbnb discounts on Hostex is easy and straightforward.

Here’s how you can do it:

Go to the Properties section.
Click on the room linked with the Airbnb listing(s).
Click on the listing you want to edit.

From there, you can set up different discount options, including:

Base Price
Weekend Price
Length-of-stay discounts
Early-Bird Discounts
Last-Minute Discounts
Price per Extra Person
Cleaning Fee

Additionally, you can manage your Booking Settings, such as:

Minimum and maximum stay durations
Check-in and check-out times
Instant booking options
Security deposit

With Hostex, you can easily adjust all of these settings, helping you optimize your pricing and discount strategy with just a few clicks.

How to Set the Right Airbnb Discount

Now that you have an overview of the various discount options available to you, it’s time to develop a strategy for implementing them effectively.

The key to success lies in balancing guest attraction with your revenue goals.

1. Understand Your Market

Before you apply any discount, take a moment to understand your local market. Are there seasons when demand is low, or do you experience high competition from other listings?

By understanding market trends and guest behavior, you can adjust your Airbnb pricing and discounts accordingly.

2. Find the Right Timing

If there’s a period when you expect lower demand, consider offering last-minute Airbnb deals or early-bird discounts to boost bookings.

For example, if you notice that mid-week stays tend to be slow, a custom promotion can help attract more guests during these times.

3. Combine Discounts Strategically

You can combine different types of Airbnb discounts to maximize your impact.

For example, you could offer a length-of-stay discount for extended bookings and then apply a custom promotion for specific dates.

4. Monitor and Adjust

Once you’ve applied your discounts, don’t forget to monitor the results. Keep track of how your bookings are performing and adjust your discount strategy accordingly.

If you find that certain Airbnb promotions are generating more interest, you may want to use them more for future bookings.

Common Mistakes to Avoid When Setting Discounts

As a seasoned Airbnb host, you’ll want to avoid some common pitfalls that can hurt your profitability or damage your listing’s reputation.

Here are a few mistakes to watch out for when setting your Airbnb discounts.

1. Over-Discounting

While it might be tempting to offer significant discounts to attract guests, over-discounting can have a detrimental effect on your property’s long-term value.

Offering excessive discounts could signal to guests that your property is of lower quality or that the original price isn’t justified.
Guests may begin to expect lower rates, which can make it harder to return to regular pricing without losing bookings.
Too low a price might also attract bargain hunters who are less likely to leave glowing reviews.
Large discounts may cause you to sacrifice potential profits.
Excessive Discounts may trigger a price war with nearby hosts, leading to a race to the bottom in terms of pricing.

Striking the right balance between offering competitive pricing and maintaining the value of your listing is key.

2. Ignoring Customer Feedback

Your guests’ experiences, reviews, and suggestions can give valuable insights into how your discounts are perceived and whether they’re actually driving the desired results.

For instance, if guests often mention that the property was a great deal or that they felt they got more value than expected, it might be a sign that your discounts are effective.

On the other hand, if you receive feedback indicating that your rates were still too high or that the price wasn’t justified by the property’s amenities, it might be time to reevaluate your discount strategy.

3. Wrong Timing

Discounts at the wrong time can lead to missed opportunities or a flood of bookings when you’re not ready to handle the influx.

Irregular or frequent discounts can also confuse your potential guests and make them hesitant to book, as they might wait for a better deal. Consistency in offering special deals ensures that you don’t overwhelm your guests with too many changes.

FAQ about Airbnb Discounts

Setting the right Airbnb discount strategy can be tricky, and many hosts have questions about how to make the most of their discounts without violating platform rules. Below are some common questions that Airbnb hosts may encounter when setting up discounts for their listings.

1. What are the requirements for offering Airbnb discounts?

Airbnb wants hosts to offer genuine discounts that represent real savings for guests. This means that the price after the discount must be lower than your usual rate for that specific date. The original price must reflect what you typically charge, and the discount must be a true reduction from that baseline. Airbnb reserves the right to modify or remove any discounts that don’t meet these requirements.

The discounted price should not be artificially inflated before applying the discount.
The discount must be temporary, not permanent.
If Airbnb determines a promotion is misleading, they may remove it and penalize the listing.

Key takeaway: Always ensure that your discount is based on your usual pricing and reflects a genuine deal for the guest.

2. What happens when I create a custom promotion for my home?

When you set up a custom promotion, Airbnb uses the median price of your listing over the past 60 days to calculate your discount. If your current price is lower than the median, the promotion will apply to the current rate. However, if your price is higher than your median, the discount will be calculated using the median price.

For example, if your median price for a date is $100 and your current price is $120, the promotion will be based on the $100 rate.

The goal is to ensure that promotions provide genuine savings to guests. Your discounted price should reflect a real deal, and Airbnb will check if the discount is valid.

3. Why might Airbnb remove my promotion?

Airbnb is committed to ensuring that discounts are genuine and beneficial for guests. If a host manipulates prices to create the illusion of a discount (such as raising prices just before offering a discount), Airbnb may remove the promotion.

Any promotion that’s deemed misleading will be taken down, and the host may face penalties.

Airbnb carefully monitors the pricing trends of each listing to detect if the discount is being misused or misrepresented.
If your promotion is found to be misleading, you’ll receive an alert, and the discount may be removed.

4. Why aren’t some dates eligible for custom promotions?

Airbnb has specific rules about when you can apply custom promotions to your listing. Some dates may not be eligible for a promotion due to the following reasons:

The date hasn’t been booked enough times: Your listing must have at least three bookings and one within the last 365 days to apply a custom promotion.
Not enough historical pricing data: If you haven’t set prices for a specific date over the past 60 days, Airbnb can’t calculate your median price, making that date ineligible for promotions.
Price discrepancy: Airbnb uses the median price over the past 60 days to determine discounts. If your current price is unusually high or low, it might not meet the criteria for a promotion.

For example, if the price for a certain date is much higher than your usual pricing, Airbnb may calculate the promotion based on your highest-booked price from the last year, not the inflated price you’ve set.

5. Can I offer discounts even if custom promotions aren’t available?

Yes, there are still ways to offer special deals to guests, even if custom promotions aren’t an option. Some of the discounts you can always offer include:

Weekly or monthly discounts: Offer discounts for longer stays, such as 7 or more nights for a weekly discount or 28 or more nights for a monthly discount.
Lowered prices for specific dates: You can manually adjust the price for individual dates, allowing flexibility in pricing for off-peak periods or last-minute bookings.

6. How do discounts appear to guests?

The way Airbnb discounts are presented to guests can vary based on local rules and regulations about advertising offers. Typically, discounts will appear on your listing as:

Strikethrough pricing: The original price will be shown with a line through it, with the discounted price listed next to it.
Badges or special styling may be applied to highlight the discount.

However, the exact way discounts appear may differ depending on the country or region you are in, due to local advertising guidelines.