Setting a monthly price for longer stays

​​​​In the past year, we’ve seen monthly stays increase in popularity as more guests embrace the idea of living anywhere. One in five trips on Airbnb is for 28 nights or more, and over half of listings worldwide have discounted rates for longer stays.* 

Monthly discounts can help you fill your hosting calendar and generate the income you want from your listing. You can use our monthly pricing tools to set a flat discount for all longer stays or a custom price by calendar month.

“Offering a discount for longer stays is a great way to entice guests into booking,” says Host Oliver of New York City. “Monthly bookings tend to mean less turnover work for me, too.”

Adding a discounted rate is relatively simple, but the steps and options differ depending on whether you’re using a mobile app or a web browser. Here’s how to set a flat monthly discount that gets applied year-round:

• Mobile app. Select your listing and tap Booking settings. Under Pricing, tap Length-of-stay pricing and Monthly discount. Add the percentage of your nightly price you’d like to offer as a discount. Tap the Save button when you’re finished.
• Web browser. Select your listing and click or tap Pricing & availability, then Discounts. Next to Monthly discounts, click or tap Edit. Add the percentage of your nightly price you’d like to offer as a discount. Click the Save button when you’re finished.
  

The pricing tool automatically calculates your monthly discount by multiplying your nightly price by your percentage for each night of a booking (of 28 nights or more). It then applies your discount to the guest’s total.

If you’d prefer to vary your discount throughout the year, you can do so using a web browser. Under Monthly discounts, click on Set a custom price for a specific month. Use the drop-down menu to choose any future calendar month and enter your custom price as a dollar amount (instead of a percentage).

The custom monthly price option allows you to respond to changes in local demand. For instance, if you have a listing near the beach or a ski resort, you could opt not to offer a discount during peak season and lower your price during slower months.

Keep in mind that these monthly rates will automatically override any weekly or monthly discounts you previously set.

You may already have a number in mind for your monthly price. If you’re accustomed to hosting shorter stays with gaps in between guests, it’s a good idea to consider whether fewer longer bookings at a lower price could similarly cover your expenses.

Longer stays often mean higher occupancy rates and lower turnover, fewer guest needs and messages to manage, and a steadier stream of income than shorter stays. As with shorter stays, you may want to think about expenses like:

• Mortgage or rent. This amount could provide a starting point for setting your monthly price.
• Routine expenses. What you pay for utilities (water, gas, electricity), regularly scheduled services like cleaning and gardening, and items you choose to provide guests (extra soap, basic cooking supplies, etc.) could be folded into your price.
• Maintenance costs. The money you invest in your space to make it more comfortable for guests, from renovations to repairs, could factor into your price.

“It’s a good idea to total up what you earn in a month when guests book on a per-night basis,” Oliver says. “Then you can adjust your monthly discount to match, which helps to keep your income more reliable.”

*Based on internal Airbnb global data, stays of 28 nights or more accounted for one in five nights booked in 2021. More than half of all global listings provide discounts for stays of one month or longer as of December 31, 2021.

Information contained in this article may have changed since publication.