Promotions are powerful marketing and revenue optimization tools in the short-term rental industry. Especially with fixed inventory (it is not easy and quick to increase the number of hotel rooms or serviced apartment units), discounts and promotions can be used to increase revenues.

Promotions help segment the vacation rental market and provide an easy way for property managers to profit from price discrimination and adjustments.

For example, you can offer long-stay discounts only to guests who want to stay longer than a certain amount of time, or offer last-minute deals to guests who are willing to book a few hours before check-in. In this article, we will look at the different types of Booking.com promotions.

Offer of free nights:

You can offer guests one or more free nights when they book a certain number of nights. You can choose how many paid nights a guest must book to get the free night(s). This Booking.com promotion will help you reach more potential guests and extend their stay at your rental property.

Last minute offer:

This promotion provides an attractive discount to those who book at the last minute. It will help you attract late-booking passengers throughout the season and can also give you a quick increase in occupancy when you need it. We recommend setting up last-minute offers with a maximum reservation period of seven days before check-in.

Early booking offer:

The Booking.com Early Booker Deal helps you attract travelers who book well in advance. This is a great way to get ahead of the curve by securing your bookings ahead of the busy season.

Basic offer of Booking.com:

These exclusive offers are only visible to people who have Booking.com accounts or subscribe to their newsletter. Booking.com uses a “Secret Deal” badge to help travelers identify these deals on their booking platform. You have the option to set basic, early booking and last minute offers as secret offers.

Travel offer:

These are seasonal promotions designed to attract guests with strategic discounts that are highly visible on various marketing platforms. Booking.com runs different campaigns available at different times of the year, Minimum discounts vary by country or region.

Limited time offer:

It’s an easy way to temporarily improve visibility and quickly increase occupancy when you need it. You can activate the limited time offer if you have a guest rating of 7 or higher. By doing so, Booking.com will boost your ranking so you appear at the top of the search results for your area.

All the actions mentioned above have one thing in common: They improve the visibility of your offer, which is an important sales factor.

Deal and Discounts

As shown in the overview above, Booking.com promotions do not stack together. If you have multiple promotions active and the guest is eligible for more than one of them, the promotion with the highest discount will be offered. However, promotions are bundled with mobile rates, business rates, and Genius discounts, so you should be careful not to end up with lower-than-expected prices if you’re offering special rates along with promotions.

If you want to offer a discount for guests who want to stay 7 nights or more, you can use the basic offer with the settings below:

It’s worth noting that Booking.com recently added weekly and monthly rates. Pricing plans are permanent and visible to all guests, so they are weaker in terms of market segmentation. Booking.com also does not use strikeout prices to attract the attention of potential guests when weekly and monthly rates are used.

Highest discount will be offered.

Booking.com promotions do not stack together. If you have multiple promotions active and the guest is eligible for more than one of them, the promotion with the highest discount will be offered. However, promotions are bundled with mobile rates, business rates, and Genius discounts, so you should be careful not to end up with lower-than-expected prices if you’re offering special rates along with promotions.If you want to offer a discount for guests who want to stay 7 nights or more, you can use the basic offer with the settings below:

It’s worth noting that Booking.com recently added weekly and monthly rates. Pricing plans are permanent and visible to all guests, so they are weaker in terms of market segmentation. Booking.com also does not use strikeout prices to attract the attention of potential guests when weekly and monthly rates are used.

This article makes affiliate commissions from Booking