Christmas and New Year 2026 fall on a Thursday and Friday: how to plan

There are eight weeks to go until the Christmas holidays. For many owners, this is the moment the calendar for December and early January takes shape. This year the calendar gives you a helping hand. Christmas Day and New Year's Day both fall on a Friday, and that shapes how guests structure their stay.

This article is not about festive decoration or house rules, which we covered last year. It is about the days of the week: which nights to price separately, which arrival days work and where the gaps are likely to appear.

The calendar at a glance

In Flanders, the 2026 Christmas holidays run from Monday 21 December to Sunday 3 January 2027 inclusive. That is what the official Flemish government page on school holidays says. For Dutch guests the start is different: according to the Dutch government, the 2026-2027 Christmas holidays begin in all three regions on 19 December and run until 3 January 2027 inclusive.

Dutch families are therefore free from Saturday 19 December, two days before Flemish families. Wallonia and Brussels use their own school calendar. Check it against the official sources before you adjust your prices to it.

The days of the week for the holidays are:

• Christmas Eve, 24 December: Thursday
• Christmas Day, 25 December: Friday
• Boxing Day, 26 December: Saturday
• New Year's Eve, 31 December: Thursday
• New Year's Day, 1 January 2027: Friday

Two long weekends instead of one block

When Christmas falls on a Thursday and Friday, a natural weekend forms: Thursday 24 to Sunday 27 December. Guests who book this stay often take one day of leave or none, because school is already out. That makes demand more predictable than in years when Christmas falls mid-week.

Around New Year the same logic applies, but with a different audience. Thursday 31 December to Sunday 3 January is again a ready-made weekend of three nights. It ends exactly when the Flemish Christmas holidays end.

So you have two blocks, each with its own logic, and between them a week when demand is usually lower. It helps to approach each block separately rather than laying one price over the whole holiday.

Arrival days: choose deliberately

A fixed arrival day may seem strict, but in the festive weeks it protects your calendar. Without a rule, you get bookings that start or end in the middle of a block. That leaves single nights that nobody wants.

For the Christmas period there are three logical choices:

• Arrival on Wednesday 23 or Thursday 24 December, departure on Sunday 27 December. This suits families who want to celebrate Christmas together.
• Arrival on Saturday 26 December, departure mid-week. This suits guests who spend the festive days at home and then want to get away.
• Arrival on Sunday 20 December for Dutch and Flemish families who want to stay for the whole holiday in one go.

For New Year, arrival on Wednesday 30 or Thursday 31 December works well, with departure on Saturday 2 or Sunday 3 January. An arrival after 31 December usually only fills the last nights of the holiday.

You do not need to offer all of these options at once. Pick two or three that suit your property. A home for eight people needs a different logic from a flat for two.

The middle week: 27 to 30 December

The days between the two blocks are the weak spot of every Christmas holiday. Families who have celebrated Christmas go home. Groups of friends for New Year arrive later. Saturday 26 December is a good arrival day, but from Sunday 27 to Wednesday 30 December it stays quiet.

Use those days deliberately. A shorter minimum stay helps to fill them, for example two nights instead of three. An adjusted price, lower than on the festive days, attracts flexible guests. These are often couples or families with children who still have a few days of holiday left.

From mid-November, check your calendar every week. If gaps remain in the middle week, it is worth adjusting the rules. If the calendar is full, you do not need to change anything.

Dutch guests: an early Saturday

Because the Dutch Christmas holiday starts on Saturday 19 December, that is where you will see the first demand. For a home on the coast or in a Flemish city, that can mean an early wave of bookings, even before the Flemish holiday starts.

So do not automatically leave the week of 19 to 21 December at a low price because Flemish schools are still open. First see whether bookings are coming in. If they are, you can let the price follow. If it stays quiet, you know that the audience in your region is mainly Flemish.

What to do in the coming weeks

With eight weeks to go, these steps are achievable:

1. Set your prices per block: 23 to 27 December, 27 to 30 December and 30 December to 3 January.
2. Choose one or two arrival days for each block and set the minimum stay.
3. Check that the nights of 24 and 31 December, both Thursdays, are priced separately.
4. At the start of December, review the middle week and lower the minimum for empty nights.
5. Check with your cleaners, your key management and your tradesperson who is available over the festive weeks.
6. Confirm with your insurer that your policy covers the festive period as you expect.

A small tip on timing: bookings for the festive days do not all come early. Some guests only decide in November or the first week of December. So keep your prices open to adjustment and do not fix them once and for all.

Help with the festive weeks

Over the holidays everything has to work at the same time: prices, minimum stay, cleaning and guest communication. At YourDomi we adjust prices daily based on market data and answer guests 7 days a week. Our own cleaning team works with a fixed checklist and a photo check, and every booking gets its own code for the smart lock. The rental always runs in the owner's name, so the reviews of your home stay yours. If you want to know what that could mean for your home, request a personal proposal.