Many owners look at their calendar first. If it is full, the year feels like a success. If there are empty weeks, the worry grows. Yet a full calendar says little about what is left at the bottom line. A property let every night at too low a price can earn less than a property with more quiet nights and a better price.
Early February 2026 is a good moment to think about this. The spring half-term (krokusvakantie) is coming up, Easter falls in April and summer 2026 is already being booked. The choices you make now about prices and minimum stays will largely shape how your year turns out. In this article you will read how to read your own figures and when an empty night is not really a problem.
Why a full calendar is misleading
A booking is not profit. Every arrival brings costs you incur regardless of how many nights the guest stays. There is the cleaning, there is linen that needs washing, there are consumables such as soap, coffee and toilet paper. On top of that, the property wears. Mattresses, towels, dishwasher and floor take more strain as more guests come.
If you drop your price to fill every night, you often attract shorter stays. More short stays mean more changeovers. More changeovers mean more costs and more work. So a busy month can earn less net than a quieter month with longer, better-paid stays.
There is also a less visible effect. A low price sometimes attracts a different type of guest. That need not be a problem, but it changes expectations, reviews and wear. A price is therefore also a choice about who stays with you.
Revenue per available night
A more useful figure than occupancy is revenue per available night. It is simple to calculate. Take the total rental income for a period and divide it by the number of nights the property was available in that period. Nights you used yourself or blocked for maintenance do not count.
This figure combines price and occupancy in a single number. It shows whether you are really making progress. If your occupancy rises but revenue per available night falls, you have mostly sold cheaper. If your occupancy falls slightly while this figure rises, you have sold better.
Always compare this figure with the same period a year earlier, or with a comparable period. February against August says little. February 2026 against February 2025 says much more.
What one stay really costs you
To decide well, you need to know what one stay costs. Make a simple list for yourself:
- the cleaning after departure, including the check
- linen and towels: hire, or washing, drying and ironing
- consumables per arrival
- a share of the platform costs, which are charged per booking
- an estimate of wear: what you replace each year, divided by the number of stays
Add those amounts together and you get your fixed cost per stay. That cost is largely the same for one night as for five nights. A one-night stay therefore has to carry the full cost. With a five-night stay, that cost is spread over five nights.
That explains why short stays often earn less than they seem to. It also explains why a minimum stay makes sense in busy periods.
When lower occupancy earns more
In periods of high demand you do not need to fill every night at any price. Think of school holidays, long weekends and the summer. Then you are better off choosing a higher price and a longer minimum stay. A few nights less occupancy rarely outweighs the higher price of the nights that do get booked.
An example without figures. Suppose you have two weeks available during the Easter holidays of 2026. You can fill them with six short stays at a low price. Or you fill them with two longer stays at a higher price, with a few empty nights in between. In the second case you have four fewer changeovers, less wear and often a higher total revenue.
The same applies to properties that are sensitive to wear or need a lot of maintenance. For such a property, slightly lower occupancy with quieter guests is often the better choice.
When filling gaps does pay
There are also moments when an empty night mainly costs money. In the low season a property sometimes sits empty for days without any demand. A lower price can help there, as long as it stays above your cost per stay.
Also look at the loose gaps between two bookings. A gap of one or two nights rarely goes to an ordinary booking. There you can consider temporarily lowering the minimum stay or setting an attractive price. The cleaning has to happen anyway, so an extra short booking can add something.
Ask yourself three questions for every gap:
- Does the price cover my cost per stay with a margin?
- Does this booking block a better booking?
- Does this type of guest suit my property and my neighbours?
If the answer to the first question is yes and to the second no, filling the gap is usually a good idea.
How to read your own figures
You do not need to be an analyst to act on this. Set up a few fixed habits.
Keep track each month of how many nights were available, how many were booked, how many stays there were and what the revenue was. From that, calculate the revenue per available night and the average length of a stay. Also note your costs per stay.
Then look at the trend over a few months. If the number of stays rises faster than revenue, you are probably selling too cheaply or too short. If revenue per available night lags behind the same period the year before, it pays to review your prices and minimum stays.
Finally, look at the booking window. If your busy periods are fully booked very early, your price there was probably too low. If they stay open for a long time, the price may be too high or the listing too weak.
A price is never finished
Markets move constantly. Events, holidays, the weather and the supply in your area change demand from week to week. A price you set in January may no longer be right in March. Owners who adjust their prices only a few times a year often leave money on the table in busy periods and stay empty in quiet ones.
So plan a fixed moment, for example every week, to look at the coming months. Adjust prices and minimum stays where demand rises or falls. That way you steer on revenue instead of on a full calendar.
Help with pricing and planning
At YourDomi we set prices daily based on market data and match minimum stays to demand. Every month you receive an overview per property, so you can see for yourself what each stay earns. Would you like to know what that could mean for your property? Request a personal proposal.
