Setting minimum night requirements in PriceLabs

Setting Dynamic Minimum Stay Restrictions in PriceLabs

Minimum Stay Restrictions allow you to control how long bookings should be for certain dates. These settings require a good understanding of your market and the type of bookings you aim to attract. There are two types of minimum stay restrictions:

  1. Min-Stay on Arrival: The minimum stay requirement is applied based on the check-in date.
  2. Min-Stay Through (specific to MiniHotel and Lodgify): The minimum stay must be met for all dates between check-in and check-out, excluding the check-out date.

How to Set Minimum Stay Restrictions 

Like any other customizations, you can apply Minimum Stay Restrictions at the Listing, Group, or Account level. Access the minstay options by clicking the "Edit" button in the Customizations panel when reviewing a listing’s prices.



Available Options for Minimum Stay Rules

Min Stay Recommendation Engine

If unsure about which restrictions to use, leverage the Min-Stay Recommendation Engine, which provides data-driven suggestions for short-term or midterm rentals based on your hyper-local market.
  1. Click "Help me choose minimum stays" to generate recommendations and select the rules you wish to apply.


  1. The tool identifies different minimum stay requirements for various seasonal months, you can click the info button to view the recommended minimum stays for each month. You can use these recommendations to create Minimum Stay Profiles and seamlessly apply them to your Seasonal Profiles.
 

Watch the video tutorial below for creating and applying Minimum Stay Profiles. You can also read up on it here. 



Learn more about the Min-Stay Recommendation Engine here.

Minimum-Stay Profiles 

There are two options available for Minimum Stay Profiles:
  1. Use an Existing Min-Stay Profile

    If you already have a saved Min-Stay Profile on your account, you can select it directly without re-entering all the fields. For details on creating Min-Stay Profiles,     check our guide here.

  1. Create a New Profile

    Click "+ Create Profile" to define a new Min-Stay Profile tailored to your needs.



Custom Min Stay Rules

1. Default Min Stay Rule

This is the default setting that will apply to all dates unless an exception is specified using one of the special rules. You can select from three options:
  1. Fixed (most common): You can set a default minimum stay separately for weekdays and weekends. Each box must have a value greater than zero to ensure the rule is applied.



  2. Booking Value: If the value entered is 300 (in the same currency as the listing), the system will calculate a minimum stay for the check-in date, ensuring that no booking generates less than 300 in revenue.

    Example:
    For five consecutive dates with prices of 100, 200, 150, 100, 200, the minimum nights would be:

    • 2 nights for 100 + 200
    • 2 nights for 200 + 150
    • 3 nights for 150 + 100 + 200
    • 2 nights for 100 + 200

    If maximizing revenue is your primary goal, this option is an excellent fit.



  3. None (rarely used): Selecting None means no default minimum stay will be applied to your listing. As a result:

    • You won’t be able to save any of the special rules (e.g., last-minute, orphan, or far-out bookings).
    • If you have existing settings for these rules from a previous UI, they will still apply unless turned off. We recommend disabling these rules if you select None.
    .

2. Minimum Stay for Last Minute Bookings

You can define a minimum night requirement and specify how many days in advance it should become active.

Example:
For the next 7 days:

  • Set a 1-night minimum for weekdays.
  • Set a 2-night minimum for weekends.
This approach significantly boosts the chances of securing last-minute bookings, which are often shorter in length. You can configure up to three last-minute minimum night rules.



3. Minimum Stay for Far Out Bookings

You can define a minimum night requirement and specify how far in advance it should apply.

Example:
For bookings more than 180 days out:

  • Set a 5-night minimum for weekdays.
  • Set a 7-night minimum for weekends.
This strategy helps fill your calendar with longer bookings for far-out dates, while allowing shorter stays (e.g., 2- or 3-night minimums) within your regular booking window. You can configure up to three far-out minimum night rules.

 

4. Minimum Stay for Orphan Bookings

You can configure your settings so that any minimum night rules are overridden if the default minimum stay is longer than an orphan gap between bookings. For example, a 2-night gap will not be adjusted if your default minimum stay is set to one night.

To enable this feature:

  • Ensure a default minimum stay rule is in place, as it determines the gap length.
  • Choose from several options in the dropdown menu, which are activated only if the minimum stay needs to be reduced to fit a booking into the gap:

    • Length of Gap: For gaps of a specified length (e.g., 1 to 4 days), the minimum stay will be set to match the length of the gap.

      Example:

      • For a 3-day gap, the minimum stay will be set to 3 nights.

      If you’re using a value-based default minimum stay, the daily rates for the orphan period will adjust to meet the required booking value.



    • Length of Gap - 1 or 2: For gaps of a specified length (e.g., 1 to 4 days), the minimum stay can be set to one or two nights shorter than the length of the gap.

      Example:

      • For a 4-day gap, the minimum stay could be set to 2 or 3 nights, making it easier to fill the gap with shorter bookings.
      • Note: A 1-day gap will always remain at a 1-night minimum stay.

      If you’re using a value-based default minimum stay, the daily rates for the orphan period will adjust to ensure that the shortest stay meets the required booking value.



    • Choose a number: If the value in the box is set to 1, a 1-night minimum stay will be applied to all days within gaps of 1 to 4 days. 


  1. You can apply the same number of gap nights to multiple rules across different day ranges for added flexibility and consistency.



5. Minimum Stay for Adjacent Bookings

These settings let you adjust the minimum stays for dates before and after existing bookings. They are specifically designed to accommodate shorter bookings when they do not create a gap night. 
  1. Adjacent bookings BEFORE an existing booking/block: These settings allow you to define the types of bookings you’re willing to accept before an existing booking or blocked date.

    Example:

    A 2-night booking is acceptable if it begins 2 nights before an unavailable date, ensuring that no gap days are created.



  2. Adjacent bookings AFTER an existing booking/block:
     
     These settings allow you to define the types of bookings you’re willing to accept after an existing booking or blocked date.

    • They can be used to prevent orphan gaps from being created after a booking.
    • You can specify if shorter bookings are acceptable, provided they do not result in a gap.

    Tip: For more details, refer to our article on Preventing Gap Creation Using Min-Stay Settings.

Idea
You can add the same number of minimum nights to multiple rules for different day ranges.

6. Lowest Minimum Stay Allowed

This option functions similarly to a minimum price but applies to minimum stays.

  • It has the highest priority among all rules and ensures that the minimum stay cannot be reduced below this value, even with Date-Specific Overrides (DSOs).
  • It’s particularly useful for listings requiring a higher minimum stay, as it prevents group customizations or overrides from lowering the minimum stay below the set threshold.



7. Advanced Features (Available by Request)

Some advanced settings are available upon request. Feel free to contact our support team to enable them for your account.

  • Allow Min-Stay Increase:
    This feature permits minimum stay increases through Orphan and Adjacent rules. Users with this setting will see a checkbox at each rule level to enable minimum stay increases.

  • Don't Overwrite Date Overrides:
    This option ensures that Orphan Min-Stay settings do not reduce the minimum stay when a Date-Specific Override (DSO) is in place. Users with this customization will see a checkbox applicable to all Orphan Min-Stay levels.


Minimum Stay Restrictions for Specific Dates or Events

As always, you can override custom settings for specific dates using Date Specific Overrides (DSOs). To set a minimum stay override, a listing must first have a default minimum stay setting in place.
  1. Setting a minimum night requirement with DSOs will override all regular rules, except for the Orphan Day Minimum Stay setting.

    Example    : If you set a 4-day minimum stay for certain dates and two bookings create a 2-day gap, the orphan day rule will still apply, allowing you to accept a booking for the gap.



  2. After setting up the rules, you can view the minimum night setting on the calendar, displayed at the top left of each date. Hovering over a specific date will show the reason behind the assigned minimum night value, providing clarity on how the rule was applied.




Group and Account Level Minimum Stay Restrictions

You can also apply minimum stay settings to specific groups of listings or your entire account through the Customization page (Dynamic Pricing > Customizations).

  • Account-Level Rules: These will apply to all listings by default.
  • Group-Level Rules: Apply to specific groups of listings.
  • Individual Listings: For listings requiring unique rules, you can override group or account-level settings individually, as described earlier.
Important Notes:
  1. When minimum-night settings are applied at multiple levels, only the most specific level (e.g., individual listing) will take effect.
  2. Minimum-night settings are all or nothing, meaning rules from different levels cannot combine (e.g., you cannot mix customizations from account-level and group-level rules).
  3. For a detailed explanation of the hierarchy, refer to this guide.

Hierarchy of Minimum Stay Restrictions

Managing minimum stay restrictions is a critical part of optimizing bookings and reducing unoccupied gaps. However, with multiple rules and customizations available, it’s essential to understand how they interact and which ones take priority in specific scenarios.

From highest to lowest priority, the rules are as follows:
  1. Lowest Minimum Stay Allowed
  2. Orphan Day Minimum Stay
  3. Date-Specific Override Minimum Stay
  4. Adjacent Day (After Booking) Minimum Stay
  5. Adjacent Day (Before Booking) Minimum Stay
  6. Far-Out Minimum Stay
  7. Last-Minute Minimum Stay
  8. Default Minimum Stay
Info
Example: If a Last-Minute Day is also an Orphan Day, the Orphan Day Minimum Stay restriction will apply because it has a higher priority.

Note on Orphan Day Rule

The Orphan Day customization takes precedence over all other rules, provided it does not increase the minimum night setting for a given day.

For example:

  • Last-Minute Minimum Nights: 1 night (within 10 days)
  • Orphan Gap Rule: "Length of Gap" for gaps of 1-3 days

For a 2-day orphan gap within the next week:

  • The Last-Minute Rule of 1 night would apply instead, as it is lower than the Orphan Gap Rule of 2 nights.

PMS-Specific Notes

Before proceeding, please review the following notes to ensure compatibility with your property management system (PMS):: 
  1. Lavanda, Lodgify, Stays, VRM, and Yield Planet:
    Minimum stays must be set in PriceLabs; otherwise, syncing will fail. This also applies when uploading rates using the PriceLabs extension.

  2. Airbnb, Guesty, and Tokeet:
    PriceLabs will overwrite any existing minimum-night settings with those configured in PriceLabs.

  3. Beds24:
    Ensure that the minimum stay in Beds24 is set to 1 or none under:
    1. SETTINGS > PROPERTIES > ROOMS > SETUP, and/or
    2. SETTINGS > PROPERTIES > ROOMS > OFFERS.
      If not configured, PriceLabs minimum stays will not appear in the Beds24 rates tape.

  4. Vreasy:
    If no minimum night requirement is sent from PriceLabs, all minimum stays will default to 1 night in Vreasy.

  5. Kigo and Maxxton:
    Minimum stay features are not currently available for these systems.

    • Related Articles

    • Preventing gap creation using minstay settings

      The latest updates allow all PriceLabs users to prevent orphan gaps from appearing in their calendars by using minstay rules for adjacent days after an unavailable night. Before we proceed, it's worth noting that if your PMS connection supports ...

    • How the Min Stay Recommendation Engine Works

      Back in 2017, we introduced our dynamic min-stay settings, and it was an instant hit! The ability to reduce min-stay settings by lead time and automatically open up gap nights was an additional revenue lever that naturally should have been part of a ...

    • How to Integrate PriceLabs with Stays.net

      Connecting PriceLabs to Stays.net While actively syncing to a Stays.net account using the advanced pricing model, PriceLabs can send daily rates, minimum stay requirements, length of stay pricing, and check-in and check-out restrictions to Stays.net ...

    • Hierarchy of Minimum Stay Restrictions

      Managing minimum stay restrictions is a critical part of optimizing bookings and reducing unoccupied gaps. However, with multiple rules and customizations available, it’s essential to understand how they interact and which ones take priority in ...

    • Creating and Using Minimum Stay Profiles

      Min Stay Profiles helps you to easily apply minimum stay restrictions across your portfolio and seasons! With this feature, you can now create and save different minimum stay settings and apply them to your listings, groups, accounts, or seasons with ...

    Sign up for training

    To help you get the most out of PriceLabs, we have training webinars in English, Spanish, Portuguese and French. Click here to Register.