It’s easier and less expensive to keep an existing guest than it is to acquire a new one. Consider extending an existing stay by either offering an earlier check-in day or later check-out day at a discounted rate. Many have had great success with this strategy. If the current guest is having a great time, they may want to stay longer but will only do it if they can get a deal on the extra night.
On your end, if the date is available, it makes financial sense to attempt to fill it with the current guest, because a) last minute that date is unlikely to get booked and b) a new guest requires another turnover clean. It's better to extend the stay of the current guest at a discount rather than hoping for a new booking to come in (with another turnover).
Additionally, it is important to note that the Extra Stay Discount and Last-Minute Discount cannot be combined. If both discounts are applicable, only one will be applied to the booking. This ensures clarity and avoids overlapping discounts.
To setup an extra stay discount, navigate to Settings > Inventory > Discounts and Promo Codes
Add a New Discount
Click Show Extra Stay
Click the +Add Discount button
Configure the Discount
Name the Discount
The type will be set to Extra Stay
Choose between a flat or percentage based discount
Set the value per night
The Merge tag is the tag that will be used to reference this discount in your guest communication.
The Extension Length means for how many days before or after the guest stay will be the discount be applied. For most this is set to 1.
Click OK to save
IMPORTANT! - Unlike any other type of discount, there is no need to assign Extra Say discounts to individual properties. The property assignment is handled when creating the trigger(s) in the next step.
Communicate the Discount to Your Guests via a Trigger
A trigger can be setup to automatically check for availability a certain number of days before guest departure. For most, it's best to get the offer in front of the guest 24 hours before departure. Additionally, you don't want the offer to be extended unless there is availability.
Set Trigger Conditions
Two conditions are required in the trigger...
Send trigger when departure date will be equal to 1 day
Only send trigger if available nights after checkout equal to 1 nights
Select Properties
By default, the trigger will fire and offer the discount for all Properties. You can however set the trigger to fire for only specific properties, or exclude properties from the trigger...
Configure the Action
Set the action as Email, and choose the Extra Stay merge tag from the list. This will insert a custom link into the message that allows the guest to book the additional night(s)...
Set the trigger to fire for only the first property on the booking invoice (the discount will not work on a multi property invoice), then click Save...
Integration with the Staylio App
Once the trigger fires to the guest, they will see the Special Offer within the Staylio app if they are using it... It is also recommended to encourage guests to use the Lodgix app for direct communication. This allows for streamlined messaging and better management of guest interactions. For Airbnb guests, the Extra Stay feature functions the same way as it does for other platforms, allowing them to extend their stay at a discounted rate.
What the Guest Sees
When the guest clicks the link, they will see this interface where they can complete the booking modification...
Shows the max number of nights the reservation can be extended
Guest can choose how many nights they want to add
New checkout date will be displayed
Reporting on the Extra Stay Discount
You can run a discounts report specifically for the Extra Stay discount to gauge it's effectiveness...
