How to Fill the Empty Nights Between Two Bookings
· Hostopus · 6 min read
Your calendar looks full, yet a night or two stays empty between two bookings. The industry calls these orphan nights or gap nights. In this article we compiled the recommendations of pricing and management software companies that write about the topic (PriceLabs, Revfactor, Hostaway, Breezeway) and the settings Airbnb offers for it.
Why Gap Nights Go Unnoticed
As Revfactor points out, gap nights never show up in your average nightly rate, because that average only counts nights that sold. The loss only surfaces in occupancy and revenue per available night. The month looks full while unsold nights leak income.
Why Do They Happen?
- Minimum stay longer than the gap: If you require 3 nights, nobody can book a 2-night gap.
- Preparation (cleaning) days: Nights blocked automatically around bookings can push the remaining gap below your minimum.
- Check-in/check-out day restrictions: Not allowing arrivals or departures on certain days can leave small, unsellable pieces.
- Gaps appear late: The space between two bookings usually becomes clear close to the date, when guests who plan ahead have already booked elsewhere.
How to Fill Them
- Match the minimum stay to the gap. This is PriceLabs' and Revfactor's first recommendation: lower the minimum stay on gap dates to the length of the gap. On Airbnb you can set a separate minimum-night rule for specific dates.
- Step the minimum down as the date approaches. Revfactor suggests dropping the minimum by one night 14 days out and by another 7 days out. Keeping Airbnb's advance notice short (same day, 1, 2, 3 or 7 days) also opens the door to last-minute guests.
- Offer an extension to the guest already staying. According to Breezeway this converts best: the guest is already there and happy. PriceLabs suggests proposing an extension 1–2 weeks before arrival; Hostaway suggests offering early check-in or late checkout to the guest before or after the gap.
- Tell past guests and your own channels. Hostaway and Breezeway recommend special rates for returning guests and announcing gaps by email or social media. A commission-free route.
- Sell the gap on another channel. Guests on different platforms plan at different times: according to Transparent's 2023 data, Booking.com reservations are made 66 days ahead on average and Airbnb reservations 41 days. Hostaway also suggests last-minute platforms.
- Review your preparation day. Revfactor recommends setting it to zero where same-day turnovers work. PriceLabs notes that same-day turnovers can carry operational risk; decide based on your cleaning team's capacity.
Pricing: Discount or Premium?
This is where sources disagree. PriceLabs applies a 20% discount to gaps of two nights or less by default; Breezeway suggests 10–15% discounts as gaps approach. Revfactor argues the opposite: a last-minute guest who fits the gap exactly has few alternatives, so you can charge 10–25% more, while discounts make sense for wide gaps far in the future. What they agree on: the price must cover the cost of cleaning after a one-night stay. Test it in your own market.
You Don't Have to Fill Every Gap
According to PriceLabs, leaving a gap is sometimes better: high-demand dates that can sell at full price, a chance for deep cleaning or maintenance, risky same-day turnovers.
Measure It
Revfactor recommends the ratio "unsold gap nights ÷ available nights" as the only way to see this problem on its own. If you count unsellable nights per property every month, you'll see whether your changes work.
In Short
Gap nights are an invisible loss, but most can be fixed with settings: a minimum stay that fits the gap, rules that relax as the date approaches, extension offers to current guests and more than one channel. To see what empty nights cost you in total, use the calculator in What Do Empty Nights Really Cost You?. Hostopus was built to send minimum-stay rules and prices to every channel from one place.