With Holidu's Flexible Stays feature, you can maximize your earnings by filling gaps between bookings. These gaps, shown in purple on your calendar, are nights that wouldn't usually be bookable due to minimum stay rules or fixed check-in/out days. By enabling Flexible Stays, you make these nights bookable without affecting your overall availability. It's a simple way to get more reservations and increase your revenue.

What Are Flexible Stays?

Flexible Stays is a powerful tool designed to help hosts like you unlock hidden earning potential. Calendar gaps—periods between confirmed bookings where your minimum stay requirements or booking rules prevent guests from reserving—represent lost revenue opportunities. Flexible Stays transforms these gaps into bookable nights by temporarily adjusting your stay requirements, allowing you to accept shorter reservations and fill otherwise empty periods on your calendar.

How to Activate Flexible Stays

Activating Flexible Stays is quick and straightforward. You can configure this feature from two convenient locations in your Holidu account: the Discounts section or the Calendar section. Both methods lead to the same result, so choose whichever is most convenient for you.

From the Discounts Section

1. Log in to your Holidu Account and select the property you want to update.
2. Go to "Configuration" on the left-hand side menu.
3. Scroll down and click on "Discounts".
4. Continue scrolling to the bottom of the page where you'll find the Flexible Stays section.
5. Click on "Configure".
6. Choose your preferred minimum stay for the gap period: 1, 2, or 3 nights.
7. Set your price per night, which can be increased up to 50% above your currently configured rate.
8. Click on "Activate" to confirm and apply your settings.

From the Calendar Section

1. Navigate to your property's calendar.
2. Click on any purple indicator representing a calendar gap.
3. Select your preferred minimum stay: 1, 2, or 3 nights.
4. Set your pricing, adjusting up to 50% above your standard nightly rate if desired.
5. Click on "Activate" to enable Flexible Stays for that gap.

What Are the Benefits?

Flexible Stays offers multiple advantages that directly impact your hosting success and earning potential:

• More Bookings: Make short stays possible during high-demand periods when guests are looking for flexibility.
• Better Visibility: Over 20% of peak season searches are for short stays—enable your property to capture this significant market segment.
• More Reviews: Every additional stay is an opportunity to earn valuable guest feedback and improve your property's rating.
• Higher Ranking: Bookable gaps boost your performance in Holidu search results, increasing your property's discoverability.
• Save Time: No need to manually adjust your calendar settings for each gap—automate the process with one simple activation.

Things to Keep in Mind

To get the most out of Flexible Stays, remember these important details about how the feature works:

• The feature only affects calendar gaps where your current settings don't allow bookings—it won't impact already-available dates.
• This setting overrides your current minimum stay requirements and short stay policies specifically for these gap periods.
• Check-in and check-out will be possible on any day for these special nights, providing maximum flexibility to guests.
• If a booking is made during a Flexible Stay gap, the special pricing and stay rules will apply only to that reservation period.
• You'll see Flexible Stay bookings tagged in your calendar for easy identification and clarity.
• You can deactivate the feature anytime from the same menu without affecting other settings.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I exclude certain dates?

Currently, activating Flexible Stays applies to all gap nights that match your configuration settings. However, you retain full control: you can still manually block any specific dates you prefer not to open for flexible bookings through your calendar.

Do guests see the purple gaps?

No. The purple gaps are visible exclusively to you as a host. They serve as visual indicators highlighting where bookings are currently being missed so you can take action. Guests see your property's availability and pricing based on your live settings, but they don't see these internal gap notifications.

Can I change the setting later?

Yes. You can update, modify, or completely disable Flexible Stays at any time by returning to either the Discounts section or Calendar section where you originally configured it. Your changes take effect immediately and won't disrupt existing bookings.

How does the pricing work?

When you set up Flexible Stays, you can increase your nightly rate by up to 50% above your standard configured price. This allows you to capitalize on the flexibility you're offering while filling gaps. For example, if your standard nightly rate is 100, you can charge up to 150 per night for Flexible Stay bookings. The increased rate applies only to reservations made through the Flexible Stays feature during your designated gap periods.

What do the different minimum stay options mean?

The minimum stay options (1, 2, or 3 nights) determine the shortest length of stay you'll accept during gap periods. Choosing 1 night means guests can book single nights to fill gaps, giving you maximum flexibility to capture demand. Choosing 2 or 3 nights sets a longer minimum but still provides more flexibility than your standard property rules. Select the option that best balances your property's needs with market demand.

Will Flexible Stays affect my existing bookings?

No. Flexible Stays only applies to calendar gaps—periods between your current bookings. Your existing confirmed reservations remain completely unchanged, and this feature won't affect any guests already booked on your property.