Gap-night pricing: how to sell the 1–3 night holes in your calendar
Short empty stretches between two bookings are the hardest nights to sell. A small, targeted discount often turns them into revenue.
What is a gap night?
A gap is one to three free nights between two bookings. Most guests want longer stays, and many properties have a minimum stay, so these nights are rarely booked. Over a month, a few gaps add up to a real number of unsold nights.
How to price gaps without hurting your rates
- Discount only the gap. Normal nights keep their normal price, so you do not train guests to wait for discounts.
- Discount more for shorter gaps. For example 25% for a one-night gap, 17% for two nights and 10% for three, as a starting point.
- Never force a room change. Only sell a gap when one room is free for the whole stay.
- Protect your floor. Set a minimum price per night and a maximum total discount so combined discounts do not go too far.
Move bookings to open longer blocks
Often the best fix is not a discount at all: moving a booking to another room of the same type can merge two small gaps into one long free block that sells at full price. Sojodesk’s room advice looks for these moves, never moves checked-in guests, and shows the nights it could free up.
Common questions
Will gap discounts show up on Booking.com and Agoda?
Yes. The discounted price for the gap nights is sent to all connected channels, together with a maximum stay so nobody can book longer than the gap allows.
Will guests see a different price for the same room?
Only for the gap nights themselves. The rest of your calendar stays at your normal prices.
See Sojodesk with your own rooms
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