Seasonal pricing for direct bookings: rates, fees, discounts, and coupon codes
The price a guest sees on your own booking form is built from a few parts: a nightly rate, the seasons that override it, the fees on top, how children are priced, and the discounts that come off. Set each part once and every quote is right without a spreadsheet. This guide goes through the parts in the order the form applies them.
The order the form applies your pricing
| Part | What it does |
|---|---|
| Nightly rate and currency | The base price of the whole place per night |
| Seasonal overrides | A different rate and minimum stay inside a date range |
| Fees | Cleaning, per-guest, per-night, or percentage charges on top |
| Child rates | Age bands that scale your per-guest fees for children |
| Discounts | Automatic rules, with a stacking mode |
| Coupon codes | Promotional codes a guest types at booking |
Nightly rate, currency, and seasons
- 1
Set the default
On the Pricing tab, enter a default nightly rate and the rental currency. Different rentals can use different currencies. If you take card payments, the rental currency must match the payout account assigned to it.
- 2
Add a peak season
Add a date range with a higher rate and, if you like, a longer minimum stay. Overrides apply only within the range you set.
- 3
Add a low season
A second range with a lower rate and a shorter minimum fills the quiet months. Everything outside your ranges uses the defaults.
Nothing sells without a rate
A guest cannot see a total, and Pay in widget cannot be turned on, until a nightly rate and currency are set. Do this first.
Fees: the only way to charge beyond the rate
A fee scales one of five ways: flat (once per booking), per night, per guest, per guest per night, or % of total. The percentage type is the tax shape, covered in its own guide.
- A cleaning fee is a flat fee. A linen or service charge can be per guest.
- A per-guest fee can apply to everyone or to adults only. A per-person tourist tax applies to everyone; a charge that is really about adults applies to adults only.
- Every fee has an optional guest note, one line in your own words shown under the fee: "Includes linens and towels". Notes are shown exactly as typed.
- A custom form field can never carry a charge. If it costs money, it is a fee.
Children: age bands, not separate fees
Turn on the adults and children counters under Guests and Policies, then add age bands under child rates. Each band covers an age range and says what a child that age costs, as a percentage of your per-guest fees. You only set the top age of each band; the next one carries on from there, so there are no gaps. The last band decides who counts as a child at all.
A percentage scales per-guest fees, never the nightly rate, because the nightly rate is the price of the whole place. To charge per person per night, add a per-guest-per-night fee and set your bands beside it; a 50 percent band then prices children at half your per-person rate on its own.
Discounts and coupon codes
- Automatic discount rules apply without the guest doing anything, for example a longer-stay discount.
- The stacking mode decides whether every matching discount applies or only the best one wins.
- Coupon codes are separate: a promotional code the guest types at booking, with its own limits, valid through the day you pick.
- Percentage fees are calculated on the discounted subtotal, so a discount reduces the tax too.
Show the price, or not
On inquiry and request flows you choose whether guests see pricing. With Pay in widget pricing is always shown, because a guest has to see the amount before they can pay it. Most hosts show it: a guest who sees the total before asking sends fewer questions and books more often.
Summary
Set a rate and currency, add the seasons that override it, add fees for anything beyond the rate, price children with age bands, then let discounts and coupon codes come off the top. The form does the arithmetic on every quote, and the guest sees a total they can trust.