Effective Minimum Stay Restriction Rules (MinLOS) management is about applying restrictions strategically to control guest booking behavior and optimize occupancy. Here’s how to get it right:
- Anticipate demand patterns: Use your property data and market trends to predict peak and low-demand periods. Apply MinLOS during high-demand times (e.g., holidays, major events) to prioritize longer stays and maximize revenue.
- Balance restrictions with flexibility: Overusing MinLOS can deter bookings. Combine strategic restrictions with flexibility to capture short-stay demand when necessary.
- Dynamic adjustments: Regularly review and adjust your MinLOS settings in real-time based on booking pace and market conditions. Sticking to static rules can result in missed opportunities or unsold rooms.
- Consider room type: Apply MinLOS selectively to your most popular or premium room categories.
Three Strategies to Optimize Your MinLOS
1. Offer Discounted Rates to Encourage Longer Stays
Instead of strictly enforcing stay restrictions, incentivize longer stays by offering targeted discounts. For example, a 10% discount on stays of three nights or more can encourage guests to extend their visits.
2. Focus on High-Demand Room Types
Not every room needs the same strategy. To maximize profit, apply MinLOS to your most popular or premium room categories during peak seasons. Keep other room types available for shorter stays to capture spontaneous bookings and last-minute demand.
3. Use Technology
RoomPriceGenie offers features that make MinLOS management easy:
- Impossible Stay Correction: With orphan gap correction, RoomPriceGenie will search for and correct impossible minimum stay scenarios, such as when surrounding nights are fully booked for a specific room type.
- Automate & Define Rules: Easily create and automate rules for different dates, room types, and market conditions.
- Revenue Management Team Support: Our revenue management experts help you review and refine your restriction strategy for continuous optimization.
Plus, our upcoming features will offer even more automation, including custom rule creation and a minimum length of stay restriction recommendations based on market demand.
How To Correctly And Timely Manage Minimum Length Of Stay Restriction
Effective MinLOS management requires real-time data analysis, strategic application, and flexibility. Applying restrictions too early or too broadly can deter bookings, while reactive adjustments ensure you capture demand and maximize revenue.
To learn how RoomPriceGenie can help your property increase your property’s profitability, start your free trial of our automated pricing solution today!
