Can you at least do the minimums on weekends, or with a Saturday night? That is what we do, but we are definitely a tourism town, not a university town, even though there is a university here.
Jeanne.
There again we would lose reservations because some of them are also touring schools but it's a thought that we may consider. I'd also have to figure out how to do that in Webervations. Do we just make the Sat night as the two night minimum or also do the same for Friday arrivals?
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I am sure I do lose some - that's not really the point. It's business I don't mind losing, and can afford to lose. If you can fill those Saturdays with weekenders -
that's the question you have to be ready to answer - then turning away one-nighters for Saturdays is just like turning away guests with children or pets or guests who think your rates are too high. That's the business - you're not trying to attract the Motel 6 crowd, so your rates aren't $49. I only do it for Saturday nights at this point.
You should check out your competition, but I can tell you there are B&Bs within 10 miles of me without the two-night minimum. They fill up on Saturdays before I do, but I am still full most weekends and mostly with two-nighters. I can almost always sell a room for Saturday night only right up through Saturday afternoon - but if I book a room two weeks out for just Saturday, it is a lot harder for me to sell Friday. That's what I know about my business.
You are in a university town but also near enough to urban centers that you may have weekend tourism to support a two-night stay. You'll have to figure that out. Summer is a good time to try it - more vacationers.
Other urban B&Bs have even longer minimum stays - the 1871 House in Manhattan generally has a three-night minimum and drops it to two in the off-season, or maybe it's four that drops to three. Manhattan is a market in and of itself...
Jeanne
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