Get Your Listings Ready for the Peak Booking Window

Travelers are already booking winter holidays and early 2027 trips. If your listings aren't ready, you're leaving nights on the table. Here's what to do right now to make the most of the season.

Turn on the Top Rated Guest Discount

Airbnb's new Top Rated Guest Discount promotes your listing to guests with a 4.8-star rating and at least 3 reviews. Hosts using it have seen roughly a 24% lift in nights booked and a 19% increase in gross booking value on average. It's one of the higher-impact levers available right now, and it costs you nothing to activate.

Use early-bird and last-minute pricing

Early-bird discounts capture guests who plan ahead. Last-minute discounts fill gaps that would otherwise sit empty. Both work best when your base pricing is already competitive, so check what similar listings in your area are charging for the same dates, including properties that are already booked. That's your real benchmark.

Try the new Date-Specific Cancellation Policy

Airbnb now lets you apply a more flexible cancellation policy to specific dates rather than your whole calendar. Use it on weekdays or slower stretches to improve your visibility and pick up bookings that would otherwise go to a more flexible competitor. Tighter policies on your peak weekends still protect you where it matters.

Open your calendar further out

Guests planning spring and summer trips are already searching. If your calendar is blocked past March, you're invisible to them. Open your Airbnb calendar through the spring and summer now. You can always block specific dates later if something comes up.

Offer weekly and monthly discounts

Longer stays reduce turnover, cut cleaning costs, and fill your calendar faster. A 10-15% weekly discount often pays for itself in the nights it adds. Monthly discounts work especially well for shoulder season, when demand is softer and a reliable long-term guest beats a string of empty weekends.

Reactivate snoozed listings and add new ones

If you have a listing that's been snoozed or unlisted, now is the time to bring it back. New listings also get a promotional boost from Airbnb early on, so don't wait until January to add inventory you could be earning from today.

Check your Opportunities tab

The Opportunities tab in your Airbnb host dashboard shows what guests are actively searching for in your area, including popular dates and stay types. It's worth a look before you finalize your pricing and availability strategy for the season.

Questions about your property's performance or pricing strategy? Get in touch with our team and we'll take a look together.