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Hosts · 6 min read
If guests can make offers on your home, the single most useful thing you can set is the lowest price you'll accept. Get it right and bookings arrive on their own — at prices you're genuinely happy with — while you're out, asleep or busy with a changeover. Get it wrong and you either turn away guests you'd have welcomed or accept stays that barely cover the cleaning. This guide explains how a minimum price works, how to build yours up from your real costs, and how to keep it working as the seasons change.
By Offer2Stay · Updated October 2026
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See how it works for hostsYou set the lowest total you'll accept for a stay. When a guest offers at or above it, they're booked instantly — no back-and-forth, no waiting for you to see the message. When they offer below it, they're told straight away and aren't charged, and you don't have to do anything at all.
Your minimum is never shown to guests. They only learn whether their offer was accepted, which means they can't simply aim for your floor every time. Most guests offer what the stay is worth to them; your minimum just makes sure nothing below your line gets through.
Think of it as an always-on version of you, answering offers the way you would if you were sitting by your phone — except it never misses one.
The most common mistake is setting a minimum by feel. A number that sounds sensible can turn out to be barely above break-even once you count everything a stay actually costs you. Before you pick a figure, add up what a typical stay costs to deliver.
Work per stay rather than per night, because many costs — cleaning, laundry, welcome items — happen once per booking regardless of length. Then add the profit you need for the stay to be worth having.
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Tip: Do the sum for your shortest allowed stay first. Fixed per-stay costs weigh hardest on one- and two-night bookings, so that's where an under-set minimum hurts most.
Say your two-bedroom lodge costs a certain amount to clean and launder each time, uses noticeably more energy in winter because of the hot tub, and you want each booking to cover its share of insurance and maintenance. Add those together for a two-night stay and you have your break-even. Add the margin you'd want for giving up those nights, and that's a sensible starting minimum for a two-night winter midweek break.
Do the same for a two-night summer weekend and you'll likely end up with a higher figure — not because costs rise much, but because those nights are easy to sell at full price, so your margin should be bigger. The arithmetic is simple; what matters is that the number comes from your own costs rather than a guess.
A single minimum for the whole year almost always leaves money on the table somewhere. Set too high, it blocks bookings on quiet nights you'd happily have filled. Set too low, it lets peak-weekend stays go for less than they're worth.
| Period | Demand | How to set your minimum |
|---|---|---|
| Peak weekends and school holidays | High — books well ahead | Higher: these nights sell anyway, so protect your margin |
| Shoulder season weekends | Moderate | In between: close to your usual rate |
| Midweek, off-peak | Low — often sits empty | Lower: closer to your real cost plus a modest margin |
| Short-notice gaps | Unpredictable | Consider your lowest: an empty night earns nothing |
If you already use dynamic pricing, Offer2Stay can connect to PriceLabs so your calendar and quotes price from it automatically. Either way, the principle is the same: the floor should move with demand.
It shouldn't be your advertised price. If your minimum equals your listed rate, offers become pointless and you lose the main benefit — catching guests who would book at a fair price slightly below your headline but never at it.
It also shouldn't be a number you'd resent. If accepting a booking at your minimum would leave you thinking 'I wish I hadn't', it's too low. The test is simple: would you be genuinely pleased to get this booking at this price? If yes, that's your floor.
The most frequent mistake is forgetting the per-stay costs. A minimum that works for a week can be far too low for a single night once cleaning and laundry are counted, so check your shortest allowed stay separately.
The second is setting a minimum once and never touching it again. Costs change, demand shifts and your home's reputation grows as reviews build up. A figure that was right when you first listed may be too low a year later.
The third is copying a neighbour. Another host's floor reflects their costs, their mortgage and their appetite for risk, not yours. Look at nearby homes to understand the market, by all means, but build your own number from your own figures.
Finally, some hosts set their minimum so close to their advertised rate that offers almost never succeed. That defeats the purpose. The value of a minimum is in catching fair offers you'd genuinely welcome — not in matching the listed price.
Tip: If you're nervous about setting a minimum at all, start a little higher than you think and lower it gradually as you see how offers behave. It's easier to come down than to go back up.
Your minimum isn't a set-and-forget number. The way offers behave tells you whether it's in the right place. If almost every offer clears it comfortably, you may be setting it too low and could ask for more. If none clear it for weeks, it may be too high for that period — or the season is simply quiet.
Check every month or two, and always after a change that affects your costs, such as a rise in energy prices or a new cleaner. A quick review keeps the number honest.
Tip: Keep a simple note of every offer you see — accepted or declined — and the dates. After a couple of months you'll have a clear picture of what guests are willing to pay for each period.
Your minimum handles guests who make offers on your home. Separately, guests can post requests for a stay — area, dates, group size and budget — and you can choose to answer any of them with your own private offer. That's useful when a request comes in just below what you'd normally accept but fills a gap you'd otherwise struggle with.
Offers stay private, so neither route changes the rates other guests see on your listing or on the other channels you use. Listing is free, and you pay a flat 10% commission, all-in, only when a booking lands.
No. It's private; guests only learn whether their offer was accepted.
The guest is told straight away and isn't charged. You don't need to respond.
Yes. You can also answer guests' requests with a private offer for dates you want to fill.
Yes. Review it regularly and adjust it as seasons, demand and your costs change.
Yes — you can connect PriceLabs so your prices flow into Offer2Stay automatically.
Find your stay. Let hosts make the offer.
Name your price for UK stays. Guests post what they need; hosts send private offers around the calendars they already run on Airbnb and Booking.com.