Strategic discounts can significantly boost your vacation rental's performance. When implemented thoughtfully, discounts attract more potential guests, encourage longer stays, and help fill gaps in your booking calendar.
If you haven't read our Discounts Overview support article, we recommend reading it first. While not comprehensive, this article provides a list of questions not found elsewhere.
- How do I create a Buy One, Get One Free (BOGO) discount?
- How do I configure a Buy Two, Get One Free discount?
- Can I create a gift certificate?
- How do I disable a discount?
- Can multiple discounts apply to or be "stacked" for the same booking?
How do I create a Buy One, Get One Free (BOGO) discount?
There isn’t a built-in option for a traditional "Buy One, Get One Free" (BOGO) discount, but Advanced Custom Discounts (Settings > Pricing > Discounts > + Create Discount > Advanced Discounts > Custom Discount) can be set up with a 50% off discount if a guest books 2 nights.
From there, concentrate on how you present this BOGO discount in your marketing—you can still refer to it as a BOGO-style deal in your property listing title or description.
How do I configure a Buy Two, Get One Free discount?
Similar to the BOGO discount, there is no built-in option to add a Buy Two Nights, Get One Free discount. However, offering a 33% discount (Settings > Pricing > Discounts > + Create Discount > Advanced Discounts > Custom Discount) for a three-night stay is mathematically the same as “Buy 2, Get 1 Free.”
From there, concentrate on how you present this B2G1 discount in your marketing—you can still refer to it as a B2G1-style deal in your property listing title or description.
Can I create a gift certificate?
At this time, OwnerRez does not support Gift Certificates. However, some of our imaginative users have devised a method for using the Discount Code system to approximate a gift certificate.
When a person wishes to purchase a "gift certificate," you can assign them a specific, unguessable "discount code" for the appropriate amount. They can then give this code to their desired gift recipient. When that person uses the discount code in an OwnerRez booking form, the "discount" will be applied, using the amount of the "gift certificate."
Caveats
- OwnerRez does not currently offer a way to collect credit card payments outside a booking. You would need to collect the funds some other way, such as via a separate PayPal payment, a check, a credit card transaction using the online terminal of your payment processor if there is one, or tacking on an extra untaxed charge to an active booking by the person wishing to purchase the "gift certificate."
- OwnerRez also does not currently provide a method to track the usage of "gift certificates." You will need to track them yourself, for example, in an Excel spreadsheet, and remember to disable the codes as they are used manually.
- Guests cannot complete zero balance bookings. OwnerRez still recommends that users create $0 quotes for "free" stays.
- Discount codes are not "one-time use," so if they share that code or make multiple bookings, it will apply. You must remove the code from your discounts once it's been used.
How do I disable a discount?
To disable a discount, navigate to Settings > Pricing > Discounts, select the discount you want to disable by checking the checkbox to the left of the discount, then click the Disable button.
Can multiple discounts apply to or be "stacked" for the same booking?
Most discounts do not "stack" in OwnerRez, so it is usually not possible for multiple discounts to apply to the same booking. However, this is not always true.
Channel Integrations have different rules about discount stacking, and third-party listing channels (e.g., Airbnb, Vrbo) may choose to stack or not stack discounts regardless of how OwnerRez handles them internally. Here are some rules of thumb for telling whether a discount will stack with other discounts.
- Standard Discounts do not stack for direct bookings made through OwnerRez.
- Discounts applied to a specific guest or quote can stack with standard discounts. (For example, a booking can have both a last-minute discount and a promo code applied.)
- Third-party listing channels often have their own rules about which discounts can stack and how they are stacked or applied for Standard Discounts. OwnerRez sends all discounts you configure in OwnerRez to your channel integrations.