Gap nights are a big opportunity to juice revenue. One big thing in vacation rentals is maximizing nights booked and occupancy by up-selling your "gap" or "hole" nights between bookings. You can do this by getting more bookings, but if you can get a guest who's already booked to add a day to their booking, that's a win/win. You can discount it deeply because there are no additional fixed costs like cleaning fees or utilities, so you get a few extra bucks, and the guest gets to stay an extra day at a discount.
Check out our Template and Trigger Examples support article for other guest messaging ideas.
Email Template & Trigger
To create an email template, go to Settings > Templates > Email tab > click the Create Email Template button > select the "Booking" option. Copy and paste the following values into your new booking email template. Or simply click on the +Add Template to My Account.
Name:
Gap Night Offer
From Name:
{MYCOFULL}
From Address:
{MYEMAIL}
To Name:
{CFULL}
To Address:
{CEMAIL}
Subject:
Discounted Night Offer for [Booking # {BID}] at {PDISPNAME}
Body:
Hi {CFIRST},
Thanks for booking {PDISPNAME}!
I just noticed that the {BADJOPEN} your reservation is still available.
Would you like to add additional nights to your reservation for 25% off? If you are interested, please reply to this email.
Talk to you soon and thanks for choosing {PDISPNAME}!
{MYFIRST}
Email message preview:
Create a trigger to send your email message by navigating to Settings > Messaging > Triggers > and clicking + Create Trigger to pull up the new trigger screen. Or simply click on the +Add Trigger to My Account.
Event:
10 days before booking arrives at 9:00 AM
Conditions:
Arrival Days from Now is greater than 1 Arrival Or Departure Gap (bookable) is greater than or equal to 1 Email Address On File Status is one of has real email address
Action:
Gap Night Offer via Email
Channel Template & Trigger
To create a channel template, go to Settings > Templates > Channel tab > click the Create Channel Template button > select the "Booking" option. Copy and paste the following values into your new Channel template. Or simply click on the +Add Template to My Account.
Name:
Gap Night Offer
Body:
Hi {CFIRST},
Thanks for booking {PDISPNAME}!
Did you know that the {BADJOPEN} your reservation is still available?
Would you like to add additional nights to your reservation for 25% off? If you are interested, please reply to this message.
Talk to you soon and thanks for choosing {PDISPNAME}!
{MYFIRST}
Channel template preview:
Create a trigger to send your channel message by navigating to Settings > Messaging > Triggers > and clicking + Create Trigger to pull up the new trigger screen. Or simply click on the +Add Trigger to My Account.
Event:
10 days before booking arrives at 9:00 AM
Conditions:
Arrival Days from Now is greater than 1 Listing Site is one of Vrbo, Airbnb or Booking.com Arrival Or Departure Gap (bookable) is greater than or equal to 1
Action:
Gap Night Offer via Channel Message
SMS Template & Trigger
To create an SMS template, go to Settings > Templates > SMS tab > click the Create SMS Template button > select the "Booking" option. Copy and paste the following values into your new SMS template. Or simply click on the +Add Template to My Account.
Name:
Gap Night Offer
To:
{CPHONE}
Body:
Hi {CFIRST}, the {BADJOPEN} your reservation is still available. Would you like to add additional nights to your reservation for 25% off? If you are interested, please reply to this message. Talk to you soon, and thanks for choosing {PDISPNAME}! {MYFIRST}
SMS template preview:
Create a trigger to send your SMS message by navigating to Settings > Messaging > Triggers > and clicking + Create Trigger to pull up the new trigger screen. Or simply click on the +Add Trigger to My Account.
Event:
10 days before booking arrives at 9:00 AM
Conditions:
Arrival Days from Now is greater than 1 Arrival Or Departure Gap (bookable) is greater than or equal to 1 Phone Number On File Status is Yes
Action:
Gap Night Offer via SMS
Variations
If users want to limit gap night offers to 1 night only, OwnerRez recommends changing the trigger configuration to only arrival; and to subsequently create a second trigger/template combination to match, which only has departure, with a gap night of 1 to 1. Then your guests will only be sent an email if either an arrival and/or departure has only one adjacent night.
Please note: Using this method, the guest may get 2 separate discounted gap night email offers, 1 for the night before arrival, and a separate email for the night after departure.
If you want to take a more personalized approach, go to Reports and pull the Availability Gap Report. It shows the gaps and your guest's phone/email, and you can write personalized email offers or even reach out via phone to upsell your discounted gap nights.
Or you can create a detailed schedule of discounted gap night offers with different discounts based on how close the booking is -- 15% off a week after booking, 25% off 10 days after booking, 30% off 3 weeks before arrival, and 50% off 5 days before arrival. You can create those templates and send them automatically on triggers!