How to Get More Last-Minute Bookings for Your Vacation Rental (Fast)
If you’re in the middle of peak season but still have unbooked nights on your vacation rental calendar, you’re not alone. Even when traveler interest is high, many owners see strong early-season demand only to hit a mid-season slowdown.
The good news: Last-minute travelers are actively searching, and a few small adjustments can help you capture those remaining reservations quickly.
Below are fast, high-impact strategies to help you fill calendar gaps, improve booking visibility, and convert last-minute guests more effectively.
In This Article:
Adjust Your Pricing to Match Last-Minute Demand
Offer a Clearly Displayed Special Discount
Lower Your Minimum Night Stay Requirements
Re-Engage Previous Guests With a Personal Invitation
Respond Immediately to New Inquiries
Adjust Your Pricing to Match Last-Minute Demand
Why it works:
Many early-season guests are willing to pay premium rates to secure their ideal stay. But as travel dates get closer, price becomes a larger motivator. If your listing isn’t booking those final nights, your rates may simply be higher than comparable options.
How to check:
- Compare your nightly rate to similar properties in your area (bedrooms, amenities, location).
- If your price is noticeably higher, drop it slightly to stay competitive.
- Even small reductions — $10–$20 per night — can push hesitant travelers to book.
- To stand out even more, you can undercut comparable listings by 10–15% for the remaining high-season dates.
Evolve Advantage: SmartRates, our exclusive dynamic pricing algorithm, analyzes billions of data points to continuously adjust pricing based on demand, seasonality, competition, and booking patterns — helping Evolve owners optimize revenue automatically.
Offer a Clearly Displayed Special Discount
Lowering your rate behind the scenes works, but displaying a discount works even better.
Many listing sites highlight discounted pricing visually, showing guests the original rate alongside the reduced one. This makes the deal feel more compelling and drives faster action, especially for last-minute planners.
Ideas that work well for last-minute stays:
- 10–20% discount
- “Flash sale” weekend pricing
- Weekday-only discounts to fill midweek gaps
Evolve Advantage With Last-Minute Minimum Rates, our owners can book hard-to-fill nights by automatically reducing their default minimum pricing by up to 20% for bookings made within 30 days of check-in.
Lower Your Minimum Night Stay Requirements
Longer minimums can unintentionally filter you out of last-minute searches.
Travelers today often plan shorter trips, like long weekends, three-night getaways, or spontaneous quick stays. If you require a five-night minimum, your property may never appear in the search results for the majority of last-minute guests.
What to do:
- Reduce to a three-night minimum (or even two nights during very slow periods).
- Once demand picks back up, raise your minimums again.
Evolve Advantage: Custom Minimum Stays let our owners automatically override default minimums when they need to fill calendar gaps without sacrificing their long-term strategy.
Re-Engage Previous Guests With a Personal Invitation
If you still have time before the vacant dates arrive, reach out to past guests. They already know your property, and many would be happy to return, especially with a small incentive.
What to send:
- A short email or text saying you have upcoming availability
- A limited-time offer (10% off, a free night with a longer stay, or waived pet fees)
This can:
- Encourage repeat bookings
- Help remedy a past negative experience by offering a thoughtful incentive
- Build long-term loyalty
- Even one repeat stay can fill an otherwise empty weekend.
Respond Immediately to New Inquiries
Speed is everything for last-minute travelers. Guests booking close to arrival dates often want to finalize their plans within minutes, not hours.
Our data shows that travelers are twice as likely to book if you respond within 15 minutes instead of waiting up to 24 hours.
What you can do:
- Enable instant booking if you haven’t already
- Keep notifications on so you never miss an inquiry
- Have someone available to help during high-season periods
- Use templates for quick, clear replies
Evolve Advantage: Our owners rest easy knowing that the Evolve customer support team is available 24/7 for things like guest inquiries, pre- and post-stay communications, and review responses.
Let Experts Handle the Hard Work for You
Keeping your listing competitive during high-season — optimizing your listing, adjusting pricing, and managing quick communication — can feel like a full-time job.
If you want to make sure you capture every booking opportunity without doing all the work, a professional team can help.
What a vacation rental management company can offer:
- Calendar optimization
- Full guest communication
- Always-on performance monitoring
If you’re looking to maximize your income while minimizing the work, Evolve can help keep your property fully optimized year-round. Fill out the short form below to see if you qualify and start making vacation rental easy.