What’s the Best Day of the Week for Airbnb Bookings? Here’s What the Data Says

When do guests actually book their stays? If you’ve ever wondered about booking trends and how to optimize your marketing efforts accordingly, you’re not alone. Julia, a short-term rental host in Maryland, noticed a pattern—her bookings often come in on Sunday evenings. She reached out to us on the Hosting Hotline to see if there’s any hard data on when travelers typically book their stays.

Since we didn’t have the exact answer offhand, we brought in an expert—Jeff Brown from Intellihost—who analyzed data from 466,000 reservations to provide insights on the most and least popular booking days of the week.

Global Booking Trends: When Are Guests Most Likely to Book?

According to Jeff’s data from thousands of vacation rentals worldwide, here’s how the numbers break down:

• Monday is the most popular day for bookings, with 16% of all reservations made on this day.
• Weekends (Saturday & Sunday) are the least popular, each accounting for around 12.5% of bookings.
• The remaining weekdays fall somewhere in between, with Tuesday through Friday showing relatively even distribution.

What About Local Trends?

Since Julia’s property is in Maryland, Jeff pulled data specific to her state—but the sample size was much smaller (442 reservations compared to the 466,000 in the global dataset). Interestingly, in Maryland:

• Wednesday was the least popular day for bookings (12.4%)
• Monday was still the most popular, but with a slightly higher 16.5%

While this is useful insight, it’s important to note that local trends may not always align with global booking patterns. This is why tracking your own data over time can give you the clearest picture of what’s happening with your specific property.

How Hosts Can Use This Data to Increase Bookings

If you want to refine your marketing strategy based on booking trends, consider these takeaways:

Upsell After the Booking – Once you know the typical booking window, use it to your advantage. If most guests book on Sundays, send them a midweek upsell offer for an extended stay, a late checkout, or a premium add-on.

Monitor Your Own Booking Data – Keep a log of when guests book your property. If Sundays seem to be a hotspot (like in Julia’s case), double down on marketing efforts during those key hours.

Fine-Tune Your Social Media & Ads – If Mondays have the highest booking volume globally, schedule promotions, ads, or flash sales to go live on Sunday night or early Monday morning to catch travelers when they’re ready to book.

Leverage Returning Guests – While finding new guests is essential, don’t overlook the guests who have already stayed with you. Create a system for follow-up emails and special offers to encourage past guests to book again.

Optimize Your Pricing & Minimum Stays – If certain days of the week see lower bookings, consider adjusting your minimum stay settings or pricing strategies to capture last-minute bookers.

Intellihost is a powerful data analytics platform designed specifically for short-term rental hosts and property managers. By pulling insights directly from thousands of vacation rentals worldwide, Intellihost helps hosts make smarter pricing, marketing, and operational decisions. From tracking booking trends and occupancy rates to identifying revenue opportunities, their advanced data-driven approach gives hosts a competitive edge in an ever-changing market. Whether you’re managing one property or an entire portfolio, Intellihost provides the clarity and confidence needed to optimize your Airbnb business. Learn more at Intellihost.co.

Have More Questions? We’d love to hear from you! Submit your hosting questions to the Hosting Hotline and tune in to the podcast for answers. Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram for more tips: @thanksforvisiting_.

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