The nights between 23 December and 2 January are the ones many hosts price worst. Either they sell too early and too cheaply, or they stay too expensive until shortly before and then sit empty. Both mistakes share a cause: the holidays are treated like ordinary winter nights with a flat surcharge. Yet they follow their own rules. Demand is predictable, guests book earlier than usual, and length of stay matters more than the price of any single night.

Christmas and New Year are two different markets

People who book Christmas usually travel to see family or want quiet. They often arrive on 23 or 24 December and stay through the holidays. New Year attracts groups and couples who want to celebrate and often stay briefly. The night of 31 December is the most expensive of the year in many markets; the days in between are not.

So a single holiday surcharge for the whole period rarely fits. Three blocks with their own logic work better:

  • Christmas block (roughly 23 to 27 December): clearly above normal level, focused on multi-night stays.
  • Between the holidays (roughly 27 to 30 December): often weaker than expected, and where most gaps appear.
  • New Year block (30 December to 1 or 2 January): highest price, clear minimum nights.

Minimum stay beats nightly rate

The most common New Year mistake is not a price that is too low but a single booked night. Sell 31 December on its own and the nights either side often become unsellable. A minimum stay of two or three nights across the turn of the year protects the most valuable part of your calendar.

The key is not to leave that rule rigid until the end. A proven approach:

  • Strict minimum nights for the holidays early in the booking window.
  • Around two to three weeks out, check which gaps have formed.
  • Release remaining single nights deliberately, with a shorter minimum stay if needed.

Your calendar stays protected early on, and the gaps still sell at the end.

Do not reward early bookers with discounts

Holiday guests plan far ahead. Many hosts read early bookings as a sign the price was too low, and they are often right. If several New Year enquiries arrive in late summer, that is a signal to raise the rate, not hold it.

The reverse also applies: length-of-stay and early-bird discounts that run all year also apply over the holidays. If you have a weekly discount set, guests get it automatically over Christmas too. Before the season, check which discounts affect this period and exclude the holidays where needed. Airbnb and Booking.com both let you control discounts and special rates for specific dates.

Set fixed prices cleanly inside dynamic pricing

Dynamic pricing tools such as PriceLabs react to demand and occupancy in the market. For the holidays that helps, but it is not enough. Algorithms see past years' booking patterns, but they do not know your unit, your returning guests or your capacity for changeovers on public holidays.

A reliable approach is to set fixed floors or fixed prices for the three blocks as date rules and let the algorithm work within those guardrails. Make sure such rules are not accidentally overwritten by later bulk changes. A quick look at the calendar in November saves a lot of trouble.

An example for orientation

Purely as an illustration: a unit that normally rents for 90 euros a night in January might be priced clearly higher over Christmas, moderately between the holidays and highest at New Year, each with its own minimum stay. The right values depend on your market and can only be set from local demand.

Plan cleaning and operations alongside

The best price is useless if nobody cleans on 24 or 31 December. Clarify early which days allow changeovers and set arrival and departure days accordingly. A blocked arrival day is better than a booking you cannot turn over properly. At RM Hospitality we plan the holidays together with cleaning scheduling before prices are final.

The holidays are not won in December but in September and October, when the rules are set before the first guests book.

Set your blocks, minimum nights, discount exclusions and cleaning days now, and December will need little attention while the calendar fills itself.