How to price homestay rooms by season, weekend, holiday and sales channel

HostBooking · Updated Nov 2, 2026 · 7 min read

Price homestay rooms in three layers: a floor worked out from costs, a base rate by season, then weekend and holiday surcharges. On OTAs, set the list price so that after commission you still receive what you want; on your own website, keep a better price or add perks so guests have a reason to book direct.

Layer 1: a floor from your costs

The floor is the lowest price you will sell a night for. Below it, each extra night sold still does not cover costs. A simple way to work it out:

1. Add up one month of fixed costs: rent, wages, utilities, internet.
2. Divide by the nights you expect to sell in low season (say 5 rooms × 30 nights × 45%).
3. Add per-night costs: laundry, single-use supplies, commission if sold via an OTA.

Example: fixed costs of VND 51.5 million, 68 nights sold in low season, VND 60,000 of per-night costs gives a floor of about 51,500,000 ÷ 68 + 60,000 ≈ VND 817,000. If your area only sells VND 600,000 in low season, you will lose money then and need enough profit in high season to make up for it. Try scenarios with the homestay revenue calculator.

Layer 2: a base rate by season

Every destination has its own seasons: beaches fill in summer, Da Lat and Sa Pa have flower and cold seasons, old towns fill at festivals. Do not guess; open last year’s bookings and mark which months filled early and which needed discounts. Three levels are enough for a small homestay:

The percentages are only a starting point. The best signal is how fast dates fill: if a peak date is full four weeks ahead, the price was too low; if it is still empty three days out, cut it or add an offer.

Layer 3: weekends and holidays

Weekends

At destinations near big cities, Friday and Saturday nights usually sell well above midweek. Add a surcharge for those two nights, and consider a lower Sunday-to-Thursday rate instead of one price all week. For business travellers the reverse can hold: busy midweek, quiet weekends.

Holidays in 2027

Days off drive demand. According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, civil servants get seven days for Tet 2027, Thursday 4 to Wednesday 10 February 2027, and four days in a row for National Day 2027, Thursday 2 to Sunday 5 September. Since 2026, 24 November (Vietnam Culture Day) is also a paid public holiday under Resolution 28/2026/QH16. Mark these on your rate calendar now.

• Set a minimum stay for long holidays (say two nights) so one-night bookings do not block the middle.
• Raise the deposit and tighten cancellation for holidays: a room cancelled late is hard to resell. See homestay cancellation policy.
• Publish holiday rates early so guests book early and you see demand sooner.
• The nights before and after a holiday often sell between the normal and holiday rate.

Hourly rates

If you sell rooms by the hour in the daytime, the first hour is usually priced above the following ones, and a few-hour bundle makes choosing easy. Make sure hourly slots do not block a night that could sell for more. Scheduling and pricing in detail: running an hourly homestay.

OTA price versus your own website

OTAs take commission on what the guest pays. With one price everywhere, an OTA booking brings in clearly less money. Start from what you want to receive and work back to the list price:

List price = amount you want ÷ (1 − promotion) ÷ (1 − commission × (1 + tax on commission)). Example: to receive VND 800,000 at 15% commission, no promotion and no tax on commission: 800,000 ÷ 0.85 ≈ 941,176, rounded up to VND 942,000. Use the OTA price calculator with the commission in your own contract.

Before pricing your website below the OTA, read your OTA contract: some include a rate parity clause covering public channels. If you are bound by one, give direct guests extras instead of a lower number: breakfast, early check-in, a discount code sent privately to past guests. More on winning direct bookings in relying less on Booking and Agoda.

Review prices monthly

Once a month, compare three figures: occupancy, average daily rate (ADR) and revenue per available room (RevPAR). If prices went up and RevPAR went down, you went too far. How to calculate them: ADR, RevPAR and occupancy.

Setting rates in HostBooking

In HostBooking each room type has nightly, hourly or overnight prices; rules by weekday and by occasion; a button that adds Vietnam’s public holidays, worked out from the lunar calendar; rate plans such as “Breakfast included” with a floor and ceiling, each sold on the website, at the desk or on OTAs; and discount codes. The booking website shows the right price for every date. No commission per booking. See features.