When it comes to commercial strategy, some decisions seem minor – until you look back at your end-of-season results. One of these is how early you open availability for the next year.
NB: This is an article from Smartness, one of our Expert Partners
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Many properties, especially small and midsize ones, tend to wait until late summer to publish rates and calendars for the following year. Often, this is simply due to lack of time, not having clear visibility on future pricing trends, or the assumption that guests “would never book this early anyway.”
In reality, opening your 2026 availability as early as spring 2025 can give you a powerful competitive advantage – if done correctly.
In this article, we’ll take a look at the real benefits of opening your calendar early, the potential risks, and how to do it in a way that’s safe and effective.
The benefits of opening your hotel or vacation rental calendar early
Opening your calendar well in advance offers a range of strategic advantages that can directly impact your bookings, average rate, and online visibility. Let’s break them down:
1. Better ranking on OTAs
One of the most immediate benefits of early opening is increased visibility on booking platforms. OTA algorithms (like those of Booking.com, Airbnb, etc.) tend to reward listings with wide availability by pushing them higher in search results.
This matters most during months when many competitors are still invisible: being visible first helps you capture searches, get clicks, and generate early interest.
Example: A user searches in April 2025 for a stay in August 2026. If your calendar is open, you’ll appear in the results, increasing your chances of being saved to favorites – or booked on the spot. If it’s still closed, you miss out on visibility right when competition is at its lowest and bookings are easier to secure.
2. Early bookings (with low acquisition cost)
Opening early also means enabling early birds to actually book. This applies especially to repeat guests who, in many destinations, tend to ask about the following year’s availability right at the end of their current stay.
Being ready means you can reply with a quote right away and close the booking within minutes – no need for future campaigns or promo codes. That’s a no-effort booking that also strengthens the relationship with your guest.
Example: A happy guest from Easter 2025 asks if they can already book for 2026. If your calendar’s open, you send them a personalized offer that same day. If you’re still behind on next year’s pricing, you risk losing them to a quicker alternative.
3. Build a solid booking base to optimize your ADR
Another major benefit of early bookings is that they allow you to build a solid foundation on which to create a more effective pricing strategy.
