Why Day-of-Week Pricing Matters
Demand isn’t flat. Business travel peaks mid-week; leisure peaks on weekends; events and seasonality bend both. Flat pricing means the wrong price most days—selling out early on peaks (lost ADR) and dragging on soft nights (lost occupancy).
Set a Baseline Differential
Start simple and adjust with data:
- Business cities: weekends softer → weekend −5% to −10% vs Tue/Wed.
- Leisure/Resort: weekends stronger → Fri/Sat +12% to +25% vs mid-week.
- Hybrid: mirror the dominant demand of the month; tweak weekly by pace.
How to Pick Your First Numbers (15-minute method)
- Look at last 60–90 days. Note ADR and occupancy by day of week.
- Identify your strongest and softest two days.
- Set weekend vs weekday gap to roughly half of that ADR difference (conservative start).
Weekly Review Ritual
- Every Monday: check the next 3 weekends and next 10 weekdays.
- If pickup is fast: nudge up 3–7% or tighten 1-night stays on peaks.
- If pickup is slow: nudge down 2–5% or add a fenced offer (mobile/LOS/geo).
- Protect shoulder nights (Thu/Sun) with lighter moves than Fri/Sat.
Avoid These Pitfalls
- One blanket 3-night minimum that kills short-stay demand on soft periods.
- Ignoring events—add an event uplift window (e.g., +10–25% from 14–30 days out).
- Leaving last rooms underpriced—value rises as availability falls.
Quick Checklist
- ✅ Weekend/weekday gap set and written down.
- ✅ Monday pace check scheduled.
- ✅ Fenced promos ready for slow pickup.
- ✅ Event uplift rules noted for your market calendar.