For minpaku owners and management companies alike, choosing the right booking platform is a critical factor that can make or break your revenue.

While Airbnb and self-owned booking sites are commonly discussed options, Booking.com is also an incredibly powerful choice—especially for reaching travelers from Europe, the US, and around the world. In fact, Booking.com is a massive global platform that hosts everything from major hotel chains to individual hosts, giving it a truly worldwide user base.

One feature you simply can’t overlook when running your property on Booking.com is its extensive promotional campaign system.

From limited-time discounts and region-specific promotions to multi-night stay deals and last-minute discounts, the platform offers a wide range of discount options—and it actively suggests these campaigns to hosts, essentially saying, “Want to try this one?” Some hosts worry that “discounts will just eat into my profits,” but for newly listed minpaku properties in particular, these campaigns represent a major opportunity.

In this article, we’ll explain why we believe **”When starting out with minpaku bookings on Booking.com, it’s best to fully leverage the campaigns the platform suggests to you”**—backed by concrete examples and important points to keep in mind.

1. Why Booking.com Is a Great Fit for Minpaku

1-1. A Truly Global User Base

Booking.com isn’t just for hotels, hostels, and B&Bs—in recent years it has been putting serious effort into minpaku and vacation rentals as well, and it’s used by travelers all over the world. It’s particularly popular with travelers from Europe, the US, and Asia, many of whom search for properties specifically as “an alternative to Airbnb.”

Since the Minpaku Act came into effect, Booking.com has been actively expanding its minpaku listings within Japan, which means there’s a very high chance that international travelers will discover your listing there. This makes it a platform you simply can’t ignore when it comes to capturing inbound demand.

1-2. Wide Search Visibility and Regional Coverage

Many travelers using Booking.com aren’t just looking for accommodations in urban areas—they’re also searching for stays in rural areas and tourist destinations, and the site enjoys strong global name recognition. This means there’s a great chance for your property to be discovered no matter where it’s located. To stand out from competing listings, taking advantage of the campaigns and discounts offered on the host side can be a major differentiator.

2. What Are Booking.com’s Campaign Features?

2-1. Limited-Time Discounts and Regional Promotions

If you look at your Booking.com owner dashboard, you’ll often see suggestions like “Offering a X% discount could increase your bookings by an estimated X%.” These suggestions are campaign features based on algorithms and demand forecasting, and with just a switch of a button, hosts can automatically apply discounted rates or special promotions for a set period.

International travelers are often highly discount-conscious, and running a campaign can result in higher placement in search results or a special badge being applied to your listing—both of which tend to boost your booking rate.

2-2. A Wide Range of Plan Options: Multi-Night Stays, Last-Minute Deals, and More

Booking.com’s campaign features let you set up a variety of discount plans, including multi-night stay discounts (savings for booking several nights) and last-minute deals (for accommodating last-minute bookings), as well as **early bird discounts (savings for booking ahead)**. If your goal is to attract more guests for extended stays, or to fill last-minute cancellations during busy seasons, combining campaigns that match your specific needs can be highly effective.

3. Why It’s Worth Fully Leveraging Campaigns

3-1. Building an Early Review Base Is Critical

When a minpaku property is newly opened, it typically has few reviews and an unproven reputation, which can make guests hesitant, wondering “Is this place actually good?” However, by leveraging campaigns to boost initial bookings, you make it easier for guests to take a chance on your listing—leading to a quick accumulation of stays and a much higher likelihood of rapidly building up reviews.

Newer listings tend to have less stable search rankings and lower visibility, but the sense of getting a good deal from discounts and perks tends to catch guests’ attention. This makes campaigns a powerful tool for satisfying your first few guests and earning those crucial positive reviews.

3-2. A Positive Effect on the Platform’s Search Algorithm Too

Booking.com’s algorithm is believed to comprehensively evaluate factors like booking rate, guest satisfaction, and campaign participation when deciding which listings rank higher in search results. By actively enrolling in campaigns, your listing is more likely to be perceived as **”a property whose host is motivated and offering great deals,”** which can boost both your search ranking and overall visibility.

Once your standing on the platform stabilizes and your occupancy rate is solid, with a healthy base of reviews built up, a realistic next step is to gradually scale back the discounts and shift toward securing bookings at your regular rates.

4. Points to Keep in Mind When Running Campaigns

4-1. Watch Out for Discounting Below Cost

Even though it’s worth leveraging campaigns fully, running excessively large discounts back-to-back can lead to situations where, once you subtract cleaning costs and labor expenses, little to no profit actually remains. This is especially true in urban areas with high labor costs, where you could end up “offering stays at a price that actually puts you in the red” after applying discounts.

If you’re starting a minpaku business as a side venture or new endeavor, it’s a good idea to first calculate your costs and minimum profit line, and set a firm floor—”I won’t drop the price below this amount”—when deciding on discount rates.

4-2. It’s Best to Limit Campaigns by Time Period and Target Audience

Rather than running discounts indefinitely, it’s more effective to limit them to a defined period—such as the first few months, or until you’ve accumulated a certain number of reviews. By narrowing down your target guest segment (for example, weekend discounts, weekday discounts, last-minute deals, or long-stay discounts) and factoring in your property’s occupancy trends and peak/off-peak seasons, you can maximize the benefits of your discounts.

5. A Long-Term Strategy: Your Next Steps After Building Up Reviews

5-1. Adjust Your Discount Rate as Review Quality and Quantity Grow

The primary goal of running campaigns is to secure early reviews and positively influence the search algorithm. Once you’ve accumulated a solid number of positive reviews (say, 10 to 20) and your average rating has risen, it may be a good time to adjust your campaign discount rates, set a somewhat higher price point, and boost your profit margin.

The right timing to scale back campaigns depends on your property’s characteristics and local competition, but many hosts share the common view that the real profitability kicks in once your reviews have stabilized.

5-2. Building Your Brand and Reusing Campaigns

Beyond simply accumulating reviews, it’s also worth focusing on developing your brand identity. By highlighting a special zone minpaku license or a unique concept and promoting “a stay experience you can’t get anywhere else,” you can attract guests who are willing to pay a higher price because they’re convinced of the value.

It’s also a smart long-term strategy to reintroduce short-term campaigns periodically—for example, during slow seasons or when a new attraction or event is happening nearby—as a way to draw in both repeat and new guests.

6. Conclusion: Use Booking.com Campaigns to Build Early Reviews and Establish a Strong Reputation

Booking.com is a travel platform with overwhelming reach both domestically and internationally, and it’s a platform that can be especially beneficial in areas with strong inbound demand. However, no matter how appealing your property is, if it’s new and lacks reviews, it can easily go unnoticed by guests and end up at a disadvantage in terms of search ranking and perceived trustworthiness.

This is where Booking.com’s abundant campaign features come in handy. By fully leveraging discount plans and limited-time offers, you can attract as many guests as possible right from the start—a smart strategy for quickly building up your review count and raising your rating in a short period of time. In fact, it’s not uncommon to see cases where running a campaign leads to a higher search ranking or a special badge that causes bookings to surge.

Of course, there are challenges to consider—such as the risk of discounting too heavily and eating into your profits, or the need for a long-term strategy to eventually move away from relying on campaigns. That said, building up reviews early on is an incredibly important factor that can determine the success of your long-term operation. Once you attract guests through campaigns and build up a foundation of great reviews and trust, securing a strong search ranking, everything that follows—attracting guests and generating revenue—becomes dramatically easier.

Let Stay Buddy Handle Your Booking.com Guest Acquisition Too!

If you’re looking for more detailed advice on leveraging Booking.com campaigns or optimizing your minpaku operations, please feel free to reach out to Stay Buddy Inc.

Drawing on our experience guiding numerous minpaku properties to success, we provide total support—from confirming building code and fire safety compliance, to guest communication, arranging cleaning staff, and developing pricing and campaign strategies. Especially in highly competitive urban areas and tourist destinations, effectively leveraging Booking.com’s features and building up an early review base is essential. Partner with Stay Buddy Inc. to help your minpaku listing earn the strong reputation it deserves.