Two tools, two very different jobs
Stays gives hosts two ways to reach travelers beyond the platform itself: Promotions and Giveaways. Both happen on Instagram. Both put your property in front of people who've never heard of it. And both get lumped together as "the paid marketing stuff."
But they're about as similar as a billboard and a block party. One is steady, repeatable exposure. The other is a big, one-time event that gets a lot of people excited at once.
Pick the wrong one for where your property is right now, and you'll wonder what you paid for. Pick the right one, and it can be one of the best marketing moves you make all year.
Let's break down both.
What a Promotion Is
A Promotion is a post about your property, published by one of our partnered Instagram outlets.
Here's the part that trips people up: it isn't an ad. You're not renting space in a feed the way you would with Meta Ads. Think of it as a partnership with an account that already has an audience following it for exactly this kind of content. Vacation rentals, travel, or life in a particular region.
You build it in the Promotion Builder inside your Stay Dashboard, and you've got real choices to make:
- The type. A Feed Post (a Carousel or a Reel that lives on the outlet's grid), a Story Post (a 24-hour placement with a tappable link), or a Broadcast (the outlet reposts something from your own account to its feed and Story).
- The outlet. Stays-branded accounts like @americanstays, @cabinstays, and @staysco. Local outlets built around a city, state, or region. Or niche outlets built around an interest.
- Add-ons. A second outlet as a collaborator, other outlets sharing it to their Stories, or a Boost that puts Meta Ads budget behind the post.
The price depends on what you pick, and a cost tracker in the builder shows the running total as you go. Most Promotions publish within one to two weeks of payment.
Where do travelers go when they see it? To your own Instagram account and to your Listing Page on Stays, where they'll find your photos, your Offers, and all of your booking links.
What a Giveaway Is
A Giveaway is a free-stay contest that Stays runs on your behalf.
You provide the stay. We do everything else: publish the campaign on @americanstays and on a dedicated Giveaway Page on stays.co, collect and verify entries, draw the winner, handle the paperwork, and introduce the two of you.
Travelers can enter on Instagram (by commenting on the official post and following both @americanstays and your account) or on stays.co with one click.
Giveaways usually run 14 to 30 days, and you can layer on the same add-ons as a Promotion: collaborators, Story shares, and a Boost.
Side by Side
| Promotion | Giveaway |
|---|---|---|
What it is | A post about your property on a partnered Instagram outlet | A free-stay contest run by Stays |
Where it runs | The outlet you choose | @americanstays and stays.co |
What you provide | Photos or video, or let Stays pick | Photos or video, plus the free stay itself |
Main payoff | Awareness and traffic to your page | A burst of followers, Leads, and attention |
How often | As often as you like | Once a year is plenty for most properties |
Your commitment | The cost of the Promotion | The cost, plus honoring the prize |
Host Premium discount | 50% off the outlet cost on Stays-branded outlets | 50% off |
When a Promotion Is the Right Call
You have something specific to say
New photos. A renovation. A new hot tub. Open dates in October. A Promotion is the megaphone for a message you already have.
You want a specific audience
This is where outlet choice earns its keep. Got a cabin in northern Michigan? A Local Network outlet puts you in front of people who already live within driving distance. Want travelers who follow Stays for unique stays? Go with a Stays Network outlet. With a Promotion, you choose who sees you.
You want to stay visible all year
One Promotion is a moment. A few spread across the year is a presence. People rarely book the first time they see a property. They book the third or fourth time, when the timing finally lines up.
You're not ready to give away a stay
If your calendar is tight or a free stay just isn't in the budget, a Promotion gets you exposure without that commitment.
Promotions won't always produce an immediate, 1-for-1 return. No marketing can guarantee bookings. What a Promotion does is introduce your stay to new people and send them to your Instagram and your Listing Page. What happens next comes down to your property, your pricing, and your page.
When a Giveaway Is the Right Call
Your property is a showstopper
We'll be blunt about this one. Giveaways work best for properties people dream about winning. The more desirable the stay, the more people enter, share, and follow. A truly special property can turn a Giveaway into a small event.
You want to grow your Instagram following
Travelers who enter on Instagram have to follow your account for their entries to count. If building an audience you own is a priority, nothing on Stays does it faster.
You want a wave of Leads
Travelers who enter on stays.co become Leads on your Leads page, and you can send them private Invites during the campaign and after. Most of the people who enter won't win. A lot of them still want to stay at your place. A well-timed Invite turns "I didn't win" into "I booked anyway."
You can comfortably give up a couple of nights
If you've got soft dates in your shoulder season, a Giveaway turns nights that might have gone empty into a marketing event.
The Part You Can't Skip: A Giveaway Is a Commitment
This is the biggest difference between the two, and it deserves its own section.
When you run a Promotion, your only commitment is what you paid. When you run a Giveaway, you're making a promise to a real person that they'll get a free stay at your property.
That promise is legally binding. If the stay isn't honored, you're responsible for the value of the prize, you're open to legal action from the winner, and your Organization may be removed from Stays.
We're not saying that to scare you off. We're saying it because it's true, and because a host who goes in clear-eyed has a much better experience. A few practical guardrails:
- Set a stay window you know you can honor. You choose when the stay can be taken: fixed dates, a season, weeknights only, or open availability. Pick what works for your calendar.
- Two nights is the sweet spot. Long enough to make the trip worth it for the winner, short enough to be easy on you.
- Don't run one if your situation is uncertain. Thinking about selling? Major renovation coming? Wait.
- Read the rules first. Every Giveaway runs under the Stays Giveaway Official Rules, and the Giveaways guide in our Help Center walks through exactly what you're agreeing to.
If there's any doubt about whether you can deliver the stay, hold off until there isn't. A Giveaway you can't honor costs far more than one you never ran.
So, Why Not Both?
For a lot of properties, both is the right answer. They just shouldn't happen at the same time.
Think of a Giveaway as your annual headliner and Promotions as the supporting acts throughout the year. A rhythm that works well:
- Start with a Promotion. See how your property and your Listing Page perform when new eyes land on them. Fix anything that needs fixing.
- Run a Giveaway once your page is dialed in. Time it six to eight weeks ahead of the season you most want to fill.
- Work your Leads afterward. Send Invites to the travelers who entered and didn't win.
- Follow up with a Promotion or two later in the year to stay in front of the audience you just built.
And before either one, make sure you have an Offer live on your Listing Page. Promotions and Giveaways bring people to your door. An Offer gives them a reason to walk through it.
A Few Things to Know Before You Start
- Your listing has to be Accepted. Limited listings can't run Promotions or Giveaways.
- Everything is purchased through your Organization's Cart. Nothing is submitted to our team until checkout is complete.
- Host Premium members get 50% off Giveaways and 50% off the outlet cost of Promotions on Stays-branded outlets. Boost budgets and partner outlets are billed at cost.
- We can't promise a publish date. Most go live within one to two weeks of payment.
Our Honest Take
If you're newer, your budget is tight, or your calendar is already pretty full, start with a Promotion. It's lower commitment, and it'll tell you a lot about how travelers respond to your property.
If you've got a standout stay, a Listing Page you're proud of, and a couple of nights you can spare, a Giveaway once a year is one of the savviest moves you can make.
And if you're considering your first of either, reach out. We're happy to talk through what makes sense for your property. Email hello@stays.co or DM us on Instagram.
