Let's start with the honest answer
It depends on how you travel.
We know, we know. That's the answer nobody wants. But we'd rather tell you the truth than sell you a membership you won't use. A traveler who cancels after two months because they never needed it isn't a win for us either.
So this article is going to do something a little unusual for a company writing about its own paid plan. We're going to tell you exactly what Stays Premium changes, what it doesn't, and who should probably skip it.
Let's get into it.
What Stays Premium Is (and What It Costs)
Stays Premium is an optional membership for travelers. It's $6 a month or $49 a year, and you can cancel anytime.
The important word there is optional. Stays is free to use, and the good stuff isn't locked in a back room:
- Browsing the full curated directory
- Your personal feed
- Favorites and Trips
- Offers from hosts
- Giveaways
- Private Invites from hosts
- Stays AI
All of that is free, and it's staying free. (If you're new here, How Travelers Can Get the Most Out of Stays walks through all of it.) Premium doesn't unlock the platform. It gives you a head start on the parts of it where timing matters.
Think of it like the difference between general admission and early entry at a concert. Everyone gets into the same show. Early entry just gets you closer to the stage.
The Four Things Premium Actually Changes
| Free | Stays Premium |
|---|---|---|
New Offers | You see them 24 hours after they post | You see them the minute the host posts |
Giveaway entries | 1 entry per click, up to 5 with the free entry form | All 5 entries in one click |
Invites from hosts | Receive 3 every 30 days, extras wait in a queue | Unlimited, opened right away |
Last-minute openings (coming soon) | Notified after a 60-minute delay | Notified the moment a host posts one |
Here's what each of those means in real life.
1. You see new Offers first
When a host posts an Offer, Premium members see it immediately. Free members see the exact same Offer a day later.
For a lot of Offers, that gap doesn't matter one bit. "10% off direct bookings through December" will still be there tomorrow. But some Offers are limited by nature. "Half off this weekend, we just had a cancellation" is the kind of deal that can be gone by dinner. That's where the head start earns its keep.
2. All five Giveaway entries in one click
When you click Enter on a Giveaway, a free account gets 1 entry and a Premium account gets 5.
Here's the part we want to be crystal clear about: Premium does not improve your odds of winning. Anyone on a free account can earn the same five entries by filling out the free entry form, one entry per submission. Same maximum, same chance per entry, no purchase or membership required.
So what you're paying for here is convenience. One click instead of five steps. If you enter a lot of Giveaways, that adds up to real time saved. If you enter one a year, it's a nice-to-have at best. The full details are in the Official Giveaway Rules.
3. No limit on Invites
Hosts can send you private Invites with deals that aren't on their public listing. On the free plan you can receive 3 every 30 days. Anything past that waits in a queue until you have room, and since every Invite expires after 7 days, a queued one can run out before you ever get to open it.
With Premium there's no cap and no queue. Every Invite opens the moment it arrives.
4. First notice on last-minute openings (coming soon)
This one isn't live yet, so don't buy Premium for it today. When it launches, hosts will be able to post last-minute openings when dates free up. Premium members will hear about it right away, and free members an hour later.
Who Premium Is Worth It For
The flexible deal hunter
You don't plan trips around fixed dates. You plan them around a good deal. If a great cabin drops a last-minute Offer for next weekend, you can actually say yes.
For you, the 24-hour head start is the entire ballgame. One caught Offer can cover the membership several times over. Take a simple example: a 10% Offer on a $900 weekend saves you $90. That's almost two years of Premium from a single trip.
The traveler with a lot of favorites
The more stays you favorite and the more regions you follow, the more hosts see you as an interested traveler, and the more Invites come your way. If you keep bumping into that 3-per-30-days limit and watching Invites sit in your queue, that's a pretty clear sign Premium would pay off. A single Invite for "3 nights for the price of 2" is worth more than the whole year's membership.
The frequent traveler
If you take four or five getaways a year, every one of these benefits gets more chances to matter. Simple math.
The Giveaway regular
If you enter every Giveaway that comes across your feed, Premium turns five steps into one, every time. It won't change your odds. It will save you the hassle.
Who Should Probably Skip It
We mean this. If any of these sound like you, stick with free.
You take one big trip a year, on fixed dates
If you're booking the same week every July and you already know where you're going, a head start on Offers won't change much. Browse for free, favorite your stay, and keep an eye on your feed.
You're just here to browse
Plenty of people use Stays for inspiration, like flipping through a great travel magazine. That's a perfectly good way to use it, and it costs nothing.
You rarely get Invites
If you've never hit the Invite limit, you don't need it removed.
You're brand new
Give the free plan a few weeks first. Set your preferences, favorite some stays, and see what your feed looks like. You'll know pretty quickly whether the head start would matter to you.
Monthly or Yearly?
Yearly is the better deal if you know you'll use it. $49 for the year works out to about $4 a month, versus $72 if you paid monthly all year.
But monthly is a great way to test the waters. A smart play: go monthly for the stretch when you're actively planning a trip, then decide from there. If you find yourself catching deals you would have missed, switch to yearly when your month is up. If not, cancel and you're out six bucks.
You can cancel anytime from the Premium page or the Billing section of Traveler Settings. You keep Premium through the end of the period you already paid for, and your favorites and Trips stay exactly as they are on the free plan.
What Premium Doesn't Do
Just so there are no surprises:
- It doesn't book anything for you. Stays never handles bookings, Premium or not. You always book with the host.
- It doesn't unlock hidden stays. Every traveler sees the same curated directory.
- It doesn't create Offers. Hosts decide what deals to post. Premium changes when you see them, not whether they exist.
- It doesn't improve your Giveaway odds. Every traveler can earn the same number of entries for free. Premium just gets you there in one click.
Our Honest Take
If you're flexible, you love a deal, and you're on Stays more than a couple times a month, Premium is an easy yes. At $49 a year, it only has to catch you one good Offer to pay for itself.
If you travel once a year on dates you picked months ago, save your money. The free plan was built to be useful on its own, and we'd rather have you around as a happy free member than an annoyed paying one.
And if you're somewhere in the middle? Try a month. Worst case, you spent about what a latte costs to find out.
