How to prepare your holiday rental for Holy Week (Easter)
Learn more about how to prepare your holiday rental for Holy Week (Easter)
April 2025
Holy Week (Easter), or Semana Santa, is one of Spain’s busiest travel periods. Don’t miss this golden opportunity for holiday rental owners. If you have a short-term rental property anywhere in Spain, make sure you’ve prepared your holiday rental for Holy Week.
What is Holy Week in Spain?
Holy Week is the Spanish Easter holiday. It’s an extremely important time for national tourism, as Spanish people enjoy their time off work. Equally, many visitors from other countries come to Spain during this period. All in all, it’s a great time to advertise your holiday rental.
To prepare your holiday home for Holy Week, there are a few things you should know:
- The dates of Holy Week change every year, but it always falls in the springtime. Check well in advance.
- In countries like the UK, people typically have Good Friday and Easter Monday off work. In Spain, however, the most important days are Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. These are public holidays across the country, while only a few regions give Easter Monday as a holiday, too.
- Many people will have the entire week off work, so all of Semana Santa is a peak travel period.
This means you’ll need to be ready for an increase in visitors the weekend before the traditional Easter weekend. International guests may only arrive a few days later, but Spanish travellers will already be making the most of their holiday.
What to know about renting your holiday rental during Easter in Spain
First of all, keep in mind that this is a peak travel period. You might want to raise your prices accordingly, starting the Friday before Good Friday.
Think about where visitors are going. Although this is a peak holiday time, people may not be visiting Spain’s popular beach destinations in large numbers. It’s too early in the year to swim in the sea, and the weather can still be quite changeable in the spring. Instead, travellers often flock to cities during this period.
In particular, the cities of Andalucia, in the south of Spain, are famous for their Holy Week celebrations. If you have a holiday rental in Seville, Granada, Córdoba or Málaga, you can definitely charge a premium during this time, as many people will be searching for Airbnb Easter holiday rentals.
If you’re lucky, you could get a guest who wants to rent your house for the entire holiday. However, you might find that you have multiple bookings in a short period. It would be quite typical for a holiday rental to have one set of guests staying for the weekend before Holy Week, another during the week itself, and a third for the weekend after. In this case, make sure your cleaners are well aware of the situation and that you have stocked up on all the products you need. This is a period where many holiday rentals see a fast turnover, so you’ll need to be on top of your game.
Preparing a holiday rental for Easter in Spain
Easter in Spain is very different from in English-speaking countries. There is no Easter bunny or tradition of chocolate eggs. Although you will now find Easter eggs for sale in large cities, particularly those with big international communities, they are almost unheard of in most of the country.
As such, if you’re thinking about adding personal touches to your Easter holiday rental, be careful. While foreign visitors may expect decoration with bunnies and eggs, Spanish guests could be quite confused.
In general, Holy Week is a very traditional religious celebration in Spain, particularly in the south. Of course, not all guests are religiously observant, but it’s worth keeping that in mind as you prepare your holiday home for Holy Week.
How to welcome guests who rent your holiday home at Easter
You probably already have a generic welcome message set up for when guests book your property through a holiday rental portal. Over Holy Week, you might want to take the time to provide additional information. This could include:
- The dates and times of any processions, concerts or other Holy Week events in your area.
- Details of any shops nearby that will still be open on the public holidays.
- Warnings about road closures. If your holiday rental is in the south, and there are processions nearby, then streets will probably be closed.
- A short cultural guide for international guests. Spain’s Holy Week processions are spectacular, but they can be confusing and overwhelming. If you have visitors from abroad coming during the week, providing them with a primer is a thoughtful touch.
You may also be able to create cross-selling promotions with local businesses. For example, you could offer a special Easter deal with a meal at a restaurant, treatments at a spa, or entry tickets to a local attraction.
If you really want to go the extra mile, consider preparing a welcome basket for guests who book your property over Holy Week. This could include some local goodies, snacks and treats. It will be particularly welcome for guests who arrive late on Wednesday or any time on Thursday, as the public holidays will make it harder for them to do their shopping.
How to advertise your holiday home for Holy Week in Spain
If there are Holy Week events in your area, post about them on your holiday rental website and your social media profiles. Short videos of last year’s processions and similar events will appeal to guests who want a cultural experience during the holiday. This is a great way to do some early advertising for the week.
You should be prepared for Holy Week well in advance, but what can you do if you find yourself with no bookings as the holiday draws close? Maybe your property is in a quieter area, or maybe you’ve had a cancellation.
Some landlords try putting up a last-minute deal to entice guests who still haven’t decided what to do during Holy Week. You might not make as much money this way, but you’ll still be able to secure some profit —and it’s better than having your property stand empty during this period. Put up some ads on social media to attract last-minute guests.
Spain’s Holy Week is one of the most exciting times of the year for locals and international tourists alike. Make sure you’re ready for it. You might find it a busy or even chaotic week, but it’s a great time for smart holiday rental owners to make a profit in the middle of an otherwise quiet season.