How to Extend a Shortlet Stay: Asking for More Nights

Yes, you can usually extend a shortlet stay, as long as your host says yes and the extra nights are still free. On Cabans, you pick a new check-out date on your stay page, your host approves it, and you pay for the extra nights online through Paystack. The nights you already booked keep their price; only the new nights are priced fresh.

The golden rule is to ask early. The night after your check-out may already be booked by the next guest, and a request sent the evening before leaves your host little time to answer.

Can you stay longer?

Three things decide it:

1. Are the nights free? Open the home’s page and look at the calendar. Green dates are free. “Booked” or “Closed” means someone else has them, or the host has shut them.
2. Does your host agree? A longer stay always needs the host’s yes.
3. Does it fit the home’s rules? Each host sets a longest stay. If yours is already close to it, ask the host what is possible.

How you ask depends on when:

Asking your host

Once you are checked in

Plans often grow during the trip itself. Here is how to ask for more nights once you are in:

1. Open your stay. Sign in, open My Stays and tap your stay. You need to be fully checked in.
2. Pick a “New check-out date”. Find “Extend my stay” on your stay page and choose the later date you want.
3. Read the price. You see how many nights more, the “Paystack fee (paid by you)” and what “You would pay”.
4. Press “Ask my host”. Add a “Note for your host” if you like. Your stay then shows “Waiting for your host”.
5. Pay when your host says yes. When you see “Approved: pay to extend”, press “Pay ₦…” and pay through Paystack by the time shown.

The extra nights must be free, and the whole stay must fit the home’s longest stay. You can ask for one extension at a time. While you wait, you can press “Withdraw my request” if your plans change.

Your host has their usual answer time to say yes or no, but never later than your current check-out. Once you have paid, your stay page says: “Your stay is extended. Your new check-out date is on your booking.”

Before your stay starts

If you already know you need more nights before you arrive, change the booking instead:

1. Open your stay. Sign in, open My Stays and tap your booking.
2. Press “Change dates or guests”. A window opens with your current dates next to “Now”.
3. Pick your new check-out date. Your own nights show as free. Choose the later date you want.
4. Read the price line. It says how much more the change costs, how much less, or that the price stays the same.
5. Press “Ask the host”. Your host gets the request. Until they answer, your booking stays as it is.
6. Pay the difference. If your host says yes, press “Pay ₦X” on your stay page by the time shown.

While you wait, your stay shows “Date change waiting for the host”. Only one change can wait at a time. The full help guide is how to change your dates or number of guests.

Some changes do not need the host at all. If you want a shorter stay inside your current dates, before the free-cancellation deadline, or just fewer guests on the same dates, press “Change booking” and it applies straight away. Anything longer, on other dates or with more guests goes to your host.

Tips for a quick yes:

• Ask early. A day or two before check-out is far better than the last evening.
• Say how many nights. “Two more nights, until Sunday” is easy to answer.
• Give a reason if you like. A delayed flight or a longer project helps your host plan.
• Be flexible. If the next night is taken, ask about the nights after it, or a similar home they also host.
• Message too. A short note through “Message your host” makes sure they see the request.

How the new nights are priced

Cabans works out every price on its server, so you never have to do the sums yourself. Once you are checked in, the rule is short: the extra nights cost the home’s night prices for those dates. The screen says: “Night prices only: no cleaning fee, caution deposit or discount on the extra nights.”

For a change made before you arrive, the rules are different:

• Nights you keep cost what you paid for them.
• New nights use the host’s price for those dates today. Weekend, holiday and December nights can cost more than your first nights did.
• The discount is worked out again for the new length. A longer stay might reach an offer such as “7+ nights, 10% off” or “Stay 5 nights, get 1 free”. You get whichever saves you more, never both.
• Fees are not charged again. The cleaning fee and the caution deposit stay those of your first booking.
• More guests do not change the price. There are no per-guest charges.

Before you send the request, the change window shows one of three lines:

• “It costs ₦X more, which you pay on an invoice once the change is made.”
• “It costs ₦X less, which will be refunded to you.”
• “The price stays the same.”

Staying on for weeks rather than days? Compare the cost with a new monthly booking. Our guide to paying less for a longer shortlet explains how longer-stay offers work, and monthly shortlets in Lagos lists homes set up for long stays.

Paying the difference

When your host approves an extension, your stay shows “Approved: pay to extend”, and the extra nights appear on your bill as a “Stay extension”. Press “Pay ₦…”. The payment box shows the “Paystack fee (paid by you)” and what “You pay”, before you pay.

Pay within 24 hours of your host’s yes, or by your current check-out if that is sooner. If you do not pay in time, the extra nights are released and nothing is charged.

Before you arrive, it works a little differently. When your host approves a change that costs more, you get an email, “New dates for [the home]”, with the amount and the time to pay by. Your stay page shows a notice, “Pay for your new dates”, with a “Pay ₦X” button.

• You pay online through Paystack. Paystack’s processing fee is added when you pay, and you see it before you pay.
• It is due 24 hours after it is raised, or at check-in if that comes sooner. Pay it by the time shown.
• One change at a time. Until it is paid, you see: “The invoice for your last date change has not been paid yet. Pay it before changing the dates again.” You can still change the number of guests.

If the change makes your stay cheaper, the difference is refunded to you. Refunds reach you within 14 days at most, usually in about 5 days. Paystack’s fee is not refunded.

If the host says no

A no is not personal. The home may be booked, the host may have repairs planned, or they may be using it themselves.

If your host says no to an extension, your stay page says: “Your host could not extend your stay. Nothing was charged.” If nobody answers in time, the request lapses, and again nothing is charged. Your check-out date stays as it was.

Before you arrive, if your host keeps your original dates or does not answer in time, your booking stays exactly as it was. You get an email, “Your date change for [the home] was not made”.

Then:

• Check out on your original date. Your door code and Wi-Fi password stop showing on your stay page once your host confirms check-out, and never later than 2 hours after check-out time.
• Book somewhere nearby. Look for another home in the same area for the extra nights, such as shortlets in Lekki, Victoria Island or Abuja.
• Ask about other dates. If you only need a place later in the month, your host may have gaps then.

Moving to another home mid-stay

If your host cannot extend, a second booking somewhere nearby is often the answer. A few tips make the move painless:

• Book the second home before you pack. Do not check out until the next stay is confirmed.
• Mind the gap. Check-out is often late morning and check-in in the afternoon. Ask the first host whether you can leave your bags for a few hours.
• Check out properly. Press “I am leaving” on your stay page, return the keys and leave the home tidy. Each booking has its own caution deposit, and the first one comes back after that host checks the home.
• Stay in the same area. You keep your routes and your routine, and the move takes an hour instead of a day.

Staying less instead

Plans can shrink as well as grow. Before you arrive, a shorter stay inside your dates can apply straight away if it is before the free-cancellation deadline, and the difference is refunded to you.

After you have checked in, leaving early is different. Unused nights are not refunded, unless your host approves a refund.

If they do, those nights are refunded to you and go back on sale for other guests. So talk to your host first if you think you will leave early.

Find your next stay

Find a shortlet you can book online, with the price, the longest stay and the cancellation deadline shown before you pay. You can start with shortlets across Nigeria.

Own a home that could host longer stays? List your short let.

Frequently asked questions

Related guides

Pay less for a longer shortlet · How long is a shortlet? · Monthly shortlet or rent a flat? · How to book a shortlet in Lagos · Booking a shortlet from abroad