The Theresienwiese area during the Oktoberfest

The Oktoberfest is the world’s largest fair with over 6 million attendees every year! It is traditionally (the Wiesn – as it is called locally – dates back to the early 1800′s) held for about 2 weeks from the end of September to early October. It is of course very famous for its beer (about 7 million litres of it are drunk at every Oktoberfest!) and food (about half a million chickens will be eaten during the fair ) but also for its popular attractions such as roller coasters. There are a lot of funny traditions around Oktoberfest: one that caught our attention is that every year a special beer mug is edited – a lot of people collect them like you can see on this website which displays Oktoberfest’s mugs from 1978 until now.

We interviewed 2 Munich hosts to ask them our now traditional question: do they apply any special booking conditions for an event like the Oktoberfest? We also asked them if they market their property in any special way for the event and when people started booking for the Oktoberfest.

Heinrich from Bed and Breakfast Munich

A nice garden at Heinrich's Bed and Breakfast Munich

Heinrich sees reservations for the Oktoberfest come as early as between Christmas and New year the preceding year, meaning that in his experience guests book as early as 10 months in advance! And, interestingly, that is with very few marketing since Heinrich’s only advertising means are his website and a link in a classified ads directory. When asked if he applies any special rate for the event, he replies that he adds 100% to their roomrates during the “Wiesn”.

Ulrike from Bed and Breakfast Bavaria

View from the lovely garden at Ulrike's short term rental

Ulrike sees her guests book a bit later for the Oktoberfest but still about 6 months in advance, around April. During the event, her international clientele simply pays the prices described on her personal website, from 59€ to 89€, depending on the type of room. When it comes to marketing, Ulrike states working with a few bed and breakfast agents and she also has her website. She loves having such international guests – mainly brought by the agents she works with – and describes it as “a wonderful experience and a great enrichment”. Located in the countryside with a view on the Alps, her place can certainly make for a great stay during the Oktoberfest, sleeping away from all the crazyness of the fair!

From our interviews we can see that short-term rentals can make for great affordable accomodations during an event such as the Oktoberfest, welcomed by hosts who certainly can provide life-saving tips about handling beer By the time of the fair, HouseTrip will have been released (!!!) and although we could see from our interviews that most properties will have already been booked, we will make the most in order to offer sufficient short-term rentals to guests willing to attend this unmissable event! The heavy readers of this blog will not have missed that Stephan, our CTO, lives in Munich and we have already convinced him to put his spare guestroom on HouseTrip! Great way to make a bit of money on the side Stephan