Boost Your Income with our Holiday Rental Pricing Strategy
Last New Year’s Eve, we lost over $500. Our properties sat vacant, and we were unable to capitalize on one of the year’s most lucrative times for hosts. We had become complacent, assuming our properties would get booked, as they had in the past. Because this year’s holiday season is right around the corner, we want to share important lessons to help you make the most of your holiday rental pricing strategy.
We’ll walk you through our process, sharing our insights and actionable steps you can implement immediately.
Table Of Contents:
How To Approach Your Holiday Rental Pricing Strategy
Hosts should address several factors when considering holiday rental pricing strategy changes, as travelers often exhibit different booking behaviors during these periods.
Revenue Forecasting For Holiday Rental Pricing Strategy
Projecting future income based on past data, market trends, and current reservations, revenue forecasting is an essential practice year-round, but it becomes critical during holiday seasons.
One critical aspect of this forecasting is understanding which day of the week a holiday falls on and how that might affect guest behavior. For example, let’s take Christmas. If Christmas falls on a Thursday, we can expect more extended stays as people likely have Friday off as well, creating a four-day weekend.
Knowing this, we can adjust minimum nightly stay requirements to maximize occupancy for those prime dates. However, if Christmas falls on a Wednesday, people may only take one or two days off, resulting in shorter stays. Knowing your historical data will offer a more concrete understanding of travel trends during past holidays based on their corresponding days of the week.
Need more information on revenue management? We recently sat down with our revenue manager to discuss all things forecasting and strategy. Check out this expert episode right here: Revenue Management 101: How to Track Growth & Optimize Your Strategy.
Embrace One-Night Stays
Now, this next suggestion can be a bit controversial among rental owners – one-night stays. However, consider that around the holidays, some travelers are just passing through, maybe there to do some last-minute Christmas shopping or in town for a quick visit with family.
They need a place to stay for a single night and are willing to pay a premium. When experimenting with this strategy, thoroughly vet those one-night requests. You always want to make sure it’s the right fit, mitigating potential risk while capitalizing on pricing optimization during the holidays.
Optimize Your Listings
How do you feel when planning a ski trip in July, and the rental property you’re looking at still has photos of the summer wildflowers in full bloom? That’s probably not going to inspire you to book. That’s precisely how potential guests feel when they’re browsing for their Christmas getaway and see pictures of your pool from last summer.
Your holiday rental pricing strategy needs to include optimizing listings around those festive touches that draw travelers in. Consider updating photos and descriptions so they accurately reflect any festive décor, nearby local events, or local attractions popular during specific periods.
Do you have everything you need to for your property and guests? Grab our FREE Airbnb Essentials Guide right here to cover all your bases!
Offer Festive Upsells
The holiday season is all about experiences and creating those Instagram-worthy moments, especially for those special occasion trips. Use this as inspiration to incorporate upsells like a fully decorated tree or a stocked fridge with holiday treats. You can even offer pre-arrival grocery shopping.
People are already in a festive mood. Lean into the experience by offering festive upsells they’ll love.
Diversify Your Booking Platforms
The saying “don’t put all your eggs in one basket” applies here, too. When listing properties solely on platforms like Airbnb or VRBO, you’re subject to their algorithms, rules, and fees, which can fluctuate.
Relying solely on these platforms can significantly impact your rental income, especially during popular travel periods. To counteract this, we incorporate a direct booking strategy to secure those holiday bookings. Consider using a channel manager to manage direct bookings alongside your existing listings.
This is where one of our favorite partners comes in: Hostfully! Hostfully is an exceptional tool for short-term rental (STR) hosts looking to diversify their listings! Hostfully will help you gain more direct bookings and reduce dependence on OTAs (online travel agencies). Hostfully’s platform offers a pre-built, customizable direct booking website that integrates seamlessly with its property management software (PMS). This setup allows hosts to showcase their properties, manage bookings, and provide accurate, real-time availability.
Leverage Travel Trends
The holiday season is jam-packed with promotional opportunities such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and even Travel Tuesday. Capitalize on this by running special discounts or targeted email campaigns to previous guests offering an exclusive “thank you” deal.
Building on those established relationships through excellent pricing strategies not only encourages repeat bookings but also helps foster positive reviews. Additionally, capitalize on last-minute travel by adjusting your pricing strategy for those travelers making those impromptu holiday trip decisions.
Remember that travelers are making their plans weeks, if not months, in advance. The earlier you start implementing elements of your holiday rental pricing strategy, the better positioned you’ll be for those last-minute adjustments.
Don’t Underestimate Boots on the Ground
While technology makes it easy to reach people with a few clicks, connecting with local businesses can benefit you during the holidays.
Networking with local businesses, tour operators, or even nearby attractions is an often overlooked part of any solid holiday rental pricing strategy. Having your listing information readily available at local coffee shops, restaurants, or partnering with area event planners can make all the difference in securing bookings.
Think of it as an opportunity to cross-promote, where a win-win situation unfolds, and local recommendations hold more weight, especially for travelers venturing into a new space. This is especially important for vacation rental owners who are new to the area.
Prioritize Contract Renewals
Amidst the excitement and the hustle to prep those listings for the holiday rush, it’s easy to let some logistical to-dos fall through the cracks. For example, have you thought about what you might do if your cleaning crew informs you they aren’t available on New Year’s Eve?
It’s important to prioritize contract renewals with existing vendors, such as cleaning services or property management companies, well in advance. Being ahead of the game saves you time, money, and a potential headache later.
Pro Tip: Use this time for negotiations with vendors – maybe there’s an opportunity for bundled services or even special holiday rates. Addressing this element during the relative “calm” before the holiday storm can set you up for smoother operations once those bookings start rolling in.
Airbnb Pricing Tips
Remember, your holiday rental pricing strategy should cater to a traveler’s specific wants and desires during these special times, leading to greater booking potential. By keeping your pricing, listings, and guest communications aligned, you position yourself as an attentive, adaptable, and guest-focused host.
Be sure to check out our partner, Hostfully! With Hostfully, hosts benefit from a powerful channel manager to synchronize calendars across multiple listing sites, preventing double bookings and saving time. The platform includes features that foster guest trust, like secure payment gateways and the option to showcase guest reviews, further encouraging direct bookings. Its extensive integrations, automation for routine tasks, and in-depth analytics make Hostfully a comprehensive solution that not only maximizes a host’s reach but also enhances operational efficiency and guest experience.
Calling All Airbnb Hosts: The Hosting Handbook
If you loved this post we invite you to check out our one-stop-shop solution for hosts everywhere —the Hosting Handbook! While you can download all the easy to consume, step-by-step tips we use in our own hosting business and create the ultimate “book” the Hosting Handbook is so much more than that! If you’ve consumed or content for years (or just met us!) this is the reference guide for all the amazing and tactical tips we have for running a profitable and, more importantly hospitable, short-term rental. How do we price for pets? How do we fold our towels? What sheets do we buy? How do I purchase a short-term rental? All these questions (and more!) can be answered in the Hosting Handbook! Check it out now!
Grab everything you need for your Airbnb Property right here in our Amazon Store!
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