Boosting Vacation Rental Bookings with Seasonal Strategies

When you rent out vacation properties, there’s nothing more disheartening than seeing a string of blank dates staring back at you. And sure, there are ebbs and flows over the year and seasonal demand can and does fluctuate. But there’s no reason why you need to fall victim to season booms making way for tumbleweed in your bookings.

But it’s not that the rental market for vacation properties has dwindled out, it’s the way you’re approaching marketing and bookings for those times when your property is standing empty and not as appealing as it once was.

This post is going to dive into some effective seasonal strategies you can implement to shift those bookings and fill up your calendar anytime of the year.

Summer Isn’t Winter

That family home, popular in the summer, can be just as appealing in the winter with the right adjustments. Swap pools for fireplaces, loungers for comfy armchairs, air con for fires. Your property can adapt to different seasons, making it attractive year-round.

Smark hosts re-stage and photograph twice a year to make tiger properties more appealing for different types of travellers in different seasons to help them maximise bookings and avoid empty calendars.

Dynamic Pricing

One of the fastest ways to lose out on bookings is to set a flat price and neglect to adjust it. Travellers are savvy enough to know when they’re booking peak and off peak season and they expect pricing to reflect this. Dynamic pricing tools can help but they only work on the data fed to them while smart owners manually adjust their pricing to offer more mid week deals and bundles at slower times in the year. But if you’re working with an airbnb management company they will have pricing down to an art and can implement effective pricing strategies to maximise bookings with ease.

Know Local Events

It pays to understand what is going on in the local area, even if you don’t reside there yourself. Because it is not always about the weather and the season, but what is going on in the area. A film festival in February can increase bookings and allow you to increase pricing around the event. An end-of-summer fair or festival can help you get those late-season bookings, and a lakeside cabin can mean you experience a quieter April before roaring trade starts when fishing season commences once more. Knowing this can allow you to adjust what you do and who you market to with greater success. 

Use Off-Season to Your Advantage

Just because your calendar is empty doesn’t mean you are resigned to losing out on bookings; it just means you need to think outside the box. Your slower months are the perfect time to branch out to a different audience. Have a summer beachfront property that is empty in the winter? Why not advertise to dog owners who can take their pet to the beach with them, with fewer people around for a more relaxing break? Consider digital nomads, locals wanting a staycation, or booking for huge family events, or even position your rental as a work-friendly retreat for corporate bookings. These can help you keep things ticking along nicely until your usual guests start booking again for the next year.