Short term rental pricing strategy

[mandimoo]

Hello again,

Our short term rental has been advertised on Stayz for a week now and I have so far had lots of enquiries and 30 nights worth of reservations... My problem is that aside from one 17 night stay (which is covering the mortgage for that month ), the rest are 2/3 night weekends only.
The problem with weekend bookings is:
* Once the weekend is taken, I am pretty much guaranteed that the weeknights will not be booked! This means that I will get $300 for the weekend (woopty friggin doo) and $0 for all the vacant weekdays. This place is costing me $600-700 per week to keep
* The weekend is the only time that my own family could use the place and we had planned to stay there when nobody else was so now its like we are doing the holiday rental thing to get the perks but not getting the perks OR the cash haha
* I have to friggin clean it

I am very new to this so am trying to figure out my strategy. The 17 night booking I have had is very good, however obviously I cannot rely on these happening often and have no idea how often I could expect them... I can change things up by increasing the minimum nights stay to 3 nights but I am really worried that it might result in just no bookings at all

Was also thinking that maybe for next winter I will change the minimum stay to a week or something and just charge a maybe 600 (regular rental income there is 400, but then of course extra for the furnishing and the utilities) a week to try and have the place occupied during non-peak periods (it is a beach location)

What pricing strategies do you use with your furnished rentals when they are in "getaway" locations? I was really surprised with how quickly I had reservations after listing it on Stayz

Thanks for input!

 

[wobbycarly]

*snip*
What pricing strategies do you use with your furnished rentals when they are in "getaway" locations? I was really surprised with how quickly I had reservations after listing it on Stayz

Thanks for input!

Hi mandi,
I don't have any short term rentals, so not speaking from experience, but perhaps you have it priced too cheaply, given you got reservations very quickly. Assuming the market can bear it, you may need to price the weekends closer to your weekly costs. Then a longer reservation is a bonus. No doubt you have compared with similar properties in the area? How does your compare with amenity and pricing?

Good luck with it.

 

[skater]

I'd agree with Wobby. Sounds like it's much too cheap to have that much interest after just one week.

Maybe make the minimum stay one week, and check out what else is around in the holiday market. You should really be quite a bit more expensive than a standard rental in the area.

 

[matto_]

This is presumably all part of short term rentals. Unfortunately lots of people would be wanting to use at same time as yourself. Also depending on property/location, I would assume most people would be keen for weekends/ as opposed to weeks. Maybe not in summer though...

 

[mandimoo]

Yes compared with other properties in the area it is rather cheap (in winter at least) given that it has features that others don't - extensive ocean views, 200m to beach, access to swimming pool and tennis, secure parking, furnished and coordinated beautifully by myself hehe.
My pricing strategy at first was not to be the cheapest but to be the 'best value' but I am realising now that my strategy may need tweaking in order to actually pay the interest and strata fees! Im worried about the possibility of dropping from weekend bookings to no bookings at all.
I guess I am also worried that if I decrease the weekly rate to make it more attractive the longer reservations that I get will no longer be making such a killing. I suppose it has to be a trade off where I can hopefully expect enough extra bookings from the pricing change to counteract losing the pricey ones.