Why January is the Time To Start Thinking About Your Summer Operations

Happy New Year, hosts!

As we turn the calendar into another year, and with the holidays now firmly in the rear-view mirror, January is the time when you should start thinking about your summer operations. I know – at first glance, you might think that it’s early – after all, for some of us, it is very cold and you’re just trying to make sure your pipes don’t freeze!

However, right now is the really the time when you should start to look forward & strategize about your busy summer season. 

As a matter of fact, to ensure your success, you should always be looking at least six months ahead of time.

Most properties see a post-holiday slowdown, and traditionally, January is usually a quiet month for most North American properties. You may have dealt with some tough holiday guests (the holidays are always demanding for vacation rentals), but now you can take time to refocus and regroup. Don’t take your foot off the gas! Your competition hasn’t taken a break, and you shouldn’t either.

What to Focus On

It’s a new year, and it’s time for a new focus. 

Rates and Availability

The first thing you should be looking at is your pricing model for the upcoming season. For most destinations, the summer season is when we make most of our revenue (exceptions being warm weather destinations like Florida, the Caribbean, etc, where winter is the busy season). 

Have you input your rates yet for the summer? Now that the Christmas season has finished, we are now entering the traditional booking window for summer as people plan out their next holiday. If you have not opened your summer availability yet, you should be pro-active and do this right now! I guarantee people are starting to look. 

I would suggest having your pricing input from now through at least the end of September. I actually typically recommend a 52-week cycle of rate inputs, but if you’re not there yet, at least get your summer rates input.

If you have already done this step and have some reservations, great! If not, that’s okay. 

If you’re looking at your summer calendar and you’re already seeing pick-up, that doesn’t mean that your work is done! It means you might be under-priced. If you already have occupancy above 30% for a summer month, you are leaving money on the table if you’re not increasing your rate. It’s clear that there is demand for your unit, so you should be revising your price for the dates you still have available. 

Every property needs a good base of bookings. It shows proof that you’re in demand. But by not valuing your property for what people are willing to pay, you are doing yourself and your property a disservice. You may be pleasantly surprised by what you can command for a rate from your guests. As a property manager, I know owners are usually surprised when I tell them the base rates that I put their rates at – but by the end of the month, they are usually very pleased when the deposits are in their bank account!

Promotions & Length Of Stay Discounts

Pricing yourself at the point that the market dictates also gives you better flexibility when it comes to promotions and length of stay discounts. These are ways to help generate more interest in your property.

I like long stays. It makes sense to entice people to book when they are staying for more than 2 nights. Your overhead costs are typically less – not having to pay to get the unit cleaned, less on cleaning supplies, less laundry – it’s a win for owners/property managers and you should seek out guests who want to stay for longer periods of time. However, go too low and you are falling into the under-valuing issue again. Typically, I would never offer more than a maximum 25-30% length of stay/ promotion discount during the high season. Even for an extended stay guest (more than 2 weeks).

Create A Gameplan For Improvements

With the slower season starting for most of us, right now is a great time to take a more detailed look at the state of your short-term rental. 

How is your furniture & general upkeep looking? Dated? Scratched walls? Time for a deep clean?  Be picky and take some time to really look at how things are looking. Look at the feedback you’ve gotten. What are people saying? 

Find a time where your unit probably won’t be booked, block it off for 2 or 3 days (that’s all you really need to refresh things), and get your unit back up to the five-star standard that you & your guests expect. It can be so easy to overlook this piece, especially if you’re making decent money, but is crucial to the health and reputation of your unit. 

I don’t know who needs to hear this out there, but it takes money to make money. If you are not evolving, improving your product, and finding ways to differentiate your product from your competition, there will be a time where you start to fall behind – and the minute you start falling behind is when your competition starts to win.

Review Your Operations

The start of the year is a great time to debrief about last year’s operations. Where did you succeed? Where did you lose out? EVERYONE – from the smallest shared-room Airbnb to the most luxurious private getaway has an opportunity where they can improve and refine. Take a deep look inside and see where those opportunities are, and take it to the next level.

It’s also a good time to review things with your suppliers. We’ve all had to deal with inflation over the past year – and have spent more than we originally expected on a slew of things. But you should try to anticipate what might be happening in the next few months. 

For example, it doesn’t hurt to reach out to your cleaning company (if you contract it out) to see where their heads are at in terms of their fees. The last thing you want is to be surprised that their fees are increasing just before summer. Rather, you want to see this change before it happens by opening dialogue with them, so you can update your cleaning fee/rates before you get bookings. You’ll have a better idea of the overhead you’ll be facing and can pass on the additional costs to your guests instead of it affecting your bottom line.

I hope today’s blog post helped you gain some focus for the next few months of hosting! Hope you had a lovely holiday season, and, as always, happy hosting!