first year of STR - best strategy for next year?

[Amy Greenwood]

We just completed one year of business in our first STR. We are in NE Ohio, a few minutes from Lake Erie. Surprisingly, we averaged 57% occupancy for the year. It's a 3 bedroom/2 bath rental, so it does great for families in the summer. In the winter (aka the other 9 months of the year!), we see more couples doing a getaway or one person on a work trip. So, we created a separate listing for a one-bedroom rental, locking the extra 2 bedrooms (sharing calendars, but no one shares the actual house.) That decision really saved us and kept us relatively busy all year.

After Labor Day, it will go back down to mostly one-bedroom bookings. If we wanted to try a different strategy for next winter, like mid-term rental, what is the best way to take advantage of all 3 rooms? I have had requests from singles for mid-term, but they don't want to pay more than $2,000/month for one room. (Our lowest months average over $2,000.)