Monetizing short term rentals

[Luka Milicevic]

Hey BP,

I recently took over management of my short term rental. I'm thinking of ways to monetize the rental. 

My goal is to increase revenue by 10% through monetizing strategies such as late check out and things like that.

Can anyone please help me out on ideas on how you would monetize a vacation rental. 

I'm in Nashville, so no where near the coast-if that helps

Thank you in advance for any suggestions!

[John Underwood]

@Luka Milicevic

My thoughts would be to keep property as full as possible for as high a rent as possible to stay full.

Ways to do this is by researching your competition and use the free analytic tools that HA/VRBO offers.

Look at demand in the graphs and also notice what average rents are for your competition and adjust as necessary. No that I have a bunch of 5 star reviews I price my high house slightly higher than my competition because I can get it especially  during the peak season and during peak events. Lower your prices slightly below the competition when it is slow. Set high minimum days for stays during peak season and peak events and 2 day minimum stay during off season.

Check amenities with your competition and make sure you offer comparable or better ammenities.

Try and have same day check in and check out instead to maximize revenue instead of worrying about charging more for late or early arrivals.

Have a Pet friendly house and charge pet fees. Many people travel with fido and if you don't allow fido you are reducing the pool of people that will look at and book your property. You can use some of the extra revenue to steam clean carpets in the off season.

In addition to VRBO/HA and AIrbnb I advertise on Craigslist (Facebook Market is also hot) I drive them to my HA listing but also take direct listings with a rental agreement and photo ID.

During the peak season my cleaning lady is extremely busy cleaning our Lake house as soon as people checkout so that it is ready that afternoon for another arrival.

Know your market and make sure you are taking advantage of events that you might not have of though about if you hadn't done your research.

Discounts in the off season also increase your days rented and reviews which puts you higher in the search position for when you are getting top dollar.