STR - Revenue & Occupancy Help

[Chris Bluem]

Hi,

I am a few days away from furnishing and finishing 2 of our short term rentals, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

I would like to get a third opinion on revenue and occupancy from someone experienced. I don't mind paying a fee for some help, its worth the second set of eyes to me.

I have plugged into AirDNA site (free quick calc), I had a local STR PM take a look, I did enemy method via AirBNB. But, I still get cautious, especially around occupancy because some of my neighbor properties dont look like like they are fully booked.

I will probably move forward with STR vs just selling because I want to give it a try and own long term, but would appreciate some experienced help.

Please respond or PM if interested, thanks!

[Paul Cox]

@Chris Bluem

One of the best pieces of advice I received after @Luke Carl and his enemy method of setting your prices was to set those prices high or at least equal to your competition regardless of the number of reviews you currently have. This works better the farther out you price. If you start to get closer to your dates and haven't booked yet, you can always lower your prices or offer a discount for booking. Luke told me once here in the forums, that most AirBnBs book within 30 days of the projected stay, so don't worry if you don't see any bookings 2-3 months out. Also, one of the other things I've adopted is to keep my prices at the market rate. Those who lower their prices just to get heads in beds will book, but then those places will be filled and all that will be left are places like yours with your rates in tact and if its anything like the smokies, you will book too with more money in the pocket. Like @Paul Sandhu said, don't overthink and just get in the game and adjust as you need to. We've been doing this for just about a year now and love the STR arena. Best of luck and stay well

Paul