I had this issue in Chicago once. In the furnished rental space, we charge a premium because our units are furnished. The area I was in was a heavy medical and college district. And I noticed that many of the unfurnished units were offered with a month to month lease... the kids would get cheap furniture that they didn't care about tearing up and giving away when they were done. For them it was no big deal to furnish an unfurnished place. In areas like that, you make your money on nightly. Price wise, I was competing with the unfurnished rental market. I ended up giving up that place. I didn't want the hassle of nightly rental. It feel outside of my scope of my business model.
A few suggestions:
- List on CHBO corporatehousingbyowner.com
- target a niche market like students, travel nurses, flight crews (if you're anywhere near an airport), and construction teams
- if you have 2 - 3 bedrooms, explore renting monthly by room - roomies.com and bungalow.com; you'd be surprised at how many people are on a budget and will roommate with strangers. It's definitely a "thing" and I've made some good money this way
These suggestions should get you where you need to be.