All Forum Posts by: Mariah Myers

Quote from @Mariah Myers:

Good morning, everyone. :-)

I invested in my first short term rental in Destin last august. While I know that I closed on the purchase just before the down season, I am wondering when bookings start to pick up for the high season. I would appreciate hearing about your experience(s).      

Many thanks!

-Mariah

Congrats on your first STR. My husband and I tested a lot of different sites when we owned our rental company. Sold it last year after almost 10 years… Floridarentals.com had the best conversion outside of VRBO.COM. VRBO is still the biggest booking engine here.  I agree with others about your price. No bookings, means you’re too high.  Booking quickly could mean you’re too low. Once a week or 2 books at a lower rate, increase some of the other weeks… when those book, raise other weeks. If you keep your prices too high for too long, you end up chasing the market down and discounting too much. To low of a price will always bring bad renters, as do deep discounts last minute. 

Wishing you the best. Once you go thru a season you will get the hang of it. Happy to answer any questions!

@Mariah Myers something else I thought of…you can offer 3 to 4 night stays and increase the nightly rate. It is hard to find rentals in our area that offer this. People will pay a higher nightly rate. 

@Mariah Myers start marketing with ECBYO. Form relationships with affiliate marketers paying them 6-7% per reservation.

Quote from @Mariah Myers:

Good morning, everyone. :-)

I invested in my first short term rental in Destin last august. While I know that I closed on the purchase just before the down season, I am wondering when bookings start to pick up for the high season. I would appreciate hearing about your experience(s).      

Many thanks!

-Mariah

High season is March 1- Labor Day, but Sept and Oct are still beautiful months to be at the beach (and no kids!).  Most guests books less than 30 days out, in my experience.  But Jan, Feb, and even March get Snowbird traffic, so they should already have booked with you by now.  Nov and Dec are dead months.  If you get bookings these months, be grateful.  Also, you didn't say how many bedrooms you have, but 1- and 2- bedroom properties will be rented by Snowbirds.  They don't rent the larger places.

@Mariah Myersare you doing anything to market your property to vacationers directly? Are you doing anything to make your pictures and amenities stand out when viewers see and read about your property?

These are things to consider when managing your STVR property.

@Mariah Myersare you doing anything to market your property to vacationers directly? Are you doing anything to make your pictures and amenities stand out when viewers see and read about your property?

These are things to consider when managing your STVR property.

Hey @Mariah Myers, gratz on the place.

So regarding snowbirds, you will have to come up with a lower rate for that time. No one wants to pay market rate for a STR for a 2 month stay.

You are currently on AirBNB and VRBO right?

Have you looked at both of the those booking sites to see how your competition is doing? What are their nightly rates, occupancy and amenities? Do you match up well?

I am not in that area. We are up in the northwest and our place is in Idaho on Lake Coeur d'Alene. We are booking now and things are picking up for April-Oct season. I feel that you will start to get more bookings quicker now that the new year is here.

This is a really useful conversation, thank you everyone! I would love to see your listings if you're willing to share :) 

My husband and I have a few STRs along 30A and are always looking for ways to improve our listings or align with our BP Competitors in the area!

Quote from @Mariah Myers:

Good morning, everyone. :-)

I invested in my first short term rental in Destin last august. While I know that I closed on the purchase just before the down season, I am wondering when bookings start to pick up for the high season. I would appreciate hearing about your experience(s).      

Many thanks!

-Mariah

Congrats! Typically people start booking for the high season between Jan and march. Are you self managing? You could definitely use some local property management companies as a resource to know where you should have your rates based on the time in the season. Many companies will provide rental projections at no charge some of which display what they suggest charging based on month. I would also look through airbnb/vrbo etc. at rentals similar to yours here and see what their rates are and what their occupancy is by looking at their availability calendar. Sounds like you are in a great location. I have faith you will book up! 

Best! 

Quote from @Mariah Myers:

Quote from @Andrew Steffens:

Congrats! I hope you were still getting some bookings over slow season and the holidays.  Are you self managing? We are about 50% booked for mid feb to end of Apr already at peak prices.  We will achieve 90% I am certain as we get closer.  You should be seeing similar numbers, if not I would check your prices.  People who are sold out already were too cheap and those with no bookings are too expensive.

 Truly awesome feedback, @Andrew Steffens! It can be a tough pill to swallow when I was using IGMS and Pricelab to help guide my rates. I think they have been WAY TOO HIGH. I have not been getting bookings for the Spring or Summer. I just stopped both subscriptions and lowered my prices. How do you choose your rates?  Much gratitude for your time. 

 My pleasure! I use AirDNA when starting a new property (If I do not have sufficient submarket experience, some neighborhoods here I know like the back of my hand) to figure out the ADR.  I then adjust it if the house is superior or inferior to the majority of houses in the given market.  I then further adjust up or down depending on time of year.  Currently I am tending to go lower on prices due to the economy etc.  I would rather leave 10% on the table than get 100% of $0.