August 28th, 2019

Here are five ways to make most of a quiet off-season:

Perform Repairs and Renovations

With no guests around, this is the perfect time to perform maintenance activities, schedule repairs, and make those improvements you’ve always wanted. Among other things, we recommend that you take this time to inspect and service the HVAC system, replace or update faulty lights, touch up paint where necessary, replace the batteries in your smoke detectors, have the plumbing inspected and serviced, trim trees and bushes outside the rental, and perform deep cleaning inside and out.

Update Your Listing

Your listing is very important in winning over customers. However, the busy season often leaves owners and managers with little time to reassess their listings. Winter is a great time to check around, see what’s outdated, and fix any issues that might negatively impact your image out there. Update your photos as necessary. Experts recommend adding multiple quality pictures highlighting your main strengths and any important changes you’ve made to the rental. Also update your advertising headlines and descriptions. These changes will breathe new life into your marketing campaign.

Reply to Comments and Reviews

Every vacation home needs a presence on major review websites such as TripAdvisor and the likes of Yelp. There are many reasons for this including the fact that millions of travelers check these places before making a decision. A lack of presence on these platforms, therefore, can hurt your business. So, during this upcoming off-season, do two things. If you don’t have a presence on TripAdvisor and the likes, use this time to create your profile on these platforms. Alternatively, if you already use the platforms, use this time to check your reviews and reply to them.

Measure Your Rental Success

The off-season is also a great time for vacation rental owners and managers to sit down and analyze the performance of their investment. Some of the issues you need to prioritize during the analysis include; reservations by channel, cost per inquiry (how much do you spend on advertisements to get a single inquiry), occupancy rate, average daily/nightly rate (on average, how much do you make per night round the year?), and revenue per room. Go ahead and review the performance of your website too.

Start Preparing for the Next Peak Season

You might have done well during the last high season, but with vacation rentals, you can always do better next time. It takes lots of preparation though. Begin by ensuring that the rental is spotless clean then take inventory and restock your rental supplies. Some of the areas you want to focus on when restocking include the kitchen, bedroom and bathroom. In the bedroom, ensure that you have extras for visitor convenience. Whether it’s pillows, blankets, and sheets, having extras is always good.

This, of course, isn’t the complete list. But, the tips listed here should be a great starting point for a productive vacation rental off-season. Contact us to learn more.

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