New Mexico hit a new tourism peak with over 40 million visitors in 2022.
Real estate investors all over Santa Fe can rejoice at tourism numbers like these. They present an undeniable opportunity to turn your property into a short-term rental, especially during the peak season - June, July, and August.
As promising as your vacation home profitability will be, you still need to compete with hundreds of other vacation rentals. To maximize rental income, you need to figure out a peak season pricing strategy. Keep reading and we'll give you the tips and tricks you need to nail vacation rental pricing.
Discounts for Early Bookings
You can urge people to book early during the peak season by offering deals for early booking. This strategy is most effective when you've spent some time understanding the ebbs and flows of the short-term rental market. Once you know how it fluctuates, you can maximize booking rates.
The point of securing early bookings is to decrease vacancy rates. Having steady bookings is the best way to increase the ROI on your rental property. This is a strategy you can employ all the time, but it's one of the most effective holiday rental strategies.
Last-Minute Booking Deals
On the other end of the spectrum is the last-minute booking. Every guest knows that waiting until the last minute to book their accommodation isn't the best way to secure great prices.
That said, you can offer competitive rates to secure those last-minute bookings for otherwise vacant nights. Any time you've got a vacant night/weekend during the peak season, you can drop your prices in the days leading up to the dates to try and secure an impromptu vacation renter.
Sliding-Scale Pricing
Sliding-scale pricing is crucial to the success of any vacation rental. You should always keep an eye on what your competitors are doing with their nightly rates, then adjust yours accordingly. By keeping your rates more enticing, you can secure more guests and keep vacancies down.
During busy seasons, bring your rates up to match your competition, and then when the busy season ends, bring them back down - this is the basic premise of sliding-scale pricing. It's an extremely effective method when you're starting as a vacation rental owner.
Minimum Stays for Holidays
Holidays are the best times for vacation rental bookings. It's a chance to keep your property booked up for a good chunk of time, which will bring in plenty of income. What you don't want is guests who stay for a single night, leaving you with vacancies that are hard to fill.
With so many people traveling to Santa Fe during big holiday weekends, it shouldn't be difficult to secure the ideal booking. Setting minimum stay requirements is the perfect holiday rental strategy to employ.
Make Peak Season Pricing Your Bread and Butter
These peak season pricing strategies will help you bring more money in during the busy times. As you secure more and more bookings, your life as a vacation rental owner will become busier. To deal with the extra work, you may want to hire property management.
PMI Santa Fe is the top vacation rental management service in northern New Mexico. Contact us today to find out what we can do to help you maximize your vacation rental in 2024.
