Updated: October 30, 2024
The sun has set on summer, but not on your vacation rental property. It can be the perfect time to make changes and reshape your business. Sure, the beaches are colder, and kids are back in school, but off-season vacation rental offers a unique opportunity to delight your guests, fill those empty calendars, and make the most of their vacation rental investments.
From cozy winter getaways to springtime rejuvenation retreats, the possibilities for your off-season vacation rental are endless.
In this article, we’ll explore 9 expert tips to help you navigate the off-season and ensure a steady flow of guests.
What To Do With Vacation Rentals During Off-Season?
1. Reach Out To Your Existing Guests
As a property owner, retaining existing customers and leads who have previously enquired about your property is a valuable source of revenue. These warm prospects have higher chances of conversion, making it crucial to maintain contact with them.
You can offer “returning customer discounts” to previous guests during low-season periods and incentivize referrals. Personalized targeted ads can also help attract prospects who are yet to book. Implement these strategies to generate leads effectively and maintain a loyal customer base for your property.
2. Offer Rewards for Regular Guests
You would want to maintain steady bookings for your off-season vacation rental. An effective strategy is to reward repeat customers with a loyalty program. Your loyal patrons can be offered exclusive incentives on your vacation rental packages. With these packages, you can encourage your guests to return during the off-season and build long-term relationships with your guests.
- Create a loyalty program: You can offer off-season vacation rental discounts, early access to new features, and collaboration with local activities to provide unique Airbnb experiences.
- Communicate with past guests: Use automated emails to continuously engage with your guests and present them with exclusive deals.
- Monitor and adjust: Continuously monitor the effectiveness of your loyalty program and adjust it as needed to ensure that it remains attractive to your guests.
3. Update Your Listing
Update your listing and follow hosting tips to attract guests during low season on vacation rental websites like Vrbo, Airbnb, and Booking.com. Keep the availability calendar up-to-date, use a cover photo that showcases off-season vacation rental appeal, and feature special offers and local activities in the listing. Set reasonable low-season and shoulder rates and highlight unique selling points and amenities with bullet points.
Use a descriptive title that mentions key features like location, amenities, and views. Optimize your listing by adding at least 23-28 pictures taken with a wide-angle lens and arranging them in a walkthrough fashion.
Establish a brand presence on Airbnb, Vrbo, and other OTAs by adding a logo watermark to photos and mentioning reviews in captions. Avoid giving directions and focus on neighborhood descriptions by mentioning nearby places and landmarks.
4. Custom Packages
Off-season vacation rental travelers often seek unique experiences that differ from the norm. To cater to their desires, consider offering interactive packages that allow customers to customize their experiences. Interactive packages enable travelers to choose activities, add-ons, or specific dates, granting them control over their itinerary. This personalization can make their off-peak travel experience more appealing and memorable. You can also consider having an off-season Airbnb pricing strategy with no minimum nights to gain more bookings.
- Create Airbnb Add-on Services: During your off-season, you can create a rent and shop strategy where guests can buy the products you use in your property.
- Custom Stay Lengths: If a person books on Thursday, you can add Monday to their stay for free. If they come in at 8.00 AM for a 12.00 PM check-in, you can let them check in for free or a discount.
- Custom Bookings: If they’re a big party, offer them a bigger room at a reduced cost. Add any other incentives, such as complimentary breakfast, cleaning, or transportation.
5. Create Special Policies for Low-Season
During the low season, guests may prioritize flexibility and personalized offers. Crafting policies and offers that appeal to unique needs and maximize revenue is wise.
Offering free cancellations until closer to arrival is a simple way to attract these travelers. You can also set up multiple vacation rental cancellation policies for the same listing, allowing guests to pay more or less depending on their needs. As the travel date approaches, people will likely value price over flexibility. To reduce the risk of cancellations for your off-season vacation rental, take a personal approach by sending a “thank you” email expressing your appreciation.
Try to be as flexible as possible when considering your off-season vacation rental extra-person policies, pet policies, and more. You don’t need to accept all bookings that come your way just because the market needs to do better. You must consider your bottom line and analyze risks before accepting or turning down a request.
6. Showcase Reviews and Experiences of Past Guests
During the off-peak season, when there are very few bookings, it is important to showcase that your property is the best. You can do this by showcasing what your previous guests experienced in your property. These real-life accounts will inspire trust and confidence in potential guests, making them more likely to book with you.
Online credibility is essential to convert potential customers into paying guests. You can utilize social proof elements like trust badges, certifications, awards, and more on your website and social platforms. These reassure potential guests that they are making the right choice by booking a stay with you. You can also highlight credentials to significantly boost trust and confidence during the low-season.
7. Attract International Travelers with Localized Content
International travelers are always looking for cheaper and budget-friendly off-season vacation rental options. You can market your property during the off-seasons to those travelers and also promote the added benefit of local immersion. Create and advertise content that caters to different language preferences and regional interests. During the off-season, international travelers might be able to cost-effectively explore various local attractions and behave more like locals than tourists.
The following should be advertised to attract international travelers:
- Multilingual staff
- Special discounts
- Budget-friendly travel options
- Budget-friendly tour options
8. Run Specific Social Media Campaigns
Social media is a great tool for increasing your chances of getting a booking during the off-season. You can run advertising campaigns on platforms like Instagram and TikTok. Highlight the unique benefits of traveling to your off-season vacation rental destination, such as quieter and peaceful attractions, lower prices, special experiences, and more! You can engage with the audience and answer any queries they may have.
You can also use social media to create buzz around your property and attract guests year-round. Marketing your off-season is crucial for generating bookings and revenue. Consistent marketing helps maintain a robust online presence, making your property top of mind for potential guests. Share your listing on relevant social media platforms & communities. Run social media ads, collaborate with vacation rental influencers, and use automated emails to contact previous guests. Offer exclusive discounts and promotions to incentivize repeat business. By effectively marketing your property, you increase your chances of attracting travelers during slower periods and maintaining bookings throughout the year.
9. Alter Your Dynamic Pricing Strategy
To increase revenue, be flexible with check-in/check-out times and minimum stay lengths, and offer discounts for mid-to-long-term bookings. Study competitor pricing and use tools like PriceLabs to set dynamic rates based on occupancy, demand, and seasonality. Avoid panic pricing – discount strategically based on market conditions and your property’s performance.
Use PriceLabs features to optimize your pricing:
- Monitor your listing health metrics to make informed pricing adjustments
- Analyze your local market using the PriceLabs Market Dashboard to price competitively
- Leverage stay restrictions and customizations to maximize revenue
- Update your base and minimum prices regularly
- Track key performance metrics like RevPAR, occupancy, and ADR consistently
While the market outlook is uncertain, being proactive with your pricing strategy can help you navigate demand changes effectively.
Final Thoughts
Increase revenue for your vacation rental by offering flexible check-in/check-out times, minimum length of stays, and mid/long-term booking discounts. Set prices based on competitor and hotel rates, past guest behaviour, and market demand without panic pricing.
Use PriceLabs Dynamic Pricing to stay ahead of the competition with data-driven pricing solutions that automatically adjust prices based on occupancy, demand, and seasonality.
About PriceLabs
PriceLabs is a revenue management solution for the short-term rental and hospitality industry. It was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Chicago, IL. Our platform helps individual hosts and hospitality professionals optimize pricing and revenue management. It does so by adapting to changing market trends and occupancy levels.
With dynamic pricing, automation rules, and customizations, we manage pricing and minimum-stay restrictions for any portfolio size, automatically uploading prices to preferred channels. Every day, we price over 350,000+ listings globally across 125+ countries, offering world-class tools like the Base Price Help and Minimum Stay Recommendation Engine. Choose PriceLabs to increase revenue and streamline pricing and revenue management. Sign up for a free trial at pricelabs.co today.
