Is Your Short-term Rental Underperforming? Do this first.

What to do if your short-term rental isn't performing as expected.

Is your short-term rental not performing as expected? I've seen so many folks talking about how "last year I was 70% occupancy, now I'm 10%", or talking about being "crickets. A few truth bombs to start, and a concrete plan to figure out what to do.

Truth bomb 1 -

Last years performance is not the best indicator of what to expect this year. It is not the only metric for measuring performance - a more important measure is what's happening in your market and comp set now. Know your data.

Truth bomb 2 -

Your expenses have nothing to do with how your property is priced. Pricing is a factor of supply and demand. If people have more options, they'll select based on price. If your revenue isn't covering your expenses, sometimes hard decisions will need to be made.

Truth bomb 3 -

If supply outpaces demand, the per unit revenue will drop. Supply will be specific to your comp set, not necessarily market overall. Ie, if you are the absolute right house in the absolute perfect location, your market ISN'T the entire geographic area.

I think maybe you knew this, but not everyone seems to so I thought I'd share. What can you do about it if occupancy and/or revenue IS down? Well, it depends on what the issue is, because there are different solutions depending on the issue.

➡️Maybe its technical - your listing isn't getting seen, so leaning into what it takes to get seen is key.

➡️Maybe its marketing - your place is getting seen but not booked because its not presenting well, doesn't speak to your target audience, or isn't priced competitively.

➡️Or maybe there is nothing wrong, its performing precisely as can be expected for your market based on current market conditions, in which case further diversifying through amenities or driving demand through advertising could help.

If you need some help working through to decide what the root cause is or some ideas for how to elevate your listing, then check out my Unfair Share of Bookings Series, and take a deeper dive into understanding your data, market data, and some potential solutions to help you elevate your properties performance - see the links below.

Get Your Unfair Share of Bookings - Week 1

Understanding Price Drivers in Your Market

Conduct a Listing Audit - Week 3

Revenue Management Strategies - Week 4

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Hey Boss! I'm Kate, owner/founder of The CEO Host. If you are interested in taking a leap into short-term rentals - or have some questions about your existing business, my goal - passion, and career, is to help YOU succeed. I've coached hundreds of folks getting started or looking to optimize, analyzed more deals (and duds) than I could count, completed thousands of hours of education and training, attended conferences... So don't be shy. A good CEO knows to bring in expert help - and that's what I'm here for! Lets HOP ON A CALL and chat!