A Guide to Preparing Your STR for the High Season
Prepare Your Vacation Rental for the Busy Months Ahead
Winter has us deep in her claws, leading to much rejoicing from many short-term rental owners–the high season has arrived! No matter where your vacation rental property is located, there is almost always one season of the year that’s much busier than the rest. For mountain towns and ski resorts, winter is the high time, while for beach towns the summer is where the majority of the revenue comes from.
However, many owners overlook the importance of preparing their rentals for the busy season and dive right in, leading to problems down the line. That’s why today, we’ll be jumping into some tips for getting your rental ready for the guest-filled months ahead.
Prepare Your Property for Heavy Traffic with a Deep Clean and Routine Inspection
Before the high season begins, it’s important to shore up your property and ensure it can manage heavy traffic without problems popping up that could heavily affect your bottom line. The first step to this is scheduling a deep clean. Ideally, your property should be deep cleaned between one and four times a year, but most property owners focus on the time just before and just after the busy season has ended when it comes to these tasks. These types of cleanings will lift dirt and grime that is often ignored, such as that on windowsills or above doorways, leaving your property looking spotless for the barrage of guests to come.
Another important thing to schedule before the busy season begins is a routine maintenance inspection. The high season will bring with it heavy traffic, which could cause unexpected wear and tear on your property and lead to things breaking down. Before the season gets into its full swing, send someone by to ensure that the property is in good condition and will hold up with the demands of so many extra guests without any unexpected issues arising.
Finally, if you’re located in a mountain town that’s busy during the wintertime, ensure that you complete your winterization before the high season begins.
Look at Last Year’s Performance and See Where It Can Be Improved
Once the busy season has begun, it can be tough to sit down and crunch numbers with so many tasks on your plate, so before things get into their full swing, take some time to examine last year’s performance. This means taking stock of what your ADR (average daily rate), average length of stay, and overhead costs were during the last heavy season. Once you do this, you’ll have last year’s metrics to compare this year’s numbers to, so you can see if you’ve improved or fallen short.
Taking stock of last year’s performance also has another important benefit: allowing you to see where you can save or where you should spend more in your business budget. Did you spend too much on marketing last year that could’ve been better-allocated to other costs that more heavily affected your bottom line? These are the questions that you want to ask yourself to better serve your profits in the future.
Take Guest Feedback Seriously and Invite Previous Guests to Return
Before high season gets into its full swing, take some time to dive head first into guest feedback and reviews.
There are many benefits to undertaking this task–first, it will allow you to take stock of what needs to be improved upon for this year, and second, it’s a great way to identify which guests would be receptive to returning to your vacation rental for another year in a row.
Finally, taking a look at your guest feedback can be a good way to understand what worked and what didn’t work for the previous year–were there problems that could’ve been avoided with some preparation? If so, now’s the time to make that preparation to ensure nothing goes wrong that can be prevented.
Bring Your Listings Up to Date and Give Your Direct Booking Site a Tune Up
Finally, the last thing you should put on your to-do list before high season begins is to bring all of your listings up to date and give your direct booking site a once-over to ensure it’s good to go.
First, there are a few questions you need to ask yourself about your listing. Have you added new amenities or features to your vacation rental since last year? Do you need to take your listing photos again because the furniture or layout of the home has changed? Have there been new ordinances or regulations that need to be acknowledged? Include all of these when you update your listing description or listing photos to put a new shine on it for the busy season ahead.
Next, take a look at your direct booking site. Does the code need to be updated or are there any glitches that need to be addressed? If you need to, hire a web developer to help you fix any bugs or problems in your code. Be sure to update your listing description and photos on your direct booking site as well.
Become a Vacation Rental Success Story with LocalVR
Running a short-term rental business is no easy task, but the high season should be a time to enjoy the successes that are coming your way. If you’re not sure you have the time or the energy to invest in taking all of these steps yourself, think about hiring a full-service property management company like LocalVR. Not only will you not have to lift a finger to ensure that your rental is in perfect condition for the busy season, but you’ll also have a team of vacation rental experts at your disposal as well. Click here to learn more about LocalVR.