STR Bookings Slow & Daily Rates Low?

[Dustin Sanders]

Is anyone else experiencing slow bookings? I am in 3 different vacation heavy markets and my April & May calendars are at about 25% occupancy.

[Quinn Olivarez]

This has been an awesome discussion, so happy to see all the different insights from around the country. Our Galveston TX str has had a slower than expected launch. 5 reservations since launch, and 3-4 other inquiries we couldn’t fulfill for one reason or another (usually too many guests and / or prom parties; don’t want to be too bad of a neighbor and let things get out of hand). I suspect high gas prices has a lot to do with the glacial pace of RSVPs. Airlines don’t hike prices up immediately when crude prices rise, and I think this disconnect is making flying appealing to many. I personally think it’s a great time to travel by air. As folks become used to the higher prices at the pump, demand should follow. We designed our property with differentiation and “grammability” in mind, purchased a well maintained home and added a lot of character. Our clients love the property, nothing but 5* reviews, but they’re coming in slowly. In order to adapt to what current demand is like, we have stepped down our nightly requirement to 1 night until mid may. We price more aggressively because of how unique our listing is from the competition. I’m hoping things pick up by Memorial Day. If they don’t, I will reconsider my pricing.

[Luke J Nelsen]

Quote from @Conner Olsen:

Seen low demand on my rental in Sevierville, TN. I've been dropping prices but very few bites.

 I own near Wears Valley. And things have slowed down in April and May significantly. This seems to be the case all across the board based on all the owners I have spoken with. There has also been a shorter lead time for reservations. Lots of last minute bookings. And the fires may have freaked some people out too. 

[Anna Strausbaugh]

We have a cabin we rent in McCall, Idaho and April and May are super slow (but that is normal for a seasonal destination), but we are almost fully booked for summer and we didn't lower our rates. We don't have our calendar open any further out than September so we'll see how the rest of the year goes.

[Molly Arnott]

Our STR's are in the Treasure Valley, Idaho and we're booked up like normal this time of year. But we are not vacation destinations, we have primarily families visiting family. Make sure your listing is optimized with keywords and all that jazz!

[Nathan Gesner]

Quote from @Dustin Sanders:

Is anyone else experiencing slow bookings? I am in 3 different vacation heavy markets and my April & May calendars are at about 25% occupancy.

In my market, bookings are up 22% over last year. We use dynamic pricing and the rent rates being charged are higher than they were last year.

[Jerry W.]

I am only 80 miles from @Nathan Gesner, but my bookings are slightly softer than last year. Last year was amazing though. I have raised prices about $15 to $20 per night from last year and added a cleaning fee for the first time. Most of my current bookings are private parties who come to fish the local river. I have added another STR that will begin taking bookings in early June. I plan to add a fourth within the month. Bookings are very slow in the new units, but I also notice we have added at least 30% more STRs than last year, and I believe we will nearly double last years number of STRs by the end of summer. I am in a little town in the middle of Wyoming. There about 12 of us doing STRs 5 or 6 years ago. We were in the 40s last fall, we are now over 60 and I suspect will top 80 or possibly 100 by this fall. Most of our new ones are folks who moved here in the last year and out of staters buying 3 or 4 houses to make into STRs. Housing prices have jumped at least 30% since 2020, maybe more.

[Nathan Gesner]

Quote from @Jerry W.:

I am only 80 miles from @Nathan Gesner, but my bookings are slightly softer than last year. Last year was amazing though. I have raised prices about $15 to $20 per night from last year and added a cleaning fee for the first time. Most of my current bookings are private parties who come to fish the local river. I have added another STR that will begin taking bookings in early June. I plan to add a fourth within the month. Bookings are very slow in the new units, but I also notice we have added at least 30% more STRs than last year, and I believe we will nearly double last years number of STRs by the end of summer. I am in a little town in the middle of Wyoming. There about 12 of us doing STRs 5 or 6 years ago. We were in the 40s last fall, we are now over 60 and I suspect will top 80 or possibly 100 by this fall. Most of our new ones are folks who moved here in the last year and out of staters buying 3 or 4 houses to make into STRs. Housing prices have jumped at least 30% since 2020, maybe more.

It will be interesting to see how our markets shake out with all these outsiders moving in. :)

[Bruce Woodruff]

Quote from @Nathan Gesner:

Quote from @Jerry W.:

I am only 80 miles from @Nathan Gesner, but my bookings are slightly softer than last year. Last year was amazing though. I have raised prices about $15 to $20 per night from last year and added a cleaning fee for the first time. Most of my current bookings are private parties who come to fish the local river. I have added another STR that will begin taking bookings in early June. I plan to add a fourth within the month. Bookings are very slow in the new units, but I also notice we have added at least 30% more STRs than last year, and I believe we will nearly double last years number of STRs by the end of summer. I am in a little town in the middle of Wyoming. There about 12 of us doing STRs 5 or 6 years ago. We were in the 40s last fall, we are now over 60 and I suspect will top 80 or possibly 100 by this fall. Most of our new ones are folks who moved here in the last year and out of staters buying 3 or 4 houses to make into STRs. Housing prices have jumped at least 30% since 2020, maybe more.

It will be interesting to see how our markets shake out with all these outsiders moving in. :)

 Similar thing happening here in Northern AZ. Primarily refugees fleeing California. Is it the same up in WY?

[Cole Simpson]

We have been slow, dropped prices which has helped. Not sure if Gas prices is a part of it. One of the beautiful things about Airbnb is the roller coaster haha

[Christopher Liu]

Quote from @Uzoma Oranu:

@Nick Rutkowski

AirBnb no longer allowed in Ithaca NY?

 Hope not. Just booked two places to stay in June & July in Ithaca 

[Andrew Simms]

@Dustin Sanders Any updates since this thread was started? 

[Trent Reeve]

Quote from @Andrew Simms:

@Dustin Sanders Any updates since this thread was started? 

 agree. as a prospective investor, good to know how the market is going.

[Carolyn Fuller]

Quote from @Trent Reeve:

Quote from @Andrew Simms:

@Dustin Sanders Any updates since this thread was started? 

 agree. as a prospective investor, good to know how the market is going.

 I think it is such a localized issue. There is no generic answer. Some locals are doing better than others. 

[Trent Reeve]

Quote from @Carolyn Fuller:

Quote from @Trent Reeve:

Quote from @Andrew Simms:

@Dustin Sanders Any updates since this thread was started? 

 agree. as a prospective investor, good to know how the market is going.

 I think it is such a localized issue. There is no generic answer. Some locals are doing better than others. 

 well, reading thru the thread, there seemed to be a lot of areas mentioned and affected. would be interesting to hear from them 4 months later and how they did.

[Carolyn Fuller]

Quote from @Trent Reeve:

Quote from @Carolyn Fuller:

Quote from @Trent Reeve:

Quote from @Andrew Simms:

@Dustin Sanders Any updates since this thread was started? 

 agree. as a prospective investor, good to know how the market is going.

 I think it is such a localized issue. There is no generic answer. Some locals are doing better than others. 

 well, reading thru the thread, there seemed to be a lot of areas mentioned and affected. would be interesting to hear from them 4 months later and how they did.

 I did well in Cambridge, MA. I only had one 2 night rental that did not get booked and if I had been willing to offer a discount, those 2 nights probably would have been booked. 

[Bruce Woodruff]

I just went and checked my spreadsheets. We're down about 10% compared to this time last year. Is it because of the recession/inflation thing? I don't know.....if it was it seems we'd be down waaaay more....

[Molly Arnott]

In Meridian, Idaho (suburb of Boise) we're down about 20% in nightly rates and vacancy is also down about 10%. I attribute this to competition more than anything, we have far more short term rentals in the area this year than we did last. Others have figured out that returns are better on short term rents. We're keeping an eye on it and encouraging more "mid-term" length rents where we can.

[Mike Eichler]

Have you tried slightly lowering your rates to try and get some more bookings in, or have you recently gotten a bad review or two in a row, these are things that could possibly impact how much you are getting booked.

I also could recommend that you get something that would make your listing stand out, such as a revamp of your furnishing and design, hot tub/pool, game room/ movie room, pool tables etc.

Hope this helps you out, let me know if you have any more questions

Best of luck, 

Mike

[Carolyn Fuller]

@Molly Arnott I suspect you are correct that increased competition is what has lowered your nightly rates and bookings. 

My nightly rates have increased on average by 66% this year versus my best prior year and I was still close to completely booked. The pandemic and city regulations have removed most of the competitive listings in my area which meant I did not need to lower my rates to attract last minute bookings very often this year. 

A lot of people are jumping into this market in hopes of making easy money but are experiencing dwindling profits due to competition suppressing nightly rates. 

[Bruce Woodruff]

Quote from @Mike Eichler:

Have you tried slightly lowering your rates to try and get some more bookings in

This is a valid idea, but of course ya gotta do the math. Better to have 100 nights booked at $200 per night, than to have 200 nights booked at $100 per night, right?

[Mike Eichler]

Quote from @Bruce Woodruff:

Quote from @Mike Eichler:

Have you tried slightly lowering your rates to try and get some more bookings in

This is a valid idea, but of course ya gotta do the math. Better to have 100 nights booked at $200 per night, than to have 200 nights booked at $100 per night, right?

Have you heard of dynamic pricing, which will change automatically up or down based in certain factors?

[Bruce Woodruff]

Quote from @Mike Eichler:

Quote from @Bruce Woodruff:

Quote from @Mike Eichler:

Have you tried slightly lowering your rates to try and get some more bookings in

This is a valid idea, but of course ya gotta do the math. Better to have 100 nights booked at $200 per night, than to have 200 nights booked at $100 per night, right?

Have you heard of dynamic pricing, which will change automatically up or down based in certain factors?

 Yep, I just prefer to set rates myself.... I don't like the rates the algorithm suggest...usually way low. I can do better myself.