My Q1 Kissimee numbers, 2022 vs. 2026

[Ryan Moyer]

2022: $55,464

2023: $52,589

2024: $42, 013

2025: $43,585

2026: $53,024

Prior to this year we were kind of on the same trend as everyone else. Down. But this year we've bounced back to nearly 2022 numbers so far (and not just on this one property, on some others as well), even though the Kissimmee market as a whole has only moved further downwards.

We did not make any upgrades to the home (though that is certainly the most sure-fire way to get back to 2022 numbers if you can swing it). We did not re-shoot our photos.

Late last year I made some big changes to how I approach several things including revenue management, direct bookings, and how we create/optimize our listings. I think the rev management and direct bookings are bigger topics and I plan to get to those one day, but creating a better listing is the most low hanging fruit and the easiest/quickest/cheapest way to give your revenue a bit of a kick.

I'm going to do a little class thingy on Zoom on Thursday to go through all the changes I made if anyone wants to check it out, but in the meantime here are some quick hitters of some of the changes I made to our approach.

The single biggest change I made was operating under the assumption that the guest is not going to read the description. Because frankly, most of them aren't, especially during the culling stage.

That means I put all of the most important/marketable info in the photos. Yes, that means text on the photos. Not in the caption, ON THE PHOTO ITSELF. If we offer free pool heat on a property, I put that in big bold letters on the photo of the pool. Yes, it's kitchy. Yes, it's kinda lame. But it works.

For the description itself, don't be wordy/verbose (ironic given this post, right?). The top half should be bullet points (with emoticons) of all the most important things. Anything you have to write out in long sentences goes in "other things to note".

Again, I'm not saying it'll change your life, but I'm an ex-SEO guy that tests stuff constantly, and these are the kind of things (and the rest that I'll share in the zoom class so this doesn't get too long) that I've settled on after years of trying different approaches.

[John Underwood]

This is ACTUALLY interesting data unlike some of the AI book reports that people are posting lately.

I like the idea of putting info on the pictures. I'm sure this cuts way down on questions.