BLOG POST

3 tips for driving year-round holiday rental bookings

Get year-round holiday rental bookings by updating your property listing, setting seasonal rates, and using Instant Booking and calendar syncing.

February 9, 2024

Delivering an exceptional guest experience year-round and adjusting seasonal rates to meet fluctuating demand can help you maximise revenue at your property from peak season to off-season. But there’s a lot to consider when it comes to attracting guests throughout the year. Simply setting and forgetting your pricing may lead to the occasional booking, but is unlikely to create sustainable success for your property.

Instead, we offer tools and resources to help you create a compelling property listing and position your holiday rental as an ideal choice—regardless of the season. Continue reading for tips to unlock year-round booking success.

Optimise demand with seasonal rates

Setting competitive seasonal pricing can help attract seasonal travellers to your holiday rental, fill gaps during the off-season and maximise your revenue potential. Seasonal rates differ from your base rate and give you the flexibility to offer different pricing for specific periods of time—such as peak, shoulder and off-season, public holidays, specific events in your markets and more. They’re a simple and powerful way for you to earn more and fill your calendar.

Peak season

High-demand period of at least 10 to 12 weeks, when most travellers book holidays. You can typically charge higher rates and require longer minimum stays.

Off-season

Slower season, typically when weather is less than ideal, with considerably lower rates. Guest stay lengths vary, so displaying nightly, weekly and monthly rates is key.

Public holidays & special events

Travellers plan trips around national holidays and school breaks, major sporting events, conferences or festivals. This presents an opportunity to charge more and require a longer minimum stay.

Shoulder season

Time right before and right after your peak season. Rental rates may be lower than peak season, and lower minimum-stay requirements can help fill your availability.

If you’re looking to optimise your holiday rental revenue strategy and drive more consistent bookings throughout the year, try setting competitive seasonal rates and use our MarketMakerTM tool to make informed decisions when setting your rates.

With MarketMaker, you can maximise your rental earnings by setting competitive rates that attract travellers all year round, including rates for peak rental seasons, major public holiday weeks and during large local events. MarketMaker delivers detailed market data to support your rate decisions—including traveller demand and availability—and is a great way to adjust and optimise your rates to account for seasonality and changes in the market.

Depending on your market, travellers may be booking several months or even a year in advance of their trip date, so it’s important to set your rates at least 6 to 12 months in advance. Really! According to our recent Path to Purchase research, holiday rental guests book their accommodation on average 83 days before their trip start date,** so the earlier you can get your rates set, the better.

In addition to making sure that your rates are set up in advance, remember to optimise your rates as seasons change and to keep your cancellation policies up to date. We also offer seasonal cancellation policies for hosts so you can offer your preferred date-based policy to adjust for seasonal demand and apply the right cancellation policy at the right time.

Adjust seasonal rates

MarketMaker delivers detailed market data to support your rate decisions.

Showcase seasonal amenities to attract guests

Capturing year-round bookings is a key part of hosting a successful holiday rental and growing your business, and, in addition to competitive rates, there are some easy updates that you can make to your property listing to attract more guests throughout the year.

Even small guest experience enhancements can make all the difference, such as:

Stocking your rental with seasonal sports equipment.
Providing a guide with local seasonal activities and popular spots.
Supplying warm blankets for cold nights and extra towels for pool days.

Seasonal headlines and descriptions

To position your property for discoverability and encourage potential guests to book with you, create seasonal headlines and descriptions and use seasonal keywords when listing your amenities. Sharing photos of your property and surrounding areas will also show guests what your property offers throughout the year. For example, appeal to warm-weather travellers by highlighting features such as your outdoor barbecue or attract cold-weather travellers by showcasing features such as heated bathroom floors.

Holiday-friendly language

You can also include holiday-friendly language in your listing to attract potential guests. Highlight holiday-centric amenities in your listing, such as a large family room perfect for opening gifts or an outdoor barbecue area ideal for summer gatherings.

While certain aspects of your property may be highlighted depending on the season, delivering an exceptional guest experience should be consistent all year round. Don’t forget the items that matter regardless of the season—such as a great coffee maker, a comfortable lounge area and quality linens. And, to provide guests with a more immersive look at your property’s seasonal amenities, consider adding a virtual tour.

Update property listing

Use tools to respond quickly to bookings

Now that your content and rates are set up to attract travellers, make sure you are staying in touch with every traveller who comes your way. Our mobile app for owners helps you stay connected to guests and manage your listing from anywhere. An easy way to increase your acceptance rate success is by responding quickly to travellers with Instant Booking and calendar syncing—partners who enable Instant Booking and sync calendars see 60% more bookings.*

Calendar syncing

With calendar syncing, you can sync your calendars across multiple platforms and view all of your reservations, high-demand dates and local events in one place. This can help increase performance by presenting opportunities to adjust your rates while also preventing double-bookings.

Learn how to sync

Instant Booking

Instant Booking lets guests book your holiday rental instantly, without waiting for your approval—saving time and making it easier for them to book your holiday rental when they’re interested. When you offer Instant Booking, your listing appears in more searches and higher in search results.

Set up Instant Booking

By positioning your holiday rental as a versatile destination for all seasons—and optimising your rates strategy to match—you’ll be more ready to welcome a steady stream of travellers throughout the year.