Recent media reports about the Cape and Islands summer rental season have presented widely conflicting headlines. One reported that there were many “empty vacation homes” because owners had been overly aggressive with their pricing. Yet another said that the Cape was “booked for the season.” And one said that the market is “flooded” with vacation rentals following the sales boon of the pandemic.
We are not seeing any of these scenarios to the extreme reported. What we have seen is greater rental availability than in recent years. This has more to do with the pullback in demand from the peak pandemic years along with the sharp increase in prices in the past four years. In many cases, prices have risen out of vacationers’ reach, and we’re seeing some pushback.
If you still have open weeks, it’s not too late
Here are a few tips for filling those last few remaining weeks this summer:
- Make sure your calendar is up to date! Especially at this time of year, vacationers might choose to sort their search results by “Calendar Last Updated,” assuming that recently updated calendars are the ones most likely to have accurate availability. You don’t want your listing to fall to the bottom of the list.
- Consider a price reduction and feature the reduced price in a free Owner Special.
- Give your listing extra visibility by purchasing a Last-Minute Availability Alert. Your listing will go onto our Special Deals and Last-Minute Availability page, which receives a lot of vacationer traffic.
- Want to attract even more attention to your listing? Consider an Exposure Package to promote your home on our popular Facebook (22k followers) and Instagram (28k followers) channels.
- Respond immediately to your inquiries, and, if the vacationer provides a phone number, consider calling them. Vacationers who are searching at the last minute may well be inquiring about several homes and are anxious to make a quick decision.
- Ask your June and July guests to write a review. This will increase the odds that a vacationer who has a lot of choices will select yours to inquire about!
Still have the last week of August available?
If so, you’re not alone. Nearly 40% of Cape and Island homes are still available for that week. It’s the most difficult summer week to rent and often books last minute.
If you also have Labor Day weekend available, post an Owner Special offering one of these options:
- “Book week of Aug. 24-31 for $xxxx and stay Labor Day weekend for $xxx a night.”
- “Book week of Aug. 24-31 for $xxxx and add on Labor Day weekend for $xxxx.”
- “Book week of Aug. 24-31 for $xxxx and stay Labor Day weekend for free.”
Note: Because the last week of August is traditionally the hardest week of the summer to book due to schools resuming, many owners set a lower price for that week from the outset.
Looking for fall bookings? The next topic in this newsletter will present some tips for attracting ball guests this fall.
Not too early to focus on 2025
We have added the summer of 2025 to the search, and we see that the trend of booking early is continuing. In recent years, over a quarter of bookings for the following summer occur by the previous year’s end.
Families who vacation here every summer are eager to lock in their rental home for next year, especially those looking for multiple weeks or large homes for several families vacationing together. As you can imagine, families planning a wedding or family reunion make their plans a year or more in advance. You’ll want your home to come up in their searches!
Take advantage of the fact that not all homeowners have added pricing for next summer, thus anyone searching now will not come up with as many choices as they will in a few months. So, get yours on there so you can catch these early birds!
Worried about protecting your repeat guests and family use?
Some owners are reluctant to open their calendars because they want to see if this year’s guests want to return. Holding off until late in the fall or even the beginning of January could cost you valuable early bookings!
Uncertain which of your 2025 guests will be returning next year? There could be a myriad of reasons why they would choose not to return next summer, even if they had a terrific time at your home.
If you’re quite certain some will be returning, either because they are regular repeat guests or they asked to return next year, you can mark “their” week as booked but open the rest of the season.
For brand new folks who rented this summer, you can let them know that you’ve opened your calendar for 2025 but offer them the right of first refusal if/when you receive an inquiry for “their” week. See our post entitled “Honoring promises to past tenants without losing new ones” for more advice.
If you haven’t decided which weeks to reserve for your family, why not open them all up in the meantime and then make a decision when you receive inquiries?
Remember that early bookings bring you your asking price, whereas late or last-minute ones often require you to lower your price or to negotiate with prospective tenants.
Advice on Pricing
As we have reported, some homeowners have been very aggressive in raising their prices every year, even after the high vacationer demand during the pandemic. For many years, the average rate increase was 2-3%. This changed during the pandemic when we saw price increases of 8-10% for several years in a row! With vacationer demand down to a more normal level, caution is advisable when pricing your home. See our advice for the 2024 rental season.
Do NOT base your rates on how much your expenses have risen. Vacationer demand dictates rates, not owner expenses. We know your energy costs have increased dramatically, as have labor and materials. But those alone do not justify your raising your rent.
We often hear homeowners say,
I don’t know what I’m charging next summer, so I can’t enter my pricing.
Our advice is to add pricing now anyway. If you think you might be going up in your rates, feel free to enter the increased rates. There will be plenty of time to reconsider and adjust them later.
The advantage of having your pricing in place early is that it allows you time to gauge how attractive your pricing is. If you are not getting many inquiries, it may mean that vacationers are finding comparable homes at a lower rate.
Be sure your pricing is transparent. Make it abundantly clear what’s included in your rental and what’s not. If you charge less because you don’t offer a 5-star experience, that’s fine, just be very clear about why you are charging less. Don’t hide any fees on your listing and then surprise them with the fees in the lease.
Lastly, be sure to tier your pricing to reflect the relative popularity/demand of some weeks vs other weeks, particularly the last week of August, as we mentioned previously.
Promising Outlook
So, regardless of what the news media presents, the Cape and Islands is still, and will always remain, a desirable destination for vacationers. The outlook is positive for those who offer a short-term rental that is attractive, well maintained, and competitively priced.
