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In the fast-paced world of short-term vacation rentals, property managers face a unique set of challenges. To thrive in this industry, understanding your position among the competition is not just important; it's essential. In-depth knowledge of your performance in comparison to the competition can make the difference between a struggling property management company and a thriving one.
But, to make the best decisions, you have to have accurate data showing your place in the market. Let's dive into why it's so crucial for short term rental property managers to understand their competition and how you can use data to make informed decisions that boost your growth.
1. Competitive Analysis Unveils Market Trends
One of the primary reasons property managers need to understand their competition is to stay informed about market trends. Knowing what your competitors are offering, how they are booking in comparison to your properties, and which amenities they provide can help you identify gaps in the market.
For example, seeing bookings down by 5% year-over-year for your own company may seem to be a huge problem if you are only monitoring your own performance. However, if the surrounding market is down by 10%, then you might have a different perspective regarding your performance. Regularly monitoring booking activity for your market for dips or spikes in demand allows you to quickly adapt strategies when a change occurs.
Key Data's ProData Dashboard is created for property managers to easily understand their performance in comparison to local competitors, making it easy to identify market trends and quickly adapt.
2. Setting Competitive Rates
Pricing is a critical aspect of the short term rental business. Setting rates that are too high can deter potential guests, but pricing your units too low may leave money on the table and out of your business. By monitoring competitive Average Daily Rates in addition to occupancy rates, you can determine the sweet spot for pricing, broken down by unit type, bedroom count, and more.
Key Data provides you with real-time data on pricing trends in your area, helping you make data-driven decisions when setting your rates. This ensures that your property is competitive while maximizing your revenue potential. You can also use Key Data alongside pricing tools in order to check automation and manually adjust where needed.
3. Identifying Unique Selling Points
Every rental property has something special to offer, whether it's a stunning view, a desirable location, or exceptional amenities. Understanding your competition allows you to identify your property's unique selling points. By understanding the competitive outlook of properties available in your area, you can pinpoint what makes your properties stand out. Then, you can highlight these features in your marketing materials, photography, website, and more to attract guests who are looking for those specific amenities.
4. Efficient Marketing Strategies
Knowing your competition goes beyond just property features and pricing. It extends to understanding how to use this information to create a comprehensive plan to get ahead. By analyzing your own performance against the competition, you can fine-tune your marketing efforts.
For example, if competitors begin receiving bookings two weeks before you do, you might consider creating early-bird campaigns or targeted marketing to capture that window. Within your Key Data Dashboard, you can monitor your KPIs in real-time against competitors and your past performance. So, you can effectively plan ahead to strategically boost bookings.
5. Enhancing Homeowner Communication
Homeowners want to stay in the loop. So, communication is key. Competitive information for your area will not only inform homeowners of recent trends, but it will build trust and retention.
For example, a homeowner might be happy to hear that their RevPAR has increased 10% over the past year. But, when you note that competitors have only had a 3% increase, they'll be thrilled. During times of decreased performance, you can help to explain dips in demand by providing an outlook of the market as a whole, assuring them that the larger trend is due to macroeconomic shifts rather than their particular unit.
This data can be utilized in many ways to boost communication and even automated as a regular report for any individual unit in your ProData dashboard.
For short term vacation rental property managers, understanding your position among the competition is a strategic imperative. It's not enough to rely on intuition; you need data-driven insights to make informed decisions.
ProData from Key Data empowers property managers with the tools they need to stay ahead in a competitive market. By leveraging the wealth of information provided by ProData, property managers can fine-tune their pricing, marketing strategies, and guest experience, ultimately driving success in the world of short term vacation rentals. Want to learn more? Contact us for a personalized consultation.