Staying ahead of the curve is key to driving success in a changing vacation rental market. Key Data delivers hyper-accurate rental data from our unique co-op of connected properties, OTAs, and hotels to help you make confident growth decisions for your vacation rental business. Today, we’re sharing how to use that data to maximize revenue by adding owners and units to your portfolio.
Why Grow Your Inventory?
In today's competitive landscape, the most successful property managers are those who are actively expanding their inventory. In fact, our data reveals a compelling trend: 50% of short-term rental property managers who saw a revenue increase in 2023 had something in common—their inventory grew by an average of 24% year-over-year. This indicates that maintaining and growing your property inventory is more crucial than ever for driving profitability.
So, expanding your inventory could be the difference between achieving your goals and falling short. During this challenging rental market, why not use all the tools at your disposal to help ensure you’re staying ahead of the curve?
Strategies to Retain and Grow Your Inventory
To help you drive success in any market, we've developed a three-part series of data-backed tips designed to keep your business thriving. Today, for the first part of our series, we dive into effective strategies for retaining and growing your inventory.
Find The Right Properties
The process of adding new, profitable units to your portfolio starts with finding the best fits for your business. Examine your current properties to understand the types and areas that perform best for you across important KPIs like RevPAR. Key Data can provide insights to help you find similarities and provide some direction into the kinds of properties you’ll want to see moving forward.
Utilize Data In Your Process
Key Data Dashboard helps pros segment by unit types to discover the properties that perform best for their visitor base. If, for example, 5-bedroom properties outperform 3-bedroom properties in your inventory, then you can start your search and focus your energy on acquiring larger units.
Segmenting by amenities can also be beneficial. Properties with a pool may command significantly higher rates or booking rates in certain regions. If this is the case in your area, you can utilize this information to create a profile of what your ideal units are and focus your time on acquiring more of those properties.
Reaching Out To Homeowners
With all the information on which properties you want to target, it’s time to reach out to potential new homeowners. When doing so, it pays to emphasize what you can do for them. With the data you’ve collected in your search for the ideal unit, you can prove exactly what the new homeowner can expect by coming on board.
Show them what average daily rates are for your current comparable units. Dive into anticipated demand and what they can expect for occupancy rates year-round. A transparent view of your booking data like your nightly rates, occupancy rates, and booking window can help set proper expectations and build trust with homeowners.
You may need to look outside your immediate area if you are located in a saturated market. You can utilize your data to find new markets to expand into that may be different from the communities or cities you are currently in. Need help with this step? Contact a Key Data team member to see what opportunities are waiting for you.
Don’t forget to share your homeowner communication strategy and how often they can expect updates on their unit’s performance once they join your program. Access your owner report in your Key Data Dashboard to share the exact information they’ll receive ehwn they come on board.
Ready to Learn More?
Check back for parts two and three of our blog series on how to grow your business during uncertain rental markets, where we'll continue to share valuable insights and strategies to boost your business.
Have questions? Contact us to schedule a discussion. Whether you have specific questions regarding how to expand your inventory or you’d just like to discuss your strategy for meeting your goals, the Key Data team is here to help.