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Local events can be a gold mine for short term rental property managers. Whether it’s a sporting event or a music festival, the sudden increase in guest demand these events bring presents massive revenue potential — if you’re able to capture it.
Why Property Managers Should Be Aware Of Major Local Events
Major events such as sporting fixtures, music festivals, Eurovision, or even a King’s Coronation, can have a huge impact on the local short term rental sector and wider economy, as they can bring in a lot of extra revenue. Sudden increases in visitors to a destination will stretch housing supply, leading to higher nightly rates and, therefore, great opportunities for property managers and hosts to boost revenue.
The recent Coronation in London, for example, saw a tourism boost worth over £205 million over the surrounding fortnight. This is because the event drew in 30,595 (75%) more overseas visitors than the previous year and the capital had a higher arrival rate from UK nationals (47% year-over-year), creating a total of 71,378 tourists.
So, how can short term rental property managers make the most of these circumstances? We’ve provided three top tips for planning, managing, and marketing your properties to appeal to temporary peaks in guest demand, so you can turn these opportunities into profits.
How to maximize the revenue potential of major local events
1. Have a proactive pricing strategy in place
One of the most important aspects to consider when planning to host during a major local event is your property’s average posted rate. During peaks of high demand, nightly rates in your area are likely to shoot up as other property managers seek to capitalize on the situation with maximum returns. For example, during the recent King’s Coronation in London, local short term rental properties saw a 16% increase in nightly rates compared to the same period last year.
If you don’t price your property proactively, you’ll be missing out on this extra revenue potential. But this balance is a fine line — price your property too high and you may put off potential bookers. The key to a reactive pricing strategy is to use real-time short term rental data dashboards to know what’s going on around you, so you can bring your prices in line with competitors and truly make the most of sudden and high demand.
2. Manage your property’s availability
Do you usually have a five-night minimum guest stay? Booking rules and limitations such as these could turn potential guests away from your short term rental listing, especially if the up-coming local event is for a shorter period than your minimum night stay.
Since demand drives up nightly prices during popular local events, it’s likely property managers could make the same revenue from a one/two night stay versus the minimum length of stay, when planned well. So, while it may go against your usual rules, being flexible around minimum night stay restrictions could massively benefit your business. This is why it’s so important to plan for local events and to ensure you have booking policies that reflect guest demand.
Tools like DemandIQ™ can help property managers and hosts identify if potential guests are searching for bookings with a shorter length of stay than the minimum you’ve set.
3. Tweak your marketing strategy
Wanting to attract visitors who are coming to your area for a specific event and increase Airbnb bookings? Try tweaking your marketing strategy to help these guests find your short term rental listings. For example, something as simple as putting the name of the event in the listing title or description can help to push your property up in search results ahead of your competitors for maximum exposure.
You can also use this tactic to promote your business by boosting property visibility all year round. If you have attractions close by or nature reserves that you know draw in out-of-town visitors, be sure to mention them in your short term rental listings.
Never again miss out on revenue-boosting opportunities such as major events in your local area. With real-time short term rental data and the right market tools in your back pocket, you’ll always be one step ahead of the competition and able to capitalize on limited high guest demand.
To trial our dashboard or DemandIQ™ product for insights that can support you in making the most of guest demand, book a demo here.
