(3-PART SERIES) PART 3 – HOW TO PRICE YOUR PROPERTY; PRICING STRATEGY
As a property owner, you know that pricing your vacation home in Disney can be a tricky business. You want to make sure you’re getting the most bang for your buck, but you also don’t want to overprice and turn away potential guests. So how do you find the perfect price for your home away from home?
- The first step is to take a look at comparable properties in the area. What are other owners charging for homes similar to yours? This will give you a good starting point for pricing your own home.
- Next, consider what amenities your home has to offer. Is it close to the parks? Does it have a private pool? These are all factors that can help you determine a fair price for your vacation home.
- Finally, don’t be afraid to experiment a bit. If you’re not sure what price to list your home at, start with a slightly higher price and see if you get any bites. If not, you can always lower the price until you find the perfect sweet spot.
Pricing is an art and there’s no right way to approach this. I can only share what has worked for me to achieve my desired results for all of the properties I personally own and manage for other clients. My goal is to achieve the highest ADR (Average Daily Rate) first and then Occupancy. I have so many clients who make the mistake of pricing the home too low and not capturing the peak seasons.
Here are my tips for pricing best practices;
- Research the market
When we started looking into pricing our vacation home at Disney, we knew we needed to do our research. We didn’t want to underprice and miss out on potential earnings, but we also didn’t want to overprice and deter guests from booking.
After looking at comparable properties in the area and taking into consideration the unique features of our home, we settled on a price that we felt was fair and competitive. We’re happy to say that our home has been popular with guests and we’ve been able to generate a good return on our investment.
If you’re thinking of pricing a vacation rental, we recommend doing your market research to ensure you’re in the right ballpark. It’s important to be competitive, but also to consider the unique features of your property that could warrant a higher (or lower) price. You may also want to consider revenue management software such as Beyond Pricing and PriceLabs to help you analyze the pricing dynamically and intelligently. Property management software such as Ownerrez and Lodgify can also help hosts sync calendars across multiple platforms such as Airbnb and VRBO.
- Analyze the seasons
When most people think of Disney, they think of warm weather and sunny days. However, Disney is a great vacation destination no matter what the season! In this blog post, we’ll take a look at the seasons in Disney and how they can affect the price of your vacation home rental. Summer is the busiest time of year at Disney, so vacation home rentals will be at a premium. If you’re looking to save money, consider renting a home in the fall or winter. The weather is still pleasant at Disney during these months, and you’ll find that vacation home rates are much more reasonable.
Spring is a great time to visit Disney if you’re looking for moderate crowds and prices. The weather is usually mild, although you may encounter the occasional thunderstorm. No matter what season you visit Disney, you’re sure to have a magical time! Just be sure to price your vacation home rental accordingly.
EXAMPLE BELOW
- Offer discounts and deals
When pricing a vacation home at Disney, it is important to consider offering discounts and deals. By doing so, you will be able to attract more guests and generate more rental income. There are a few things to keep in mind when offering discounts and deals. First, you need to make sure that the discounts and deals you offer are reasonable and fair. Second, you need to make sure that the discounts and deals you offer are advertised in a way that is easy for guests to understand. Finally, you need to make sure that the discounts and deals you offer do not put you at a disadvantage when it comes to renting your vacation home.
- Orphan day bookings
Orphan days are the gaps between two bookings that are shorter than the minimum length of stay mandated by the property manager. Due to this, they will be unbookable because they don’t meet the requirement for minimum night restrictions.
It’s important to check your calendar for orphan days so you can open those dates up for your guests to book.
- Manage your minimum stays requirements to achieve maximum occupancy
If you’re thinking of pricing your vacation home in Disney, you’ll need to take minimum stay requirements into account. Depending on the time of year and the amenities your home offers, you’ll need to set a minimum number of nights that guests must stay. This ensures that you’re able to cover your costs and make a profit.
The good news is that there are a number of ways to manage minimum stay requirements. You can use online tools to help you set the right price for your home, and you can also work with a vacation rental management company to help you market your home and find the right guests.
With a little planning, you can make sure that your vacation home is priced correctly and that you’re able to meet your minimum stay requirements. Below are a few commonly used strategies:
- If you have a bigger property like a 3-bedroom apartment or villa, then you should consider keeping a longer minimum stay of 3 to 7 days because people usually book bigger properties for a longer period.
- Also, by mandating a longer minimum length of stay, you can make sure you are not spending too much on the upkeep of the property, which tends to be more for bigger listings. This would also discourage people from booking your property for parties and one-day events.
- Another reason why you might consider keeping a longer minimum stay is when you are situated in a market that predominantly has longer minimum stays. For example, markets like the Disney World area predominantly have a 5-night minimum stay. In this case, you can allow a comparatively lower minimum stay, for instance, of four days. By allowing greater flexibility, you will be in a position to charge more for your properties.
- Longer minimum stays are also used in seasonal markets like beach towns, mountains, etc to make up for the low bookings recorded during low-demand seasons.
Pricing a vacation home in Disney doesn’t have to be a guessing game. By doing your research and experimenting a bit, you can find the perfect price for your property!
Hope you enjoy reading my blog post. My name is Mike Chen and I’m a real estate agent in the Orlando, FL area specializing in vacation, investment, and residential homes. I’m a huge Disney fan and I absolutely love this area. I would love to talk to you about what it would take to get you into a new home in this area. I look forward to speaking with you!
