When pricing your vacation rental home, it’s very important to get it right. Naturally, those of you who have been renting for a few years have a pretty good idea what your weekly rate should be, but it’s still a good idea to re-evaluate each year to be sure you are not asking too little or too much.
Joan’s previous post, The Pricing Dilemma: Go Up, Go Down, or Stay the Same, provides a comprehensive look at pricing strategies including ways to determine the market value of your home, whether you should change your rates for the following season, how to “tier” your prices relative to which weeks are most popular, etc.
Those of you who have never rented your home before, however, don’t have a benchmark price to work from and may not be very familiar with the rental market in your area. We suggest two options:
- The Do-It-Yourself option is to search for “your home” on our site to determine the best price based on your competition. The added benefit this exercise provides is to acquaint you with the search process so that you see how our site works to direct vacationers to your listing.
- Hire us to perform a professional Competitive Pricing Analysis. After learning about your property and its location, we will compare it to your competition to determine the right price. We can even offer on-site consultations, allowing us to better know your property and for you to benefit from the advice and recommendations from one of our experts in person. Our pricing clients have told us that they enjoy not only the confidence it brings in their pricing but also the ability to claim that their home has been professionally priced. The cost of an off-site Competitive Pricing Analysis is only around $80 and, in addition to pricing recommendations specific to your home, it includes an array of marketing suggestions to ensure success in booking your home at your asking price.
For further tips related to pricing, take a look at our other posts including When to lower your prices, the Most popular amenities, and “Tiering” your weekly prices.