I previously wrote about maintaining optimism in the short-term rental market as things will rebound very quickly once restrictions lift. In this post, I’d like to dive deeper into what can be done during the lockdown to improve your chances of getting at least a few bookings during this period.
The main way guests find your property online is if it is priced correctly, so having a strong pricing strategy is key to getting bookings during the lockdown. As there is currently not much demand from guests but a lot of listings available, you need to make sure your pricing is attractive for the few guests that are still in need of accommodation.
One way we do this at Zodiak to achieve around a 55% occupancy rate during level 3 is by offering weekly and monthly discounts to encourage longer bookings. You are competing for a very limited number of bookings during levels 4 and 3 so you need to incentivise guests to book longer stays to bump up your occupancy rate. It’s better to get one 18 night stay at $120 per night than just two 3 night stays at $250 per night, and it’s easier to get that one long booking than two short bookings. This way, you lock in some income and give yourself some predictability in an otherwise uncertain situation. There are still some people travelling to Auckland for necessary work for longer periods so this option works very well for those guests.
Another way to make sure you are priced correctly for the current market is to constantly revise your nightly rates if you are not getting any bookings. Adjusting the price down by just $5 every few days will allow you to drop the price just enough in order...
