As a vacation rental owner or manager, you’re likely looking for ways to consistently attract guests to your property. However, some months are harder than others to get clients in the door. Changing climates and busy work schedules don’t always allow for free and open travel.

While this may be true, it’s important to keep an optimistic attitude towards your rental’s booking potential! Different travelers are looking for different experiences—and if you are able to accommodate those experiences, then your vacation home rental business can thrive even in the off-season.

What are Shoulder Months?

Shoulder season is defined as the travel period just before and right after peak season. The summers are typically peak season for travelers and the winters are shoulder season. However, depending on your vacation rental’s location and what kind of place you host, peak and shoulder seasons may be reversed.

Make it stand A villa on Malibu beach will have its peak season between May and August, but a cabin rental in Lake Tahoe will likely peak during the colder months of the year. Shoulder months are essentially all time periods outside of peak months. out

Shoulder season is an industry term pertaining to travel and hospitality. Some say the term comes from the fact that guests may need a scarf or a shawl wrapped around their shoulders when visiting during shoulder months. Others say it’s a figure of speech, referring to the apparent “shoulders” on a mountain that form on the descent of its “peaks”.

Why Shoulder Months Should Matter to Hosts

Hosts often underestimate the opportunity shoulder months can bring. Although not as lucrative as peak seasons, shoulder periods are certainly worth considering.

Many guests look forward to shoulder seasons because there are less tourists walking around. During this time, vacation homes tend to be cheaper as well, welcoming visitors traveling on a budget.

When taking this segment of the travel population into account, you may find that they are more willing to sacrifice certain amenities for the opportunity to visit a particular destination. This may result in a lighter workload for you as a host and a less hectic experience in regards to meeting guest demands.

As a result, shoulder months can also turn into a period of experimentation for you as a host, allowing you to run promotions and try out new strategies on transient guests. This time can also result in great reviews, seeing as shoulder-month visitors may be more flexible.

Identifying Shoulder Months in Your Location

As mentioned before, shoulder season will depend on where your rental is located and what kind of experience you offer. We’d recommend studying tourism fluctuations in your region in order to anticipate when shoulder season is coming up. Some questions you may want to consider answering are:

What holidays are specific to your region?
Are these any big events happening in or around the neighborhood in which your Airbnb is located? If so, when?
What hotspots in the city are frequently visited by tourists?

Remember, shoulder months come immediately before and directly after peak periods—but how long they last will depend on how popular your destination is among travelers. By taking stock of the activity in and around your Vrbo rental, you’ll be able to quickly identify shoulder months for your Airbnb.

How to Thrive During Shoulder Season

There’s two things you need to do to secure bookings year-round; implement strategic initiatives and regularly update your listing. Below we explain exactly what this means and how you can go about implementing these tips in a practical manner.

Getting Strategic with Your Vacation Rental

Price Seasonal Rates Appropriately

Charging the right price for your short-term rental is essential in achieving consistent booking status. As a general rule of thumb, shoulder season rates should be between 60-75% of your peak season rates. If your beach house rental goes for $125/night in the summer, then it would be appropriate to charge somewhere around $84/night in the winter.

**Pro tip:** Don’t get discouraged by the price drop! You don’t necessarily *always* need to lower your prices during shoulder seasons. Yield management tools such as AirDNA and Guesty are great for tracking Airbnb and Vrbo activity among visitors.

Using the data provided on these platforms, you’ll be able to identify appropriate price ranges, corresponding to the time period of the year. You may find that during shoulder months there are a few “peak days,” in which case you will be able to charge peak rates, despite it being shoulder season.

Create Events Packages with Local Businesses

Another effective way of increasing booking rates is to partner with local restaurants, bars, and event venues to provide unique guest experiences. By creating packages with neighboring businesses, not only will you be making your vacation rental stand out among the rest, you’ll also be maximizing your local exposure and marketing reach.

Pro tip: Offer deals and discounts via Airbnb coupons. When creating packages, your focus should be on creating Airbnb experiences that are hard to resist. You want to make sure the experience is enjoyable, convenient, and more affordable for guests than if they were to plan out the experience themselves. Street food tours, spa days, and island day trips are just a few examples of tourist packages you can create.

Run Google Adwords “Airbnbs Near Me” Campaigns

If you’re looking to attract a specific audience, Google Adwords is an excellent way to reach potential guests. By targeting visitors that are already in the area, you’re not leaving any stone unturned. Customers on route will be able to find you at the exact moment they need to.

Updating Your Property Listing on Booking Platforms

Adjust the Minimum Number of Nights

Demand is high during peak season, allowing hosts to maintain higher minimum stays. However, shoulder season will likely require you to loosen up on minimum stays, especially because shoulder-season travelers are looking for flexibility in their travel plans.

You could also take the opposite approach and focus on Airbnb monthly rentals during shoulder months. This would allow you to receive rental income for a set amount of months. It would also require less cleaning and upkeep, seeing as guests would be staying for a longer period of time. Long-term Airbnbs are a great way to secure consistent revenue during the shoulder months.

Update your Headline and Description

Writing a catchy headline highlighting your property’s best features is a solid move—but having a list of alternate headlines is even better. Your headline should mirror the time of the year in which guests are visiting, which would require you writing more than one.

Alternating headlines in between peak and shoulder seasons allows you to market your Airbnb rental to the right guest at the right time. It’s also important to update your description depending on what activities are available during each season.

An optimized headline, descriptive listing, and pictures supporting both are crucial components of reaching maximum booking potential.

Post Aesthetic Pictures of the Shoulder Season

Last but not least, make sure to include aesthetically pleasing photos of your location during shoulder season. You want to make sure your headline and description are consistent with the pictures displayed on your listing.

Incorporating pictures of shoulder season allows potential guests to envision themselves in your vacation rental during a time they may not have initially considered. Focus on showing potential guests how appealing a stay in your place would be in reference to the surrounding area.

Need help booking out your vacation rental?

If all of these tips sound like a lot of work, or if you have multiple listings to manage don’t hesitate to give us a call! MB Experiences is a full-service vacation rental management company based in Los Angeles. Handling all aspects of your vacation rental business, including marketing, booking, staging and more—we make sure you get maximum utility out of your Airbnb. Call us today for a consultation!

How to Increase Vacation Rental Bookings During Shoulder Months