If you rent your property to holiday guests it’s important to have a well-thought-out and consistent rental strategy in place, to ensure your investment is efficient and generates a good rental income.
As well as your pricing and marketing strategy, you also need to consider the rental period. Is it more profitable to offer short stays or weekly bookings? There is no easy answer to this question, as it depends on several factors concerning the property, the season, the platform used and your own aims.
In this article, OVO Network presents the differences between the two strategies and the elements you need to consider before you make your decision.
How do these two strategies differ?
Weekly rental
Weekly rentals mean guests have to book the property for a whole week, often from Saturday to Saturday (or any other day decided by the chalet owner). Arrival is usually after 4 pm in the afternoon, and departure is often before 11 am a week later. This gives the owners, managers and/or caretakers a few hours to clean and prepare the chalet for the next guests.
This rental strategy is simple to set up and organise as the rotation of tenants is determined in advance, as are the cleaning and reception tasks. If these are managed by an agency, this may not affect your schedule as an owner, but it can reduce costs considerably.
The pricing strategy should therefore be adapted to a weekly rate. These weekly rates can be interesting as they allow for a more stable income, making it easier to estimate rental income.
Short stays
Shorter stays meet the needs of many holidaymakers who are looking for a place to stay for a long weekend or just a few days.
However, they make it more difficult to organise your calendar. You’ll need to manage the numerous bookings and organise them as well as possible so that you can meet the demands of guests while maximising occupancy.
Shorter stays mean more bookings throughout the year and therefore more holidaymakers. This means managing more departures and arrivals and maintenance of the property in between, which requires more time and organisation.
However, opting for a short-term rental strategy allows for more flexibility in pricing your chalet. You can vary prices easily, depending on the number of days of stay and the season, for example by setting a higher price for weekends or public holidays.
The factors you need to consider
The location of your property
If your property is in a popular resort, guests are more likely to be looking for short stays, to spend a few days. This type of tenant appreciates a flexible schedule, with no minimum number of nights, to meet their needs
For small towns and particular interests, such as regions near the sea or mountains, holidaymakers tend to stay for a week so that they can enjoy a relaxing holiday with family or friends. In this case, weekly rentals are preferable in order to optimise bookings.
The season
Your rental strategy also depends on the season. In the high season (winter and summer), OVO Network recommends that you only accept weekly bookings due to the popularity of the peak seasons. Plus, this helps rentals run smoothly throughout these periods.
However, in the low season (spring and autumn), when there is less demand, flexible bookings can be an interesting way of optimising rental income. Opening your calendar to short stays allows you to reach a different target group of holidaymakers, who might be looking to stay for a long weekend or a few days outside the school holidays.
In this case, it’s a good idea to work with a rental management professional, in order to adjust rental rates and establish a rental management strategy. That’s the best way to maximise rental income and profitability.
Your booking platform
The booking platform you use to manage bookings can also have a big impact on the efficiency of your rental strategy. Some platforms such as Airbnb or Booking.com offer mainly short-term rentals, while other online travel agencies specialise in weekly rentals.
So it’s important that the strategy you choose works well with the platform you use, in order to reach your target market. If holidaymakers are looking for short stays on Airbnb your property only allows weekly rentals, they will not turn to other offers which match their needs.
However, you can always choose a different rental platform to match your strategy. The key is to find one that allows you to maximise your rental income while keeping costs and the effort spent on your chalet down.
Your rental goals
Each owner may have different goals. Some prefer to rent very little, but at very high prices. Others, however, want to maximise their occupancy rate and are prepared to rent at much more realistic rates to keep their chalet full and maximise income steadily over the year.
When it comes to organisation, not every owner has time to take care of their rental property. It may be an extra income, an independent investment or a fully-fledged business, and this has an impact on the rental strategy. Therefore, it’s important to speak to experts in rental management who can help you with your strategy and business plan.
OVO Network’s advice
When it comes to renting out your mountain chalet, we at OVO Network believe that the most advantageous rental strategy is a combination of weekly rentals and short stays.
So the best rental strategy for your chalet is the one that meets your expectations and financial goals.
At OVO Network, we help chalet owners secure more bookings and sell their stays at the right rate, in order to increase the profitability of their property and maximise their income.
With an average annual occupancy rate of 78%, OVO Network is the leading rental management platform in the Alps.
Our experts use their experience, industry knowledge and know-how to help property owners choose the best rental strategy for them and guarantee maximum profitability. Subscribe to our newsletter to get all the information!
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