Peak vacation rental season is when many hosts make the most revenue. Make sure your property is ready to attract guests and get bookings.

How to Prepare Your Airbnb for Peak Season

Whether you own a beach home that's popular in the summer or a ski condo that rocks the winter, the time leading up to peak rental season has vacation home owners and managers doing lots of pre-season prep. In addition to making sure the home is ready, there are also administrative tasks you shouldn’t ignore. Double checking and updating your listing on Airbnb, Vrbo, or whatever platform you list on helps ensure you’re fully booked at a top rate all season long.

Here are some often overlooked areas that we recommend updating before peak rental season hits.

If you’re a vacation rental owner, you know your area inside and out. But things change! More listings may come on the market, which amenities are most popular, and even the nightly rates can all vary season to season. Just like you did before buying or listing your vacation rental, take some time to research the market to see what’s different and what you may need to adjust to keep up and stand out. (Psst—an accurate data tool makes this process a lot faster and easier!)

When, exactly, is your peak season? While you might feel like you already know the answer to this question, it’s always good to double check. Travel trends have changed significantly since 2020, and people are traveling more during what were once traditional shoulder seasons. This means popular ski areas are seeing summer spikes, and guests with travel flexibility are discovering how lovely beaches are in the fall. Or people may be traveling midweek to save on airfare or miss traffic.

Checking seasonality trends for the past year only takes a couple minutes and gives you the confidence of knowing you’re not priced too low on (new) high demand days.

Many areas are seeing the number of available short-term rentals (STRs) increase. There’s nothing you can do to stop that. All you can do is make your listing as appealing as possible. While you can do that with decor, amenities, and pricing, you should also take a careful look at your policies. Is there room to be less strict on your cancellation policy? Is your cleaning fee reasonable and in-line with the rest of the homes in your area? Is it time to be pet-friendly or stop charging for extra guests?

While you might ultimately decide not to change any of your policies, revisiting them once a year before peak season gives you a chance to think of creative ways to be more appealing to this season’s guests.

Just like seasonality shifts, when people book vacations tends to change a little each year. In good times people may plan (and book) trips well in advance. But in more uncertain economic times, travelers tend to wait longer to book their vacations. This can leave many hosts wondering why their calendars aren’t filling up like normal.

Before panicking, look into booking lead times to see how far in advance guests are booking stays in your area right now. Just because people “have always” booked months in advance doesn’t mean they always will. It’s also helpful to see how many properties in your area are already booked for peak season versus how many are still available. If there is still a good amount of availability, then it’s not just your listing; it’s a market-wide trend! Knowing what's happening right now can help you plan when to adjust your rates, if you need to at all.

The best way to get guests is to make your listing as appealing as possible. This means refreshing your professional photos as needed, making sure your listing details are accurate, and filling in any new features Airbnb or Vrbo added (like Airbnb’s new checkout instructions area). 

Before each peak rental season, pay special attention to the amenities section on the listing platforms. More and more options are added to these lists and you want to show off everything you have. Keeping your listing fresh and up to date helps you appear higher in search results and can attract eager guests.

See the revenue potential of your short-term rental to see if you're on track.

How to Prepare Your Airbnb for Peak Season

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