Getting the beginning and end of summer booked

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I would like to hear from those of you who have children in school, and from those of you who rent your property by the week only during the summer peak season. And from those of you who always take a week long vacation somewhere.

  1. Do you have a full 12 week season and do you book out all 12 weeks? Do you mind sharing the city your rental is in?

  2. What date did your kids get out of school? Are they in elementary, high school, college, etc.?

  3. What date do your children go back to school?

  4. Are the beginning and ending of the season weeks booked by families with children, or are they booked by couples, etc.?

  5. Do you always take a week long vacation every year? (what is your group dynamic…couple only, couple with another couple, family with kids,) When do you usually take this?

It seems difficult to book some June dates as people have taken their Memorial Day weekend vacation already and some kids are not out of school till sometime in June. And then it’s difficult to book the end of August as some kids are back in school, and most people are awaiting their Labor Day weekend trip.

I have 15 days booked for June this year, and still need to try my best to sell the 25th - 30th. I really thought the end of June would have been taken - but looking at some of my competitors calendars…they are also empty.

Last year, the last two weeks of August were horrible for so many in my area. It was just dead for some reason. So this year I reduced the nightly rate (during that time) by $25 and do have 7 nights booked so far (towards the end of the month). The begining of August looks good (but that is prime peak season). Also my end of month bookings could be due to the majority of listings on VRBO now having the service added. My listing does not have the service fee, so maybe I appeared to be a better value.

Also, sometimes it doesn’t seem to matter if you reduce the rate…it’s just that maybe some people aren’t booking at all.

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Even though my kids are out of school and in university, I can tell you that Hawaii, like many places, has the modified school year. It’s still the same number of instruction days but the start and and end dates are different, as are the break periods.

A rough example: School was out this year May 26. It starts again approximately the last week of July or first of August. There is a fall break first week of October and two weeks at Christmas. Another week at Easter.

This is the same for all levels elementary, middle and high. Our public university begins mid August and is out mid May with two weeks at Christmas.

California and many other states maintain the traditional year, where school starts after Labor Day. So the short answer is, it totally varies!

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Even within 50 miles, the school schedules vary greatly.

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Yes, they vary greatly…lol. That’s why I asked if people care to share where their rental is. Do you have kids in school?

I probably should have mentioned where most of my guests come from:

NC
SC
FL
GA
TX
VA

Then I get others trickling from Ohio and other places. Sometimes through sites like Air and Flipkey I have no idea where the guest originates. But when guests sign my contract they have to list their permanent address.

I like to rent out Christmas week and New Years Week to Floridians - they seem to fill those dates. I can’t decide yet what will work this year for the coming holidays though.

I really want to know what kind of groups fill in a 12 week full season from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day weekend…