I’m in Naples, Florida, and fear I won’t get enough bookings during the off-season months to cover my rent. I’m thinking of blocking off April through October to rent on a weekly or monthly basis on Craig’s List. Any advice or suggestions, please. Thanks, Bill
We are in the middle of Florida, and cater to snowbirds. We do the opposite. Our high season winter month, Jan, Feb, Mar, and April are by the month. During the summer we drop to minimum 3 days and fill out the months piecemeal.
I am in Hollywood. You are right . You won’t .
That’s what I do exactly with Craigslist . But the thing is when you start doing weekly then your guests will want to stay longer and eventually you will like the easiness and non interrupted income from these guests. That’s what happened in my case. Now in one house I have all 3 guests who never want to leave .
Overall yearly it’s same money but much less work
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Why can’t you do same during summer? I have big success doing monthly and more with relocated workers . Prices here drop so much during summer that for me it’s not even worth to do all this bed changing and cleaning and corresponding with guests
This is a retirement community. We do get families visiting grandparents, folks checking out the community to see if they’d like to retire here, and people out for memorial services.
Some folks do rent out to construction workers via craigslist but they tend to overload the houses, over park the streets, and annoy the neighbors.
I’m just up the road in South Fort Myers. We don’t get a lot of summer business, but we get some – mostly central Floridians (like @Charmed59) and others wanting the beaches. shopping for houses, visiting family, etc. I would not block off April-October for weekly/monthly rentals. Last year we were booked solid for May; and then the door closed. There are even less of weekly/monthly guests than short term in summer, even if you’re on the beach. Plus, if you block out big chunks I believe you fall down in the listings because of non-availability.
Beginning in May though, we block bits and pieces as we take our vacations – whether those are long weekend breaks, trips abroad for 2-3 weeks, summer holidays – whatever.
The other thing is, we cut our rates for off-Season. The Poolside Cabana with Gourmet Flair, in Season from late November to the end of May goes for $95 a night. Off-Season it goes for $65 a night, still including a prepared breakfast (although I have a shorter breakfast menu).
On the season versus off season- our off season rates vary month by month. Our lowest rates are less than half our high season rates.
One of our homes does book up pretty consistently year round, as it has a pool. The other is much cheaper to run, so even though summer months may be sparse we usually cover costs.
The other pricing aspect we mess with is our weekly rates are 5x our daily rates. Our monthly rate is 3.5 x our weekly rate. So for Dec, which is not considered high season here, our short stays mean we made more for Dec than we do the month of Jan.
You probably will but you’ll have to diversify a bit. If you mean ‘not enough bookings from Airbnb’ you might be right.
I’m in Fort Lauderdale and we have two apartments that are full year round. It’s easy in the season, that’s when you can rely on Airbnb. But during the summer months, there’s also a strong demand for short term accommodation.
I would imagine (okay I might not be spot on here, I realise) that in Naples there are still some events during the summer months (theatre productions coming into town, conferences, sports events etc.)
There will still be people who want to go to your area to visit family and friends. If I remember correctly, Naples has hospitals? (Visiting medical staff). And could there be any sort of activity in the Everglades or is it too mosquito-y?
The problem is, that you have to find these people rather than have Airbnb do it for you.Call any organisations (businesses, hospitals, arts centers etc.) that might have people visiting and let them know all about your rental. Does Naples have any sort of visitors’ centre? A sports stadium or venue? Are there any training centres? (When I was in the UK I got many many guests from the local police training establishment).
But you have to put yourself out there. Call, don’t email.
If however you do decide to go for longer term guests then note that it may take some time for Airbnb to get you back in the swing of things when you return.
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Thanks to all who responded. Very helpful information.
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I would suggest you do not expect the STR income to cover all your expenses. That does not sound realistic unless you are in a high demand area that is not seasonal. Work on other income streams.
RR
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I’m south of Tampa and don’t depend upon AirBnB to pay my mortgage or all my bills, it’s nice extra money.
That being said, I’m also considering doing longer term rentals during the summer months in order to have a steady income with less turnover.
I do get people coming, though, mostly to do walk-throughs of their houses in the new developments popping up like sores in our once peaceful agricultural/beach community. Then there are the family reunions, weddings, funerals, etc. Once you get enough traction on the site, you’ll see an uptick in your business.
I won’t do CraigsList - it’s a room in my home and I’m not comfortable with that.
Good luck!
Why do you think that Craigslist is less safer than Airbnb? Do you think Airbnb screens their guests so carefully that there is no chance of foul game? I had Airbnb guests cut with knife other guests luggage and stealing a bunch of valuables . I can tell you other stories also.
And in event of robbery or other scandals all you will hear from Air is to call police .
I am not sure why hosts rely on Airbnb so much in safety matter . This is just a rental platform . It’s not in their power to really do anything about our safety .
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It’s realistic in my case …not only it covers my expenses but gives me extra to play and save.
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Before you jump down my throat, try asking me WHY I don’t use CL. Yeah, it’s great for other people in other areas. BUT I don’t do CraigsList because the area I’m in gets a TON of scammers and scuzzy people. A TON. I’ve been on CL and it didn’t work. At all. I don’t need some meth head offering sex for a room, thankyouverymuch.
Even if I wasn’t a part of this forum, I knew what Air was when I started using it in 2012.
I’m well aware that AirBnB is just a transaction platform - my company writes custom web-based transaction software for our clients. I’m also aware that I’m fully responsible for my own safety and am responsible for my listing.
I was just asking a question.
Lots of people think of Craigslist as unsafe place . Media played it’s role in it. I get scammers too every single day, I just ignore them . I am in good area but I also get tons of non desirable applicants for me.
I think we are more vulnerable with Airbnb in safety issue than Craigslist because we personally can’t screen anyone before they rent from us . With Craigslist we can. I refused quite a bit of people after I checked their records …or just personal impression and based on my intuition and experience .
As I said earlier with Air you just never know. That’s why I am on IB because when I don’t see a person I can’t screen anyone .
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