Go Day!

[00:00:02] This is Short Term Rental Management, the show that is all about short term rental property management with your host, yours truly, Luke Carl. [00:00:16] Short Term Rental Management. I love you. I want to talk about go day. Go day. Go day. Go Day. It's go day. It is not go day, but it will be soon. March 15th is go day. March 15. This is for all seasonal vacation rental markets. [00:00:34] This is the day that things start to get a little less difficult. As things start to pick up, they get difficult in the way that you're now going to have to remember what it's like to deal with guests, but less difficult as far as getting bookings. [00:00:50] And it's go time. Go time. Go day. March 15th. [00:00:57] Okay, so it's something to talk about in all aspects of basically vacation rental real estate. [00:01:04] This is the day that kind of marks the first day of the year as far as bookings are concerned. Especially if you're in the beach. If you're on the beach, you don't really expect anything in like December, January, February, maybe November as well. Depends on which beach beach market you were in. [00:01:19] And then March 15, go day is when things get real again. That's when you got to start remembering how to do your job. Communicating with guests, dealing with plumbers, electricians, fixing the things that you didn't get to in the off season, etc. [00:01:34] Okay. And this day does mark a big shift in the pricing of your calendar. [00:01:42] And we will also see a ton of booking happen. Bookings happen around GO day because I'm gonna tell you right now, in that first day, I live in the Deep south, so this is gonna be a little different. If you live in Wisconsin. That first day, we're putting shorts on. People start to think about vacations and they're starting to look at vrbo. They're starting to look at Airbnb. Oh, man, where can I go? What can I do? How do I get out of town? [00:02:05] And then they will start to book vacations. If you are in a beach market your entire summer, your entire season could fill up with the three weeks surrounding GO Day. Three to four weeks surrounding GO Day is where you can a lot of times get the bulk of your season. Do you want to book your entire season in a three to four week period? No, but it is very common and especially in a heavy duty beach market. [00:02:31] Mountain markets, not so much. Especially in smaller properties, not so much. [00:02:37] In general, we want to run our calendar at a 28 to 30 day occupancy in advance. 28 to 30 day spread from today is where we want to keep it filled. [00:02:51] Just kind of old school. Traditional vacation rental pricing rule of thumb, 28 to 30 days from today, you kind of want to be booked. And that is when Go day is when that really takes, takes hold. Because January, February, in most markets, you're not going to get 28 days filled on your calendar. You're going to have a lot of occupancy. [00:03:13] So the 28 to 30 day thing begins on go day and it will end on done day. We call it done day. The season's done, it's over. This is going to be a different day in every market. Usually going to be about the end of October. Just a general rule of thumb for most vacation rental markets, most travel markets, most drive to regional vacation markets, Done day is going to be about the end of October, with many exceptions. [00:03:45] And there's your season from Go day to Dundee, March 15, end of October. [00:03:52] So if you like to have some time off, much like a school teacher, this is a great geek season. The holiday season gets stressful, gets busy. It's probably going to be a little bit slower. [00:04:07] You can chill a little bit. Now, Holiday guest is a terrible example because they're very high maintenance, but you get the idea. So let's pull up a calendar and talk about this in the, in the, in the form of 2025, which is when I'm recording this right. So here's a 2025 calendar. I'm recording this in January. Just full disclosure. So today is highlighted, obviously. January and February, pretty empty. [00:04:32] Go day is here. Go day is on a Saturday this year, which proves my point even more. And it's going to be like representing my point because it's a Saturday. [00:04:43] Where did it go? Right here. It's a Saturday and it's going to start to get hot. That'll be your first weekend of the major booking season. April should be no problem. [00:04:54] Maybe Deadville. Okay. March and April are pretty easy. They have a very similar personality. January and February, Deadville, very similar personalities. March and April, similar personalities. Go day starts here. First two weeks could be a little slow, but if you do it right, you should get them booked. Do it right, meaning keep them a little lower. April should be no problem. With few exceptions, May is dead. Spring break is over. Mom and dad spent their money. The kids are back in school here in May. No more spring break and no more money. So we are spending the month of May at school, doing homework, getting ready for the end of the year and the end of the school year and graduation and everything. Else school play or whatever they're doing. [00:05:38] Then June rolls around, kids are out of school, back to go time, right? So this is all hell breaks loose. May and July have a very similar personality. All right, ladies and gentlemen, Smarter Short Term Rentals is now available. [00:06:03] The new book from Avery Carle, Smarter Short Term Rentals. Build a dynamic real estate business and out host the competition. [00:06:16] If you want to take your short term rental to the next level, pick up the new book, Smarter Short Term Rentals. Wherever books are sold, 4th of July obviously is what it is. It's heavy duty. June and July should be very occupied and as high prices you're going to get all season. In most markets, not all markets, August has the same personality as March. [00:06:42] It's going to slow down quite a bit. It is a different perspective though, because March is coming from dead season. [00:06:49] April's coming from August. I'm sorry, the other a. August is coming from heavy season. [00:06:57] Okay. So therefore March will feel a little bit more light and fluffy than August. August, you're a little bit disappointed. March, you're starting to see some money roll in and you're starting to get excited. Closer we get to go day. [00:07:11] September and May, same personality. [00:07:16] September and May have the same personality. Okay, dead summer's over. Kids are back in school. Mom and dad spent all their money. Nobody's traveling. [00:07:28] September and May can and will get bookings, but they need to happen very far in advance. Very similar to my circle of seasonality video, which you should have easy access to. [00:07:42] October, pretty good month. Both mountain and beach. Definitely better in mountain markets. The leaves are changing colors. It's gorgeous, it's beautiful. The weather's perfect. [00:07:52] October, very nice month in mountain markets. Generally, depending on your beach, market can do a little better than September. Has a slightly better personality than September. [00:08:05] Okay, then November and December, same personality. [00:08:09] Got a major holiday at the end. Got a major holiday at the end. First couple of weeks are garbage. First couple of weeks are garbage. So all that to be said, you're only dealing with about six personalities. Here's one. Jan and Feb, one personality. March and April, pretty similar personalities. March and August, very similar personalities. [00:08:29] May and September are the same personality. June and July are the same personality. October is kind of its own thing really. I would say October and April are the only ones with their own personality. The other ones are all ripping off another month. And then of course, November and December, same personality. [00:08:51] Okay, so go day is March 15th. You should be shaping your calendar around go day. [00:08:56] And done day is the end of October with many, many, many exceptions, especially the major holidays and November and December being the major exceptions in the off season, which is past Sunday and before GO day. All right, hopefully this was a little bit helpful. We all need to be paying a lot of attention to go day every year. March 15th. That's when it is on like Donkey Kong Baby, Luke, Carl, Short Term Shop. Plus I love.