Perdido Key Resort Management - Fall Rental Insights

Perdido Key Rentals Season Insights

The bookends of Summer are Memorial Day weekend and the start of grade school in the areas our vacationers are typically coming from(approx 8 hr radius). Leading up to the summer we see the winter's extended-stay rentals, a spring which has similar bookends(Mardi Gras and Easter), and a shoulder season from post-Easter until Memorial Day. In recent years, our destination has worked with success to encourage stronger bookings in early and mid-May by way of events, festivals, and generally better exposure as a destination. There is a large audience to be captured for short-stays, so the event organizers coupled with funding mechanisms (i.e. county tourism organizations and venue-owners) have continued to work to increase tourism during that specific time. We have a strong online presence and a large pool of repeat guests, so this all works to make bookings happen. We're seeing similar success with October. August, however, still lacks these drivers so once school is back in session the rental calendars reflect the decrease. Leading up to that time my reservations sales staff is crafting outbound emails to past guests who stay in late-July thru September to proactively, rather than simply reactively waiting for our phone to ring, seek out leads for the shoulder season. In years where schools are note back in session until later, August is busier. This year, with the way the month fell, our vacationers did not have a Saturday-to-Saturday week in August at all in which to come to Perdido Key. What is the takeaway from all that? When schools are not going to have at least one full Saturday-to-Saturday week in August before most are having grade-school orientation, August will surely be lighter than when the opposite is true. As your property is on the program longer, my reservations sales team will be able to hone in on our past guests and touch base with those who have not yet re-rented with the goal of funneling them to off-weeks like August allowing the busier times to fill themselves. We have a similar approach with November-February short-stays when there isn't a military or snowbird guest yet confirmed and we offer a repeat guest incentive which only applies to past guests, but only for daily and weekly stays during those months. Moving further ahead, the snowbird rentals will be mostly coming to an end as we enter March, hopefully no later than the weekend leading up to Mardi Gras. Why? While Mardi Gras isn't popular in Pensacola, it is in TX, LA, and MS where grade school children have a 5-day weekend. Families in these areas collectively make up a mass exodus in search of 3-5 day mini-vacations making it the leading bookend of the spring season. Mardi Gras and Easter slide together each year 47-days apart which make up our spring. An early Mardi Gras(in February) means that we'll have a shorter spring rental season whereas a later Mardi Gras typically means we'll have a longer spring rental season. After our spring rental season, we're back to May and the cycle repeats with some variances. These variances include: 

a. how late Memorial Day occurs in May; later means that schools are likely out and earlier means that schools are still in session even after the 3-day weekend. 

b. which day of the week July 4th falls. The worst is when it falls on a Saturday because then most folks won't want to travel on that day making short-stay requests much more prevalent. In these years, we look to consider a Sunday turn-day for the week immediately after July 4th and a 6, rather than 7, night minimum to get back onto a Saturday-to-Saturday rotation. *The same can be said for July 4th falling on a Sunday and how that would impact the few rental offices which aim to typically drive Sunday-to-Sunday turn-days (not many in our area do this). 

c. when in August most grade schools within an 8-hour radius begin their school year.

d. where Mardi Gras or Easter falls on the calendar

The booking strategy is tweaked based largely on these variances. In some years, taking a snowbird or other extended-stay bookings which lasts thru March is a good decision. This goes for other adjustments to the normal booking approach based on the other factors.

Looking ahead into the Fall and Winter

The fall goal for properties not used by the property owners is three-fold.

The first being to seek out extended-stay bookings from traveling professionals such as nurses and military members completing training, schooling, working, or who are renting until they find something to purchase. The reservation sales staff is on the lookout for military rental or snowbirds to fill that large gap which is the most difficult of the entire year to fill (Nov-Jan) in the absence of a repeat guest who stays several months every year. That bird in the hand (pun intended) is better than waiting for two in the bush as it ensures revenue for the slow season.

The second is to continue to drive short-stays wherever possible leveraging events, holidays, past guest data, and incentives. The Labor Day pop of bookings and subsequent 3-to-7 night September rentals are, oddly enough, most heavily influenced by reports of inclement weather (this year being no exception with Hurricane Dorian). Without the concern of bad weather, the office continues to see short notice bookings and booking requests come in daily which covers the entire gamut; phone, email, listing websites, and online bookings. If there is any talk of storms in the news it all dries up until the concern passes. Currently, though we're very early in the looking towards the fall, it looks like we'll see short-notice vacation rentals hit the calendar through mid-October which is progressively becoming more and more popular amongst travelers and I'm hoping will become for our second half of the year what May is to our first-half of the year; a month of festivals and wonderful weather. We're seeing a lot of early-October bookings on the calendars already for the annual festivals. We'll surely work to book as many as possible! 

The third goal is to complete any deferred maintenance, treatments, necessary seasonal cleaning, and updates to the properties. We will begin our fall deep cleans on all properties on September 22nd. Our plan this fall is to have a handful of properties each week blocked out for 5-8 nights, this time is less impactful to the current year’s revenue than other times of higher demand. During this time we will be completing quite a bit. Maintenance will be; checking all lights & ceiling fans, taking down and cleaning all AC vents throughout the property, double-checking the AC filter for date and cleanliness, inspecting AC drain pans, changing out all smoke detectors that are 9 years or older, changing batteries as needed, double-checking the wifi has not been reset earlier in the summer rental season(this is fairly common), cleaning drains in bathroom sinks and tubs, inspecting carpets, checking all of the sleeper sofas for wear and proper function, checking to ensure all properties have active phone service, check tub and commode caulking in bathrooms, checking that all TV's and remotes work properly, inspecting and cleaning refrigerator door water/ice dispensers, checking and replacing as needed all hinge and baseboard mounted doorstops, and checking kitchen chairs and table ensuring none are wobbly. This list was generated after reviewing work orders and troubleshooting calls over the past 24 months to see which things were most common in the properties. Additionally, PKRM added to our services (at no charge to our property owners) an addition pest control service this year. Owning a property that is primarily used as a short term rental warrants adhering to ever-increasing standards in the eyes of our vacationers. This includes being reassured they will arrive at a clean condo as well as acknowledging rising safety standards. Some of these safety measures include having fire extinguishers, testing and ensuring working smoke detectors are present, as well as having effective pest control services in place. Recently, along the Gulf Coast more and more properties are seeing instances of bedbugs. Luckily, most property owners in Perdido Key have not ever had to deal with this problem. Turning a blind eye to this is an ineffective and irresponsible approach, not to mention the fact that treatment is expensive (often over $2k) and renders a property unavailable until remedied. It is for these reasons that I have been evaluated proposals from professional pest control companies this year to better safeguard the condos on the rental program. As these types of pests cannot be entirely prevented, and they are not covered by HOA pest control contracts, having a plan in place is important. You'll be happy to learn that PKRM has selected Orkin to safeguard all properties on the rental program and, again, this is being provided at no charge to our property owners. If you would like more information about the protection we are beginning to implement, send me an email and I'll be happy to discuss it with you. Otherwise, simply feel good knowing that we're looking out for your property. We'll have our pest control vendor inspecting and treating all properties during this time. Lastly, while the regular departure cleans behind guests do a good job at sanitizing and making for a presentable property for the next renters, after a busy season it is necessary to complete more thorough cleaning of every short-term rental property. This is the time when the refrigerator is pulled out, sofas are moved to get behind, beds and other large furniture items moved, cabinets are cleaned out, and more to keep the property in tiptop shape. We will start these on Sunday the 22nd of this month. While this is something that the housekeepers do very well, know that you can complete this yourself if you prefer. If you would prefer to complete the deep cleaning service yourself please let Mrs. Renee, our Housekeeping Coordinator, know by Thursday the 19th of this month. Her email address is [email protected] and she will mark yours down as being done this fall when you’re in town (the deep cleaning checklist we require of the housekeepers is attached to this email). Properties occupied for the entire duration of this time won’t have this done and we’ll plan to have this completed after the departure. 

A short note regarding updates; if you have been considering making any updates to your property, now is a good time to schedule the work. If you are hoping to make changes, but don’t have contact with local vendors know that you should touch base with our office as we would be happy to help line this up for you. Projects may be inexpensive as a couple of hundred dollars and have a major impact on how well your property attracts new vacationers. The most common updating includes things like; new bedding, newly painted walls, changing the flooring, coordinating bathroom or kitchen updates, adding new lighting, new furniture, and updating the decor. The biggest bang for your buck for maintaining or increasing rental income tends to come with some of the lesser expensive projects like updating the bedding, painting the walls, new furniture, and updating the decor. If you already have something in mind and want to make it happen, please let me know and I'll help to make it happen. 

As you can tell, we are keeping very busy in the office! We are here to help if you need anything or have any questions about the fall and winter rental seasons. Thanks again for allowing my team to help you and I hope you are able to find your way back to Perdido Key again soon!

JD Hallam
GM - Perdido Key Resort Management
Broker/Owner - Perdido Key Resort Realty