Rev Up - Volume 9 - New Owner Mythbusters - October 2023

Welcome back to Rev Up with the Brett/Robinson Revenue Management team!
As a department, we often get questions from owners new to either our rental program, or the short-term/vacation rental industry altogether. We definitely understand, and always do our best to help our new owners understand what we’re seeing, but we also wanted to take a chance to do a little “MythBusters” for new owners!

Myth 1: My Revenue Will Exactly Match My Rental Revenue Projection
Truth: While we have over 40 years’ worth of rental data, our numbers are better served to be a guideline than an exact estimate.  As you’re well aware, your unit is unique – there’s no other property exactly like yours.  As a result, our team will work to tailor your revenue projection to similar units, while taking into account the unique aspects your property offers as well.  What we typically see is that our projections for a full year end up being very close, but in many cases, there are slight variations in the rates and total occupancy for some of the seasons you may have seen on your revenue projection!

Myth 2: My Unit Won’t Show Up Because It’s New
Truth: Even before your first rentable day on our program, we’ve listed your property on our website, on VRBO, AirBnB, Booking.com, Expedia, Whimstay, and many other Online Travel Agencies (OTAs).  We have also worked to curate a wonderful description for your property, worked to get pictures of your property depending on availability to get into the property), and worked to list your property on our website’s Hot Units page.

Myth 3: My Unit Should Have 90% Occupancy All Year
Truth: A good year for most properties means about 225 occupied revenue nights, or about 62% occupancy.  This may sound low, but this typically means we fill about 6% (or 22 nights!) more than what our competitors fill.  Multiplied by your average nightly rate, that’s a lot of money!  

 
Myth 4: I Should Never Sell for Less than $X Per Night
Truth: While we agree that your investment property is amazing, preconceived rate minimums can kill your property's ability to maximize revenue.  Each year, and really each month is different, and the market will tell us what we can charge to maximize your revenue.  We have a full-time three person revenue management team, and use a fantastic revenue management consulting firm to ensure your unit sells for the right rate at the right time to maximize your revenue for each available day!

We hope this helps answer a few questions for you, but we do understand that asking questions is important to you, and we’re more than happy to answer any additional questions you may have.

If you do have any additional questions or suggestions on what you’d like to see us discuss here in the future, please shoot an email to us at revenuemanagement@brettrobinson.com and we’d be happy to dive in and discuss!