Seasonal rental: train yourself or not to determine your prices?

Are you wondering about the benefits of seasonal rental training ? Have you recently become the happy owner of a gîte or guest house, or do you already have several seasonal properties in your possession? Naturally, the desire to get into short-term rental tickled you and you went headlong into it.

Except, the joy quickly gave way to bitterness... You have no idea how to optimize your sales and the results do not live up to your expectations.

Discover in this article my experience, my beginner's mistakes in seasonal rental , but above all how I managed to take second place in the market, with an apartment with average potential.

My ambition? Help you achieve the same result as me. Because you too can achieve it. And I'll explain why!

1 – Getting started in seasonal rental: from dream to reality

The first tentative steps in seasonal rental

into short-term rental for the first time , we all have a first instinct! That of surfing the web, looking for the best information available.

From then on, the questions arose: 

• Is this a good idea?
• How do I make sure I don't make mistakes?
• What risk am I taking?

The fear of making a mistake is natural! In fact, the financial stakes are much greater than if you were buying a television or a car. But fortunately, the presence of kind souls online and their enlightened sharing of information reassures you and ultimately convinces novices and future seasoned investors to dare to move forward in this jungle!

Boosted like never before by all this encouragement, the investment finally came to fruition. The time has now come to leave an emotional autograph with the notary . The highway to Eldorado real estate, and the world of tourism, is opening up to us!

Time has arrived, time to launch the activity!

When awareness arrives...

Suddenly, we realize that we are facing a profession in its own right, with its rules, its codes and its subtleties. At this precise moment, the reality on the ground can underline the importance of having experience in real estate . But rest assured, field practice is also fundamental and constructive.

Very quickly, we realize that this new activity is studded with a whole bunch of additional expertise to master, except that at this stage, for my part I am in the discovery phase!

• household management
• catering (if breakfast is offered)
• maintenance of the premises
• making a reservation
• online presence
• reception and customer relations with visitors
• accounting, legal and tax aspects
• and the NERVE OF THE WAR: prices and sales volume!

What person would not feel overwhelmed when faced with so many varied aspects to master?  

• What if I had been too optimistic? 
• What if succeeding in seasonal rental requires a whole operational aspect that I hadn't been fully aware of until now?

Suddenly, we realize that in the event of poor performance, the profitability of seasonal rentals can collapse, and with it, other life projects.

What to think? Goodbye to the freedom, serenity and financial stability you dreamed of?

Don't panic, I experienced these moments of doubt myself when investing in stone !

Want to know more about the outcome of my experience? Pay attention to the following lines…

2 – Investing in stone: my feedback

You know the expression fall 9 times and get up 10? I am one of those who think that failing is a great privilege! Besides, did you know that my real estate journey began with a mistake?

My beginnings as a vacation rental manager

For the record, I started to have a real interest in real estate investment when I signed my main residence . So I was surprised to discover that in terms of timing, it was not the right moment. I should not have prioritized the primary residence.

But never mind! I was already too committed, so I decided to make it an asset despite everything.

In July 2018, I suggested to my husband that we try to list one of our 3 rooms on Airbnb . The objective was to make our empty space profitable and repay our property loan , without spending €1. So I write the text and its description , and let some sales happen, without worrying too much about it.

The main goal being to verify that we were really capable of living with other people, moreover on vacation (not the same hours as us) and from sometimes very different cultures (with all the more or less comical consequences that this can cause ).

Finally, at the end of the summer we decided to launch the activity with the status of a guest house . And I must admit that with my 10 years of experience in revenue management , I was completely confident about pricing and sales performance .

From the start and as everyone is used to doing, I carry out a quick benchmark of my competitors. Then, I set my price a little lower, for the first two months, in order to garner positive reviews.

But, quickly (and this is where my professional experience was useful to me), I noticed thanks to two indicators that the demand was (in fact) very strong, and that I was completely missing out of opportunities.

📊 Two key indicators:

• A very late reservation , throughout the month of September, sometimes the same day until 9 p.m.

This element is very revealing, if some people encounter difficulties finding accommodation on the same day, moreover at that time, it is because demand is high.

• A busy period : it is my hotel experience in the area where I live, which allowed me to remember that September/October have always been very good months in terms of attendance .

Back to school is indeed a dynamic period: 

• the return of professional activity;
• many life changes also occur during this period (arrival in a new city for studies or work);
• lounges and leisure activities resume operations.

First assessment and conclusions

I therefore decided to learn from this experience, by rectifying the situation.

🔎 Awareness and hard return to reality

1. I completely missed the opportunity
2. Why couldn't I do for myself what I was capable of doing for my employers for 10 years? (Namely surfing on the opportunity and strong demand).

📝 Inventory of breaches

To better understand what happened, I list all the missing data to succeed in my project

1. market and competition figures; 
2. tracking my own numbers;
3. I did not apply the simple and effective methods that I used with my past employers.

🔑  Findings and setting up a 'homemade' toolbox !

• I carry out in-depth monitoring work , gleaning relevant sources of information to monitor the market;
• I create my own tool (on Excel) to monitor my performance;
• I implement and adapt what I did in large groups for a smaller independent activity. And it works!

💯 And it works! The results are there!

▶️ I achieve +150% performance compared to my market

▶️I become number 2 in my city , with a simple classic apartment of 76m2 (versus number 1 and number 3 which are houses with gardens, and number 4 a huge artist's loft).

This is how I decided to share these ideas and methods on the forums. Building on this success and faced with real demand, I immersed myself in a new professional adventure, creating in January 2019: JannonceComplet.com , a site on which I share my expertise.

From then on, I received more and more requests on the subject of seasonal rental . I then offer individual coaching to support my clients in their reflections and implement concrete action plans .

3 – When training alone with what already exists is not enough!

It is, in fact, probably the only poor relation of learning and information in real estate/independent tourism (in the French-speaking world). 

• We have the opportunity to be guided on all aspects of the investment;
• But we remain alone when faced with the relatively technical issues of revenue management and maximizing turnover.

And yet, a real need is expressed. As evidenced by the various requests from several hundred subscribers from my YouTube and Facebook .

I am often asked about the following topics: 

• Know how to increase the profitability of your assets and their profitability
• Increase occupancy rates.

Customer testimonials: 

“I lower prices, but the market doesn’t always react. Sometimes I feel like I didn't react quickly enough, I could have generated more margin. »

“The change in customer booking behavior. Increasingly at the last minute, which makes optimizing fill and revenue more complex. »

“Competitors’ low prices drive prices down and therefore my turnover”

“I want to increase my margin on my turnover. I have 7 apartments and this could be beneficial if I get there.”

What you will mainly find on the web are roadmaps on all aspects of real estate investing . But when we face these situations mentioned above: books are not enough! On the one hand, they are few in number in the field, and on the other hand they are very generic and theoretical.

I have this dual passion: real estate/ revenue management ! Today, I want to put my expertise at your service, in order to compensate for this lack of personalized support.

Who am I and how can I help you?

I am Elise Ripoche , a graduate of ESSCA , a business school in which I prepared a master 2 with a double specialization: Pricing and Revenue Management. This course trains highly sought-after professionals in the hospitality, transport and leisure sectors. Thanks to this professional course, I have acquired broad skills in accommodation pricing strategy.

But nothing beats the field experience that I acquired during 10 years within large groups. It was she who forged and sharpened my abilities to maximize the turnover of a service company. 

It is therefore my concrete knowledge of the profession, as well as the methods implemented for my apartment, which lead me today to share my experience with you.

🔑To benefit all those who wish to advance in their activity & invest in themselves: in the service of their life projects.

4 – Why training in seasonal rental is essential!

You guessed it, the moral of this story is that nothing is finished after the signature at the notary. On the contrary, this is only the beginning. Those who will truly achieve their goals, personal and professional, are those who will continue the marathon of skills development, valiantly over the following months, to get the maximum benefit from their investment.

Indeed, thanks to revenue management , you have in your hands the POWER to maximize the performance of your operation.

Maximizing means: getting the maximum turnover from what you do, namely: 

• Achieve the level of profitability that you had expected to exceed;
• Have more money to delegate the rest of the activity;
• Increase your monthly income linked to this activity;
• Free up debt capacity to continue investing;
• Achieve your real estate goals more quickly;
• See your most precious life projects come true;
• No longer be in constant doubt about your activity (and save yourself a few sleepless nights).

By spending some of your time capitalizing on yourself , and gaining skills on this subject, you ensure performance that goes well beyond these few months of training.

It's a lifelong baggage, for an investment and all the following ones! 

5 – Seasonal renters: everything you need to know about my distance learning in Revenue Management

Today, I therefore carry out individual and personalized coaching, in order to apply and implement my methods.

The topics covered are:

✅ Understand the foundations of Revenue Management and its language elements (understand the figures given by state entities on the tourism market)

✅ Determine your prices in advance: what should you look at? how many prizes are needed? how to decide on the amount? When to change the price?

✅ Monitor your own performance and identify risks and opportunities in future periods to fill the apartment as much as possible and obviously at the best price depending on the potential of the period.

✅ Know how to optimize inventory by length of stay.

✅ Use tools like AIRDNA ​​to do this.

✅ Use Excel to have an informed eye on your own performance.

✅ Optimize your performance by reducing shortfalls: cleaning costs, cancellations, distribution channels (reduce commissions)

This personalized support satisfies and meets the expectations of my clients. As such, I have already been able to identify potential turnover growth of up to 30%.

I am aware that individual coaching represents a cost, even a luxury, and that not everyone necessarily has the means to afford it.

On the other hand, I am only able to carry out one coaching session per month. I therefore want to make it more accessible financially and in terms of time, by working on a digital version.

6 – Join profitable pilot training!

I am currently launching a complete online support and training program called Profitable Piloting.

In this training I give you a concrete guarantee! If you do not make at least +20% income with me I will refund you.

🚀 The detailed training program is available here 🚀

This training is different from what you usually see online:

⏺ only concrete things that I have been able to apply myself in seasonal rental

⏺ you are not alone behind your computer, my online training is combined with 8 times 30 minutes of individual coaching with you, to answer your doubts and allow you to benefit from my expertise

⏺ your satisfaction is my priority: 1) test 30 days satisfied or I refund you and 2) I guarantee +20% turnover or I refund you

⏺ there is no specific knowledge to have in math or other complex expertise. If you have attended primary school math classes you are equipped for this training (multiplications, divisions, etc.)

The only small problem:

1/ My way of training (online training combined with individual coaching) does not allow me to constitute a very large class of students.

2/ So it’s first come, first served!

Want to join the team?

🚀 Register for Profitable pilot training 🚀