Do These Three Things This Year, and Your Vacation Rental May Have to Close!

Visit the Snowball Rentals website 👉🏻 snowballrentals.com

Hello everyone. Today I want to discuss a serious topic: In 2025, the vacation-rental industry will face unprecedented challenges. If you are still operating with yesterday’s thinking, the market may leave you behind.

In particular, if you are still doing these three things, your vacation rental may really have to close!

First: Failing to recognize reality, adjust expectations and lower prices early

This year’s market conditions are extremely difficult.

Data show that the number of foreign visitors to the United States fell 12% from January to March 2025. Since April, with the outbreak of the tariff war, even domestic travelers have begun tightening their belts and cutting travel spending.

This is definitely not a year for chasing record summer revenue. It is a year to prioritize survival. If your pricing is still as aggressive as in previous years, hoping to gamble and make it back, that is very dangerous.

The market has changed and travelers’ spending power is falling. You must adjust your pricing promptly and attract guests with more conservative, competitive rates. Otherwise, soaring vacancy may be the result.

Second: Failing to swallow your pride and let guests gain a small advantage

This year’s short-term rental market has too many operators chasing too little demand: Demand is falling while supply continues to grow. Airbnb’s policies also clearly favor guests, significantly weakening owners’ bargaining power.

If guests raise minor issues during their stay and ask for a partial refund, even if you think it unreasonable, my advice is to tolerate it and let them gain a small advantage as long as the amount is small.

Removing bad reviews is extremely difficult this year. One malicious review could destroy two years of careful work. In such a fiercely competitive market, a fall in ratings could push your listing out of the market altogether.

Third: Failing to control costs and continuing to spend freely

In the past, we might have pursued a perfect experience and used high-end amenities to command a premium. This year, however, guests are watching their budgets and clearly trading down.

If you still spend heavily on unnecessary amenities, such as wine, BBQ grills, disposable slippers or organic laundry detergent, pushing your price too high, vacancy will become a real headache.

When the economy is weak, a business’s first step is to cut costs. Vacation rentals are no different: This year, expenses must be streamlined and prices lowered.

Remove amenities you can do without and downgrade what you can. Survive first!

Finally, markets move in cycles. During a downturn, the contest is about who can hold on longer.

If you adjust your strategy, control costs and hold on until the market recovers, spring will return. Owners, what do you think? Join our WeChat discussion group so we can support one another!

If you have any questions about short-term rentals, you are welcome to join the group and share experiences with other owners at any time!

If you:

Hope to increase rental income through short-term rentals;

Cannot spare a great deal of time to handle the small details;

Occasionally need to use the home yourself, making it unsuitable to empty out the furniture for a long-term rental;

Then:

Snowball Rentals’ management team is your best choice.

From pre-launch vacation-rental styling, big-data analysis and online marketing to tenant screening, dynamic pricing, customer service and sales, cleaning and repairs, Snowball Rentals provides everything as one complete service for your home.

This Week’s Booking Results

Through long-standing relationships with insurers, assignment companies and technology companies, Snowball Rentals rents homes for medium- and long-term durations at short-term rates, then gives owners a rebate of 5% in management fees to maximize their income.

Short-term rentals in peak season; mid-term rentals in low season.

This is a new strategy we have consistently followed since the low season began last September, supporting owners through the downturn together.

Looking back at earlier large bookings, this strategy has achieved some results, allowing us to retain confidence even in a cold winter!

Although peak season has arrived, we still cannot let our guard down. Policies and broader conditions are full of changes and challenges. Making steady progress will remain the main theme going forward.

The detached Mercer Island home below can be found on Redfin, where its estimated long-term monthly rent is about $6,595.

With the owner’s trust and support, we carefully furnished the home and immediately began short-term rental operations. Fortunately, because the home’s condition and location are both good, short- and mid-term bookings have continued to come in.

As shown in the booking screenshot below, a guest recently rented this home from May 18 to July 31, a total of 74 nights, at an average monthly rent of $9,396.

In summary, after Snowball Rentals began operating this property, its monthly rental income increased from $6,595 to $9,396, an increase of about 42%.

For homeowners, combining short- and mid-term rentals in this way can earn more in peak season and help them get through low season smoothly. Even if the low-season rental figures look less dramatic, they still outperform long-term rentals and give homeowners a strong sense of financial security.

More importantly, the owner does not have to worry about maintenance or cleaning. When something needs to be discussed with guests, we also help with communication and oversight.

Here, we again thank the owner for placing trust in the Snowball Rentals team!

After nearly two years of Airbnb’s downturn, we at Snowball Rentals hope to help owners make steady progress in low season, navigate the challenges safely and lay a better foundation for next year’s peak season.

Once again, heartfelt thanks to our homeowners for their trust and support. Whether the market is strong or weak, Snowball Rentals will stand with you and look for ways to increase your income!

Some homeowners will surely ask the hard question: was a large booking like this just a stroke of luck? What if the home does not rent? A long-term rental is more stable—even earning less is better than earning nothing!

Our answer is: the outcome depends on what we do.

Vacation-Rental Styling

Competition on Airbnb is becoming increasingly intense. The days of piecing together secondhand furniture, taking phone photos and earning easy money on Airbnb are over. Airbnb hosts have moved toward professional operations.

Careful design and furnishing before launch, followed by professional short-term rental operations, will be the only choice for a rental that continues to generate high income.

Here is another of Snowball Rentals’ core services: vacation-rental styling!

After our careful furnishing, the detached home mentioned above looks like this:

When choosing a short-term rental on Airbnb, would this home’s appearance attract you?

If you would also like to make your home more attractive and earn more rent, please contact us at any time!

This Week’s Short Videos

We regularly update short videos every week.

The content you need is all here.

👇🏻 Homeowners are welcome to follow us 👇🏻

Snowball Rentals

1

We also share practical vacation-rental styling plans and creative ideas to help you achieve more with less spending and keep rental income growing!

Xiao An’s Vacation-Rental Styling

2

Referral Rewards

If you are already a Snowball Rentals homeowner, you receive a US$500 referral fee for each referral.

If you are not yet a Snowball Rentals homeowner, you receive a US$250 shopping voucher for each referral.

Snowball Rentals Management

1. Full service — We provide pre-launch rental design, furniture procurement, furnishing, professional photography, online marketing, copywriting, tenant service and sales, cleaning, supply purchasing and property repairs. You only need to be a hands-off owner; we handle the rest.

2. Multi-platform promotion — We promote the home on Airbnb, VRBO, HomeAway and other mainstream platforms for maximum exposure.

3. Dynamic pricing — Using big data, we adjust prices every day according to seasonal demand, holidays, last-minute vacancy offers, weekends and local activities, maximizing the owner’s income.

4. Income-improvement SOP — We follow 44 secrets for maximizing short-term rental income, optimizing each property’s online marketing, on-site operations and other aspects to work toward maximum income.

5. Flexible owner stays — Owners can flexibly choose when to stay themselves. This is especially suitable for owners with multiple residences around the world.

6. Terminate at any time — Management does not require an annual commitment. The owner can end the agreement with one month’s advance notice.

7. Corporate housing — In addition to nightly rentals, we work with insurers and assignment companies to provide executives with hotel-style managed accommodation for stays longer than 30 days.

8. Transparent fees — For rentals longer than 30 days, we charge 15% of accommodation revenue. For nightly rentals under 30 days, we charge 20% of accommodation revenue.

Author’s tip: Personal views, for reference only.