How Can You Get Through Airbnb’s Low Season? Three Ways to Increase Mid-Term Bookings!

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Hello, and welcome to Snowball Rentals’ WeChat account, where you can read about recent developments in the US short-term rental market.

Since this summer holiday ended, have you noticed a sharp drop in your Airbnb bookings?

Data show that Airbnb hosts worldwide have seen bookings fall by about 20% year over year, with steeper declines in some markets. The combined impact of an economic downturn and the tourism low season has sharply reduced many hosts’ earnings, making a stable income increasingly difficult to maintain.

In these circumstances, how should hosts respond to this “Airbnb winter”?

First, adjust your expectations for the next 3–5 months. The peak-season model of boosting earnings through short stays will be hard to achieve for now. At present, keeping your property consistently rented, even at earnings similar to a long-term rental, is already a reasonable outcome.

What specific measures can you take?

The following three steps can improve your chances of securing mid- and long-term bookings and filling your calendar more effectively during the low season.

1. Adjust pricing to prioritize mid- and long-term bookings

Raise weekend prices moderately and lower weekday prices slightly to reduce disruption from short weekend stays. This can keep short bookings from occupying weekends while attracting guests staying longer and making bookings more stable.

For the next few months, we suggest setting weekend prices 25%–30% above weekday prices.

2. Increase the minimum weekend stay

Set a 3–4-day minimum stay for weekends to reduce fragmented gaps created by short bookings. Requiring longer weekend stays makes the surrounding calendar gaps easier to match with mid- and long-term bookings, increasing the likelihood of attracting longer-stay guests.

3. Increase discounts for mid- and long-term bookings

To attract mid-term guests in the low season, consider increasing your monthly discount to 25%–30%.

When the market was booming in 2022, monthly discounts were generally 10%–15%. Conditions are different now. A larger discount can increase your listing’s visibility in search and improve its chances of appearing on the first page.

These three steps are not simply about cutting prices. We do not recommend a steep reduction in nightly rates: very low prices may fail to increase bookings and can attract less considerate guests, potentially causing property damage and leaving you worse off.

Hosts, let us support one another, work steadily through this winter and look forward to spring returning to the short-term rental market!

Some good news!

Snowball Rentals’ REDnote account, 阿蓝聊民宿, has passed 2,000 followers!

Thank you to every friend who has supported us. We are grateful to have you with us!

As a homeowner, you may now be wondering: my home is quite good, but how much could it earn on Airbnb? Would it earn more than a long-term rental? Would it involve a lot of trouble?

Contact us right away! We will evaluate it for you free of charge.

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.

As the weather gets cooler, Seattle’s short-term rental low season is approaching again.

Short-term rentals in peak season and mid-term rentals in low season: this is the new strategy we have repeatedly emphasized and tried this year! Some recent large bookings have been like a ray of sunshine. Homeowners, let us support one another and face the approaching low season with confidence.

The detached Seattle home below can be found on Redfin, where its estimated long-term monthly rent is about $5,353.

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 booked this home through Airbnb for November 3–November 24 this year, a total of 21 nights, with rent

of approximately $6,063.

In summary, this detached home operated by Snowball Rentals earned more from just 21 nights of short-term rental than a full month of long-term rent, with another 10 nights still available to rent.

Securing such a large booking in low season is no easy feat!

As noted above, this 21-night booking runs from November 3 to November 24 this year, covering almost a month of the short-term rental low season, September through March of the following year. We believe it can achieve further success when the peak season arrives.

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!

Photos of the detached home mentioned above before furnishing can be seen on Redfin:

After our careful furnishing, the home has a very different overall feel:

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

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Snowball Rentals

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

Keep rental income growing!

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Xiao An’s Vacation-Rental Styling

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.