Welcome back to another great episode. My name is Sarah Karakaian.

I'm Annette Grant, and together we are. Thanks for Visiting.

Let's start this episode like we do each and every week, and then a sharing. Wow. I was gonna say sharing and showcasing in one word.

Well, we are showcasing.

We are sharing anyone who goes to strshare.com.

Oh, to be fair, not anyone. Not just anyone.

Well, I was to, I knew you were gonna call me out on that.

Okay. Well, I did.

And I was gonna say, anyone who goes strshare.com and shares their amazing, safe and beautiful short term rental.

Mm. I didn't let you, didn't, didn't let you finish. We're like an old couple here. I don't even let you finish.

No, I know what you're gonna say before you finish my sentence. Uh, Annette, who are we sharing this week?

This week we are sharing @perennialstays. Again, that's perennial. P-E-R-E-N-N-I-A-L. Stays.

Makes me think of flowers.

Please. Run, don't walk and give them a follow. Mm-hmm. And speaking of flowers, I'm just really going through their feed. They planted a thousand bulbs.

Wow.

Last year of daffodils, tulips, hyacinth, hyacinth. Oops. For those gardeners, help me out crocuses. Wow. Well, you know, you gotta learn on the fly here.

You know? Not the city girl.

You gotta learn on the fly here. Yeah, but I'm telling you, they have been hosting for over 10 years. They have multiple properties and each and every one of them, they are show stoppers. Like I seriously want to go stay immediately. They have the distillery house, the general store, and the farmhouse.

So cute.

Yes, and they are all amazing. They're in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. And it, I mean, they are just, we could all learn so many lessons from going to their Instagram, looking at their design, looking at their photos. It is just, it's like a storybook, honestly. And they have this, I'm gonna put this out into the world. They have, they just installed, um, a soak pool. Sarah wants one of these for her home.

I really do.

So I'm putting that out there. Not only does she want it, we are going to get it for her because these are game changer. And I'm interested, um, for all of you out there looking for an amenity, check them out. Um, it's soake pools, S-O-A-K-E, pools, check them out. But perennial stays, they're, they're nailing it. They're just nailing it. And the one, one, uh, post I really loved, they did a carousel of like. Like eight dogs that have stayed with them and it was the most endearing, uh, endearing thing. So just, I encourage everybody, try something new, different, new on your feed. You never know what's gonna like, pull on someone's heartstrings, what's gonna get 'em to book direct, how you're gonna inspire someone. I feel like they are authentically themselves through the properties, through their feed. If you are looking for a stay in Pennsylvania or West Virginia, please go check them out and tell 'em that TFE sent you.

I'm gonna change the vibe. Most hosts. Y'all gonna lose money this holiday season. Actually, you won't though because you're, listen to this episode. Not because they won't get bookings, but because they won't set up their calendars the right way. Each holiday season is unique with travel patterns and in 2025, the calendar actually gives you extra opportunities if you know how to spot them. So in today's episode, we're going to share with you how to turn this holiday season into your most profitable one yet.

You do wanna get out a pen and paper, and you might wanna listen to this twice because. This is a way for you to earn more by doing no more work at all.

All right, let us break this down for you and share with you what we mean by this, because this is unique and special to this year. 2025. Alright, so this year, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, fall on a Wednesday. And a Thursday. Okay. Friday the 26th is a bonus day off for a lot of people, which opens a long weekend. Okay, so the 26th through the 28th, got it. Now the same pattern happens the following week. December 31st, which is New Year's Eve, which is a Wednesday, and then you add on New Year's Day, which is a Thursday, which means you have that for many, that bonus day off on Friday. So the translation here is that more people are likely to take time off, which means travel demand spikes on years like 2025.

And I follow. I'm a big linkedIn fan and you should see,

it's where she gets all of her info.

You should see.

Is that how you found Taylor Swift got engaged with LinkedIn?

I did. I found out that way on LinkedIn. I don't pay attention to any other socials right now. On LinkedIn, there is this whole community of people who are maximizing their PTO.

Yeah.

All right. There are blog posts, there are posts, and I'm telling you this holiday season, they can essentially have 12 days off for taking like five or seven days off. The reason I'm sharing this with you is it is noteworthy on blogs, on social media content, and these, these full-time workers with this PTO are gonna be maximizing it. Okay? And if they are making this big of a calendar, uh, should like focus themselves. We as hosts should be reaping the rewards of that. Okay? We need to be planning just as strategically as they are, their PTO, because they are going to want to travel. And the best thing too is maybe some of them are staying home for Christmas and then traveling for New Year. Or vice versa, where if the holidays weren't stacked like this, they wouldn't be traveling at all. So we have this like great opportunity this holiday season to maximize the travelers whenever they are traveling for both of these longer holiday weekends. So we should be excited about this.

Oh yeah. This is,

and planning ahead though, I'm just like, you must do this. And also some of the tips we're gonna give you. It's gonna allow you to actually have more time off during the holidays too.

Oh, good tip.

Now, we're gonna help you maximize your hosting PTO during these peak holiday seasons. We do not want you to leave money on the table by allowing one night stays over peak holidays. Let me repeat that. We do not want you to allow one night stays over these peak holidays. We we're gonna want you to set some minimums.

So for an example, consider setting a three to four night minimum around December 24th through the 28th and December 31st through January 1st or fourth because it forces longer bookings. Lemme repeat that 'cause I had a little mishap there. Set a three to four night minimum around December 24th through the 28th and December 31st through January 4th. This forces a longer booking, which usually we're against you thinking this way because you wouldn't, a lot of hosts think this way. They're not thinking about travel demands and travel patterns and, uh, and how guests are actually traveling. But this is actually opposite because there are, we have this blog post pulled up right now about how to maximize your paid vacation in 2025, like people who work at jobs and have PTO are strategic with how they use it, which is why all these hackers and PTO hacking exists. So when you force this longer booking that is backed by data, it reduces turnover costs, right? And it maximizes that nightly re- uh, revenue and price Labs makes this simple with date specific rule sets.

Mm-hmm. And like I said, this is giving you some extra time off as a host and your team, because you are, you know that the guest is gonna be there at least a minimum of three nights, if not four. And you know your market. And again, if you have a tool like Price Labs, it's gonna help you really hone that in. But these are the times too. You wanna be very aware that if December 31st, that is New Year's Eve, you wanna make sure that your guest is in. And, and ready to go before you go out for the holiday. Same with maybe Christmas Eve, Christmas Day. So you know yourself too. You might wanna adjust these depending on your market, your holiday celebrations, and what's gonna work best for your team. One of the things I want you to keep in mind too, because I know hosts always get a little, um. Reactive when we talk about minimums. Just because you're doing this three or four night minimum does not mean that you might not have a guest book, five nights, seven nights, 12 nights, 15 nights. So again, just remember, even though you have those minimums in place, it doesn't mean you're gonna be blocking. Those longer, those longer stays. A lot of times that's what's happens.

So continuing on this good news train, December 26th to the 28th behaves like a second holiday weekend.

Woo-hoo.

Many guests will travel since they already have that Friday off. So our recommendation for you is to slightly increase your average daily rate for that Friday, December 26th, and carry that bump through the 27th and the 28th. And then all you have to do is repeat that same strategy for January 1st through the fourth, which is an extended holiday window. And I want you guys to look at last year's numbers and compare 'em to this.

Compare them to this.

If you follow our, our recommendations.

And what we love about this too is once you become a revenue management strategist. You'll start to see patterns in how these holidays, not just these, um, the Christmas holiday, the New Year's holiday, starts to repeat itself. And you'll get really excited about holidays that land on certain dates. You'll start to see 4th of July other things, and you will get wiser. You'll become a better revenue manager and you will make more money.

If you don't have a dynamic pricing software, you need to get one. Whether you are property management software, PMS, connected Host or not, Price Labs is for you. Okay. Because manual holiday pricing equals messy and super time consuming. Honestly, probably in Price Labs because I'm just looking at how like, wow. I. I am being so savvy right now with my strategy and the fact that I don't have to do this pricing manually. It's all being done for me, right? So at the Price Labs, you can apply a custom rule set for December 24th through the 28th and December 31st through the fourth, and then you can automate those minimum state requirements. All you have to do then is layer in targeted rate adjustments for those bonus travel days, and that will be dependent on you and your property and your market. So if you have historicals or if you can look at your market, which you can do if you have Price Labs, you can be more strategic with those pricing adjustments and make sure you're not leaving any money on the table.

2025 holidays aren't just specific holiday dates on the calendar. They are a stretch of high demand opportunities for strategic posts.

And that's the thing what we want you to take away. We want you to make money, but really what you should be taking away is how you no longer can look at the calendar like you're used to looking at it as a regular human being. As a professional host that calendar should read as different triggers and different levers that you can pull to make more money in your hosting business. Right? You've gotta look at the calendar and travel patterns much differently now that you're a host.

Yeah. It this isn't, this is no longer, Hey, these are government holidays are Hallmark Holidays.

Mm-hmm.

They are, what are my revenue management holidays that I can celebrate? And we all know in hosting, we get a limited amount of days, you know, that's all of our inventory. We get 365 days and we need to maximize our earning potential during those times.

It's like when you ask that question of, or you come back, someone who says they're so busy and you're like, well, Beyonce has 24 hours in a day. Like, what are you doing? It's the same thing with with revenue management. It's how you leverage. These dates and pull different levers and use price labs. To set different rule sets and pricing adjustments strategically, right? You've gotta be strategic. So by planning minimum stays and rate bumps now for this holiday season, you protect your calendar and you maximize revenue, and that is win win. Smart hosts, prepare ahead, not last minute. And I wanna give you a little bonus thought work right now too, because now is also the time. For you to check in with your team. Okay, so depending on what you decide for these rule sets for the holiday and when you want your guests to check in and check out, and depending on how your cleaning team, whether you're working with a company or an individual person. What is their availability gonna be like during the holiday season? Also, putting in your calendar a time for you to prepare, not only for if you're not in the United States, if people are staying in your property for Thanksgiving or any one of the big holidays that happen in December, whether it's Christmas or otherwise, people are coming to your property usually to cook big dinners or to host other people and to make sure that you are prepared for that because you don't, it's yes, you wanna. Most importantly, you wanna be there for your guests and anticipate their needs and have that, you know, Turkey thermometer in your kitchen bef-, you know, when they go to reach for it, it should be there. But also, if you're having your own celebrations and you wanna be able to focus on Spending time with your family and friends,

You've gotta prepare now.

Your business has to be prepared now so that you don't get pinged by your guests with questions. Let's anticipate those needs. And you also don't have your back up against the wall with not having a cleaner available because they decided to shut down shop, and they're not gonna be able to turn over your property between those the, the Christmas and the New Year's Eve bonus weekend. So prepare now. Ask questions now. Get it all dialed in and get ready to make more money this holiday season in 2025.

Can I do a bonus, bonus tip?

I think they, yes. The answer is yes.

This is also the reason we don't open up our calendar a year in advance. We need time. To see what holidays are coming up, how we are, we can prepare for them, how our team can prepare for them. And we know in certain areas maybe you do need to open up. It's very important that you know your booking window.

Right?

But this is why we do not just automatically open up dates and let them go. We have to have a revenue management meeting ahead of time before we release dates. So if you are just opening up your calendar and not planning ahead, that has to stop today. It has to stop today. You have to know how far out your guests are booking. You need to know what holidays are there. You need to have your dynamic pricing software set up. So right now we need to slow down to speed up.

So again, your dynamic, dynamic pricing software, Price Labs, whatever you choose to use, makes it simple to set rules, test strategies, and maximize your revenue without the guesswork. And we wanna make sure that you are fully prepared this holiday season. So, get into your calendar, get into your pricing, let us know. We love hearing from you, hi@thanksforvisiting.com. Let us know what changes you made, what you're excited for it to work for you this year, and what changes you think, how much revenue, more revenue you'll think you'll be able to bring in by tapping into this year's holiday travel patterns. And with that, I am Sarah Karakaian.

I'm Annette Grant, and together we are, Thanks for Visiting.

Talk to you next time.