The Rental Picture
Herein I'll try to explain in detail the vacation rental market in Tahoe and how rental properties are set up, marketed and function:
I spent a full year working for a rental company in Tahoe City when I first got my license and own a Vacation rental property myself in Carnelian Bay. North Tahoe is a unique enviroment for vacation rental owners due to the demand and amenities that often are available to renters like beach access. North Tahoe compared to South Lake has fewer hotels-far fewer available beds to meet the demand of the big ski weekends and holidays like the 4th of July. Many home homeowners associations offer beach access, pools and things for kids to do. This is a big appeal. Frankly, the hotel experience in North Tahoe is pretty lacking.
First and foremost owning a vacation rental is exactly like owning a business, the product is providing shelter. So lets understand this business of a Tahoe Vacation Rental.
1. The demographic or the client: Primarily we draw renters from Northern California with Sacramento and the Bay area being the biggest entities. People come to Tahoe from Sacramento, Granite Bay, Folsom, Mill Valley, San Francisco, the peninsula, Marin, Contra Costa, Fairfield, Pleasanton, San Jose, Santa Cruz and Reno all the time! In the summer they will mostly be families coming up for a week for a vacation in July and August. In the summer, Tahoe will also be a So-Cal and national destination for the same reason. In the winter, we primarily draw from Northern California weekend skiers and to an even lesser degree the areas of So-Cal and the rest of the country. This crowd is often younger then the summer crowd. They will also stay shorter-often only Friday and Sat. nights. So nightly minimums are key in the winter. You can shoot yourself in the foot by having a 7 night minimum in the winter!
Part 2
.....Lets start the vacation rental year with the Christmas holiday
instead of January 1. After a quiet fall with some weekend rentals in
Sept. and Oct. the renters stay away from Tahoe until Christmas week
except for Thanksgiving and maybe some Dec. weekends if the ski areas
get open. But its quiet until Bang!....Christmas time and a full week
rental at top dollar followed by New Years Eve and another full week at
top dollar. Then a normal weekend and then MLK and a three night
weekend, more weekends through January into Feb. until spring break
hits and you may get a full week or two at the end of Feb. Weekend
rentals will mostly be the norm until about mid April and then dry up.
The Tahoe vacation renters disappear again for the most part until June
and maybe they will come up for a weekend here and there until the 4th
of July and then its mayhem again. If you own a lean-to in Tahoe you
should be able to rent it. North Tahoe must triple its population on
the week of the 4th. My guess would be that 30,000 people come to north
Tahoe this week. After the 4th, you can count on some good business for
all of the summer until Labor day weekend and then will start the cycle
over with some weekend rentals in the Fall until Christmas.
.....more to come
Part 3
I think once you have a handle on how the Tahoe Season flows you can
start to build a booking plan based availability, nightly rates,
minimum stays and the like-parameters by which to book your property.
First off is what and how many...
Occupancy should be based on
how many can comfortably sleep in beds and how many will have to share
the baths. In the back of your mind is how much wear and tear you want.
A typical three bed, two bath in Tahoe can handle 6-7 adults or
children mixed. Pushing beyond that I think will just tax your home too
much. Also, will you allow pets? Cats no way, never, never. But a dog?
You can't overlook the bookings created by being pet friendly. Often
that Golden Retriever is just too much a part of the family to put them
in a kennel. You charge extra for the dog hair, $25 say and get a
deposit too. I find pet owners to be more careful due to the close
scrutiny.
Nightly rates and minimums are extremely important.
Starting out you should be slightly below market unless your property
is new or remodeled. You need to get clients when starting so you have
to be competitive. The nightly minimum shouldn't hinder you, especially
in the winter. Go 2-3 nights to start, again more if your property is
in really good shape. Most people are just coming up to ski for the
weekend in the winter. In the summer things are a little different you
can go for more 5-7 night minimum as cliients will be here for their
summer vacation-with the kids.
Rates: Rates should fluctuate
with demand, holidays, season and nightly stay. Your peak rate should
be about 25% higher then your normal high season rate. You should try
discounts and free nights in the off season to entice people to your
wonderful property-then they'll come back during peak time. If you use
a service you should advise them to contact you if a client wants a
deal-instead of just saying no. And a big deal is that if you want the
big income you can't take the best nights for yourself! I had a client
who would never block out his property but would call up on a Friday
afternoon and if it wasn't rented he would then come up. His place, bye
the way did the best out of everyone.
