One of the most commonly asked questions by owners of vacation homes in Orlando is this: can I use my property during the holidays without it costing too much?
The short answer is yes. But the complete answer depends on when you block them, how much time and how do you plan those blockages within the annual strategy of the property.
Block dates on your Airbnb is not just to mark a calendar. It is a financial decision that has real consequences on the income of the year. This guide gives you the framework to make that decision with information, not blind.
The calendar of Orlando have weeks that are worth much more than others
Before we talk about how to block, you must understand how much it costs each week of the year in terms of lost revenue. Not all dates have the same value.
In the market of Orlando, the year has four periods of high demand, well-defined:
Summer (mid-June to mid-August): the period of highest demand of the year. The first two weeks of July are the most valuable. One week in July in a house of 5 rooms in Kissimmee can represent between $1,500 and $2,500 to USD of revenue.
Christmas and New Year (December 20-January 2): the second period is most valuable. Rates are similar or superior to July in the properties well-positioned.
Spring Break (mid-march to early-April): very high demand for american families. A week of spring break can be worth between $1,200 and $2,000 to USD.
Thanksgiving (week of November): smaller than the previous but significant. A week that many owners underestimate.
Outside of these periods, the weeks have a lower value. Block a week in September, for example, has an opportunity cost much less than block the first week of July.
Strategy locks: how to plan your personal use, without sacrificing the best income
Identify your weeks of personal use with anticipation
The most common error is to block reactive. The owner decides in may that he wants to use the property in July and blocks the dates that already have reservations or are the busiest of the year.
The correct strategy is the opposite: at the beginning of each year, defines when you want to use the property. This annual planning allows you to choose weeks of lower demand for personal use and free weeks more valuable for reservations.
Use the transition periods between seasons
The weeks of transition between seasons high and low are ideally suited for personal use because they have less economic value and a lower likelihood of natural reserves of all forms:
- Last week of August (end of summer, beginning of the school year)
- Mid-January (after Christmas, before Spring Break)
- May (between Spring Break and the summer)
- September and October (low season post-summer)
A week in these dates may be between $600 and $1,000 USD of revenue versus the $1,500 to $2,500 of weeks peak.
Considered locking in a minimum of stay as a tool
Instead of completely block dates that you want to use, you can set a minimum stay of 7 nights in the periods you plan to visit. That makes the property less attractive for booking short and give you more probability that these dates are available to you, without locking them formally.
This tactic works best in seasons of demand media. In high season, a stay of 7 nights are reserved with ease.
How to block dates on Airbnb, VRBO and other platforms
When you have property in multiple platforms, a lock on a platform has to be synchronized with all others. If you block on Airbnb but not on VRBO, you can receive a reservation of VRBO for the same dates.
The solution is to use a channel manager, which is a system that synchronizes the calendar of availability across all platforms in real-time. Any lock, reservation, or change is automatically reflected in all platforms.
At Home Vacation Group, the channel manager is part of the management operating system. The owner makes the lock once and the system synchronizes on all platforms simultaneously.
For owners who will self-administer without a channel manager, the manual process of block in each platform separately is tedious and prone to errors of double-booking.
The impact of the locks in the position of the platforms
Block dates often has a side effect that many owners do not know: it may affect the positioning of the property in the algorithms of platforms.
Airbnb and VRBO are awarded to properties with high availability. A listing that has many weeks locked throughout the year has less availability visible to guests and may appear lower in the search results.
This does not mean that you can’t block dates. It means that the locks extensive and frequent have an indirect cost in visibility that are worth considering.
The rule of thumb: locks for up to 3 or 4 weeks a year in periods of low demand have minimal impact on the positioning. Blocks of 6 weeks or more, especially in the high season, can affect significantly the visibility of the listing.
What happens to existing bookings when you want to block dates
If you already have a confirmed reservation for the dates you want to block, you can’t cancel it without consequences. Airbnb and VRBO penalize cancellations by the host with fines, reduction of the positioning and in cases of repeated, suspension of the listing.
The only way to recover from these dates is to wait for the guests dropping by your account, or wait until those reservations are complete and lock in the dates for next year in advance.
This is all the more reason to plan for the locks at the beginning of the year, before the bookings start to come in for those dates.
How to Home Vacation Group manages the locks of owner
In the management model Home Vacation Group, the owner maintains full control over the dates of your property. If you want to use the property during a specific week, you only have to notify the team in advance.
The team manages the lock on all platforms, verify that there are no bookings active for those dates, and ensures that the property is in perfect conditions for the arrival of the owner.
To understand how work the best seasons for rent in Orlando , and what are the periods that it should be free for booking, our guide of seasons gives you the complete map of the year.
And to see how it works in the property management in Orlando in practice, including how to coordinate the personal use of the owner within the operation general, this article explains the entire process.
What more you ask the owners about locks calendar
How many weeks of the year I use my property without affecting the income significantly?
It depends on what week you choose. 2 to 4 weeks in periods of low and medium demand have minimal impact. The same 2 to 4 weeks in high season represent between $6,000 and $15,000 USD in lost revenue, depending on the size of the property.
How can I block dates on short notice?
Yes, provided that there are no bookings active for those dates. Airbnb and VRBO allow you to block dates at any time as long as the calendar is available. The problem of block with little advance is the best dates may already be reserved.
Do I need to notify Home Vacation Group with much anticipation to block dates?
The team can manage locks with a little bit of time for available dates. For high demand seasons like summer or Christmas, the ideal is to communicate the dates of personal use with 2 to 3 months in advance, before these dates are full of reservations.
What happens if I want to use the property of spontaneously?
In theory it is possible if the calendar is available. In practice, on the dates busiest of the year, the property may be fully booked months in advance. The annual planning is the only way to ensure the dates you want to.
Your vacation property is also yours to enjoy. The key is timing.
To have a vacation home in Orlando doesn’t mean surrendering to use it. Means to use it intelligently, choosing the dates that have the lowest opportunity cost, and leaving free the weeks that generate the greatest income for the year.
With the correct planning, you can enjoy Orlando when you want, without significantly affecting your annual return.
Discover how to HVG manage your calendar of locks for your vacation don’t cost money.
