Friday, April 21, 2017

Understanding the Rental Season at the Lake of the Ozarks

At the Lake of the Ozarks, we experience a very short rental season. Many potential Lake of the Ozarks vacation rental owners are very surprised when they find out that about 85% of their rentals will occur between Memorial Day and Labor Day each year. Thus, the other 15% occur during the other nine months of the year. Owner of Your Lake Vacation, Russell Burdette states, "I had one potential owner call me and he wanted to know if he could expect 300 rental nights per year. I told him that if I could rent our properties for 300 nights each year that I would have retired a long time ago."

Photo Credit: FunLake.com
Maximizing Your In-Season Rentals


When you have a limited rental season, such as the one at the Lake of the Ozarks, what can you do to increase your rental nights? You have to absolutely maximize your in season rental nights and then look at ways to attract rentals in the off-season as well. How do you maximize your summer rentals? The first, most important thing you can do is limit the number of nights you use the property yourself during peak season. Be smart about when you use it and don't reserve all the holidays for yourself. On smaller homes and condos at the Lake of the Ozarks, you are mostly going to get weekend rentals. Therefore, you want to avoid using your property on the weekends or use it on the slower weekends when it possibly will sit empty. Typically, the first two weekends in June and the last two in August are the slowest due to school schedules.

The second thing you can do is set a minimum night requirement during the peak season and stick to it as long as you can. You don't want to book a two night rental for a weekend in July now because you could have the opportunity to book a 4-7 night rental instead. If it's two days prior to the weekend, take the rental, but don't book small rentals at the beginning of the year. There are only so many good weekends available during the summer season at the Lake of the Ozarks. Those weekends typically include every weekend in July and the first weekend in August. Those are the absolute prime weekends. Therefore, you will want to get maximum nights and maximum price for those weekends.

Photo Credit: FunLake.com
Off-Season Rentals 


How about maximizing rentals prior to Memorial Day Weekend and after Labor Day Weekend? Most rentals will have seasonal pricing where the spring, fall and winter rates are lower than the summer rates. Beyond that, you can create packages of pay for so many nights and get a free night or some other type of discount. Just keep in mind that most guests can only stay 2-4 nights during the off-season. One additional way to attract off-season rentals is to offer something different, such as a hot tub, game room, indoor pool, tickets to a show, mall discounts, restaurant discounts, gift cards, golf discounts, etc. Something that sets you apart from other rentals or that adds value to the rental is key to renting your Lake of the Ozarks home or condo during the off-season. If the price is the same, but you are offering additional discounts or amenities, then you'll probably get the rental over other similar units.

If you would like more information about the rental season at the Lake of the Ozarks or about renting your home or condo as a vacation rental, give us a call at 573-365-3367. At Your Lake Vacation, we've been offering Lake of the Ozarks property management services since 1986.

For more information please call us toll free at 1-877-284-0267!!
4571 Osage Beach Pkwy, Suite A
Osage Beach, MO 65065
Local - 573-365-3367
Fax - 573-365-5076  






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Location: Osage Beach, MO 65065, USA

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