Posted on 1/27/2013 by Alyssa Hubbard

How to increase revenues in your Keystone Vacation Rental Property

Increasing rental property revenues through upgrades!

 
Bedding- Within Bedding there are really 3 components which can be altered. 
 
Physical- This refers to the bedding structure, When folks are booking their trip one of the first things that catches their eye is the bedding structure. Meaning, if your bed frame is a stained log bed it will stand out more than a generic IKEA metal framed bed. The more unique the setup the better it will present. Good options: Log style bed or Contemporary Wood bed. Bad options: Pink MDF bed or 1980's faded wood bed.
 
Functional- How comfortable is your bed? Have you slept on any of the guest bedroom beds? Odds are unless you have a 1 bedroom property the answer is no. If the bed is uncomfortable to you it will likely be the same for the guest. While the type of mattress will not immediately enhance rentals, it WILL enhance reviews and return guests, hence it will enhance rentals over the long term. Furthermore if you obtain some sort of specialty mattress such as a Tempurpedic we will be happy to make notes of that in the room description or photos of the bed on our website.
 
Decorative- This is the least expensive way to enhance rentals. Appearance is everything! When people book their trip, they are not looking for floral patterned comforters that you might see at a Motel 6. They instead are looking for that mountain feel. One of the least expensive ways to enhance the appearance of your property is to just slap a comforter on there with a bunch of Moose, Bears, Deer, Elk, or some sort of other mountain theme.
 
Flat Screen TV's
Flat Screen TV's are rapidly becoming the status quo for properties. Virtually every property has them now. If you still have tube style TV's it really is time to upgrade. Now that you are thinking about upgrading, Think about the size of your property and the size of TV that needs to be in there. A 1 bedroom does not need a 72" TV, a 32" - 47" will do quite nicely. Once size is established brands must be addressed. Try to make sure you are going with a quality TV that you will not have to replace next year. Stay away from brands like Emerson, Hanspree, Sanyo and Westinghouse. Instead make sure you are purchasing a respected brand like Samsung, Sony, Vizio, LG or Phillips. Not only will these TVs last longer, they will also provide a better picture quality. LASTLY be sure to either purchase an LED or LCD TV as Plasma's tend not to work very well at high altitude.
 
Sleeping Capacity in your Rental Home
One of the main determining factors for many renters is sleeping capacity, and functionality of sleeping capacity. The enhanced sleeping capacity of adding bunk beds or additional living room beds can sometimes mean the difference between a guest choosing your property over another property. Options to increase sleeping capacity include: putting in bunk beds where there are single standalone beds (Tip: dont just stick to single over single beds, look at twin over queen or twin over King beds as well), In living rooms you can also increase sleeping capacity using Murphy Beds and Credenza Beds. These will give you that added capacity while retaining the living area of your property.

Furniture
Going back to what was mentioned earlier about bedding, when renters are looking into a property here in the mountains they either want a contemporary feel or a "Mountianlike" Cabin feel. While this especially rings true with bed frames, it can also apply to dressers, cabinets, end tables, dining tables or even couches. You can see many examples of successful vacation rental properties that have updated there furniture on our rental program in Keystone.

Decor and Fixtures
Mountain, Mountain, Mountain, Photos of Keystone are great, knick knacks with various mountain animals are also great. Wooden skis, snow shoes and sleds are always classic wall decorations. Items from summit county are usually great things to put in the property to help give the property a sense of individuality. Granite counter tops are always a great option as well since they are timeless. New faucets to go along with the counter tops can also help update the feel of your property.

Paint-
Another great way to enhance your property relatively inexpensively is with paint! Lets face it, most properties up here look almost the same and it is often difficult to differentiate one from another just by looking at the photos. Why not make your property as unique as possible so when the renters look at the photos they say WOW! Remember we don't need to paint every wall too. If you are on a budget sometimes painting an accent wall can help and not break the bank.
 
 

Professional Rental Management Advice 

There are so many things that you can do to help increase the demand  of your vacation rental property in Keystone Colorado and many of them don't require a full makeover.  If you would like a list of recommendations specific to your Keystone Vacation Rental call or email us today.  We have years of historical data on rental revenues before and after remodels and would be happy to share our knowledge with you.  
 
If you are a SummitCove Vacation Rental home owner in Keystone, be sure to let us know if you choose to do any of these so we can update photos, descriptions, retrain our professional sales team and share the success with you.
 
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