With winter just around the corner, accepting the reduction in demand is not enough. At Host Wise, we're prepared to help turn the low season into an opportunity for growth with strategies that range from attracting long-stay guests to taking advantage of the season's main events. We share our best practices to ensure your property remains competitive and profitable, even in the most challenging months.
Trends and Expectations
- Historically, demand during winter is lower, especially in cities like Porto and Lisbon, where the average occupancy is at most 50%, and in beach locations, such as the Algarve, where it does not exceed 30%.
- Demand is mainly concentrated on weekends.
- Two key events during this period boost demand and enable significant price increases: New Year's Eve and the Web Summit in Lisbon.
Occupancy data in Porto Winter 2023 (peaks on weekends).
Sales and Pricing Strategies
Our approach to maximizing winter occupancy and profitability includes the following:
Long term reservations
We offer discounts (weekly and monthly) for medium and long stays, attracting business travelers and digital nomads with stays between 30 and 150 days.
Early booking of reservations
We monitor market prices and adjust our strategy to capture reservations an average of 75 days in advance, avoiding the need to lower prices at the last moment. This tactic has already allowed us to generate revenue up to 20% higher than the market.
More significant price variation during the week
We adapt prices according to demand, significantly differentiating prices between weekdays and weekends, ensuring better occupancy on lower-demand days.
Price increase for short stays
We avoid short reservations to guarantee a more accessible schedule for extended, profitable stays.
Promotion on specialized platforms
We invest in medium-term platforms such as Uniplaces, Spotahome, and Flatio to guarantee greater occupancy during the low season. In specific cases, we also promote properties on Idealista.
In addition, we do not lose sight of events that allow a significant increase in prices:
New Year's Eve: Price increase of up to 150% in Portugal.
Web Summit: Price increase of up to 200% in Lisbon.
Our occupancy for the winter period is already three times above the market, and this strategy will allow us to maintain excellent results, even in the traditionally more challenging months.
We also leave a final recommendation: given the forecast of greater heating use during the winter, we advise that your equipment be energy efficient, such as air conditioning systems with optimized consumption.
If you want to know how we can help maximize your property's income during the winter or if you have any questions about our strategy, we are here to help.
