In this solo episode of the Boat and RV 100 series, Joe Downs presents a tactical pricing playbook for boat and RV storage operators. He argues that most operators price flat year‑round and make the mistake of discounting when they should hold rates, and vice‑versa. The core insight is that the pricing calendar is the inverse of common assumptions: the most powerful pricing moment is the fall move‑in season (September‑October) when demand peaks, while spring (March‑April) is a retention window, not a discount window. Downs outlines a 12‑month pricing calendar: set fall surge rates in August (10‑15% premium over spring rates), hold them through September‑November, and use the occupancy data to inform next year’s rates. In spring, focus on relationship outreach to existing tenants to lock in their fall return rather than offering discounts to new tenants. Summer (June‑August) should be filled with short‑term, premium‑priced storage, watercraft overflow, and partnerships with marinas, avoiding any floor‑price cuts. He also details an annual rate increase process (3‑5% or CPI‑linked) with 60‑day written notice in August, framed as facility improvements. The episode provides a month‑by‑month action checklist, communication scripts, and points viewers to storagemoguls.ai for templates. The overall message is that deliberate, season‑aligned pricing—surge in fall, retain in spring, manage the summer gap without discounting, and execute clear annual increases—drives higher NOI without adding tenants.
Chapters
All right, welcome to day 54 of the Boat and RV 100 series. I'm Joe Downs, and here's something we see all the time: operators who price flat all year long then wonder why Q1 kills their NOI. When you price matters as much as what you price, and most people get this completely backwards, and that's what we're fixing today. And if you want the templates, the tools, the operators who figured this out, that's storagemoguls.ai. Start free. Real people, real deals, real results. But back to today, because again, most operators get this backwards, the pricing backwards. They discount when they should hold, and they hold flat when they should surge. But let's fix that. Here's the core insight that drives everything in this episode. The boat and RV pricing calendar is the inverse of what most operators assume. So most operators think of price increases as something you do annually. A flat percentage applied once a year, usually at lease renewal. In boat and RV storage, that approach leaves money on the table because it ignores the single most powerful pricing moment in the vertical, the fall move-in season. September and October are when demand peaks. Your facility fills fast. The phone rings constantly. New tenants are motivated. They need storage before the season ends, and they will pay a premium to get it. This is your pricing leverage moment. Not January, not at lease renewal. September. If you're charging new move-ins in September the same rate you charge in March, you're underpricing the highest demand window of the year. On the other side of the calendar, spring is when operators make their most common pricing mistake. They watch tenants pull out their boats in March and April, they see the occupancy dip, and then they panic. They drop rates to fill the gap. That's the wrong move for reasons we'll cover in this episode. The pricing calendar in Boat and RV has 2 modes. Surge and retain. Know which mode you're in and price accordingly. So fall surge pricing, what it looks like in practice is, well, September through November, you have genuine pricing power with new move-in tenants. They're coming off the water for the season, they need storage, and the fall window is compressed. So a 10 to 15% premium on new move-in rates relative to your spring rates is achievable in most markets without meaningful resistance. To implement it cleanly, you set your fall move-in rate in August before the inquiries start. Don't adjust it reactively as the season unfolds. Decide in advance what your fall rate is and hold it. When you're filling fast and the phone is ringing, the temptation is to keep raising the rate. Resist. Set it, hold it, and let the occupancy fill. Communicate the rate clearly in your inquiry Response, our current rate for that space is X. No apologies, no hedging, just the current rate is X. These tenants are comparing you to the marina down the road. So confidence in your pricing signals that you know what your facility's worth. And if you fill before the season's over, which a well-run facility should, note that date. That's your signal for next year's rate. If you filled in September, you left room to be higher. For spring retention pricing, the mistake most operators make is in March and April when your occupancy is dropping as tenants pull vehicles for the season. The instinct is to discount for new tenants to fill the gap. But here's why that's wrong. Tenants acquired at a discount or discounted spring rate frequently don't renew it at the full fall rate. They came in expecting a lower price and they'll expect it again. You've trained them to wait for the discount. More importantly, the tenants you want to retain through the summer gap are your existing tenants, the ones who pay full rate, who've been with you for a season or more, who refer friends at the marina. The retention play in spring is not about new tenants. It's about locking in your existing tenants for the fall return. So reach out to your existing tenants in March. Thank them for the season. Confirm their space is held for fall. Ask if they need anything before they go. This is not a pricing conversation. It's a relationship conversation. The pricing conversation happens in August when you're setting fall rates and you have a clear picture of what, which spaces are coming back and which are genuinely available. The summer gap strategy and how to fill it without discounting is going to require a different approach than straight discounting. Discounting. The goal is to fill empty spaces with tenants who understand the seasonal nature of the pricing and won't create expectations you can't meet in the fall. Short-term summer storage is the cleanest option, with a month-to-month rate at a slight premium for flexibility. So a boat owner who takes their vessel out for 3 weeks and brings it back for 2 months, that's, that's a genuine tenant. They're not expecting a long-term discounted rate. They're paying for flexibility. Personal watercraft and jet skis move faster during summer because the usage cycle is shorter. So if you have spaces that can accommodate them, market specifically to this category during June and July. Dry storage overflow from local marinas is worth pursuing as well. Marinas run out of space, they run out of dock space in the summer sometimes, and they need land-based overflow. That's a commercial relationship worth building before the season starts, not during it. The one thing to avoid: dropping your standard rate to fill summer gaps. That decision has consequences in September when you're trying to reestablish your fall rate with new move-ins. For the annual rate increase and how to do it without losing tenants, separate from seasonal pricing, you should be implementing an annual rate increase on existing tenants. The mechanics matter: 60 days notice in writing communicated before the fall move-in season. Frame it as a facility investment. This year we added X, and that's why you're raising the rate. Our rates are adjusting to reflect the improvements in current market. A CPI-linked increase or a fixed 3 to 5% is the range that most boat and RV markets absorb without significant attrition. So try to stay in that range. The timing matters as well. Implementing an annual increase in August Before the fall rush gives your existing tenants time to process it. And it means the new fall move-in rate and the existing tenant renewal rate are aligned. There's no confusion about who's paying what. The tenants most likely to push back on an increase are long-term tenants who've been at the same rate for 2 or more years. Day 55, we're going to cover that conversation specifically. For now, annual increases are standard operating practice In a well-run boat and RV facility. If you haven't raised rates in 18 months, you're almost certainly underpriced relative to your market. Let me give you the pricing calendar in a format you can use here. August is your setup month. Review your current rates against the market. Set fall move-in rates for September through November. Communicate annual increases to existing tenants and confirm fall availability. September and October, those are your execution months. Hold the fall rate. Hopefully you fill fast. Document every inquiry you can't accommodate. That's your waiting list for next year. November is your transition month as fall filling slows and you move into the winter storage. Begin planning your spring retention outreach. March and April are your retention months. Don't discount for new tenants. Reach out to existing tenants before they pull out. Confirm their fall returns. June through August is your gap management window. So that's your short-term and flexible tenants, watercraft overflow, marinas for dry storage relationships. Keep the rate floor intact. That's the full calendar. Every pricing decision maps to one of these windows. The operators who run this deliberately, who set rates in August before the phone starts ringing September, consistently outperform the ones who price reactively. Here's the frame in boat and RV storage. When you price matters as much as what you price. Surge in the fall, retain in the spring, manage the gap without discounting the floor. Annual increases communicated clearly. That's your pricing playbook. All right. Like this video if the fall surge and the spring retention framework finally made your pricing windows click and subscribe so you don't miss day 55 because the long-term tenant rent increase conversation is the one most operators avoid, and we're going to give you the exact framework so you can have it. And if you want the seasonal pricing calendar template and the rate increase communication script already built out, that's at storagemoguls.ai. It's free to join. storagemoguls.ai. The operators who grow NOI without adding a single tenant aren't smarter, folks. They're just more deliberate about price. See you tomorrow.
