In this instructional episode, Joe Downs of Storage Moguls addresses the predictable summer occupancy dip that self‑storage operators serving boat, RV, and personal watercraft markets often face. He argues that operators should never discount their standard long‑term rates during the summer, as doing so erodes the rate floor needed for the critical fall revenue window. Instead, he proposes a proactive, five‑tactic plan that targets a different tenant segment—short‑term, flexible users—while preserving pricing integrity. The tactics include (1) offering a dedicated short‑term storage product for boats, (2) marketing month‑to‑month options to low‑frequency RV owners, (3) capturing personal watercraft owners who need smaller, faster‑turnover spaces, (4) establishing informal referral relationships with local marinas for overflow dry‑storage, and (5) creating a premium month‑to‑month tier (10‑15% above the standard rate) to monetize flexibility. He emphasizes a 70% occupancy planning target for summer, using the low‑traffic period for maintenance and facility upgrades, and outlines how meeting this target with any subset of the tactics stabilizes cash flow and protects the fall rate floor. The episode concludes with a call to action to join StorageMoguls.ai for templates, outreach scripts, and pricing frameworks.
Chapters
Welcome to day 61 of the Boat and RV 100 series. I'm Joe Downs with Storage Moguls. The summer occupancy dip, folks, is real. It's also predictable, which means it's plannable. Today I'm giving you 5 tactics to fill it without touching your rate floor, because in this community, Storage Moguls, we don't react to problems like this. We plan for them. And we're a community built— people just like you. Husband and wife team, solopreneurs, entrepreneurs working for something different in life, something better, trying to find out what that is. And the ones that have joined our community found it through storage. And we're buying deals between— we're teaching people to buy deals between $400,000 and $2 million. Why? Because that's the sweet spot. I've told you a million times why in this series already, but if you don't believe me, join Storage Moguls and find out. Not someday, now. StorageMoguls.ai. It's free to start. You can level up at your own pace. But back to today, because predictable All right, first we got to reframe how we think though about the summer gap before we get into the tactics. Um, day 54 covered the seasonal cycle and established the principle: don't discount your standard rate to fill summer vacancies. The operators who discount in the summer train tenants to expect lower prices, they damage the fall rate floor, and they end up with a weaker position heading into their most important revenue window. Yeah, that's a great point. Day 61 is the companion episode. If you're not discounting, what are you doing then? Well, the answer is that you're marketing to a different type of tenant than the one who fills your facility in fall and winter. The summer gap tenant is not your core long-term storage customer. They're a boat owner who takes their vessel out for extended periods and needs shorter-term or more flexible storage between trips. They're an RV owner who travels frequently but stores during the weeks between the trips. They're a personal watercraft owner with a shorter season and faster move-in cycle. They're a marina whose dock space is over capacity. None of these tenants requires you to drop your standard long-term rate. They each require a different product positioning, and the 5 tactics we're covering today will give you those options. Tactic 1, short-term storage for boats between trips. This is the tactic most boat and RV operators have never thought to offer explicitly. A boat owner who takes their vessel out to the lake for 3 weeks and then brings it back before the next trip has a genuine short-term, short-term storage need. Most facilities have implicit month-to-month availability, but don't market short-term storage as a distinct product. The opportunity here is a dedicated short-term rate, weekly or monthly, at a slight premium for flexibility. The tenant is paying for convenience, not committing to a season. You're filling a space that would otherwise be empty, and you're doing it at a rate above your prorated standard monthly because flexibility has value. The pitch is simple. If you're taking your boat out for the season but need a space between trips, we offer flexible month-to-month storage at X dollars per month or X dollars per week, no long-term commitment. This converts boat owners who are actively using their vessels during the summer, the exact tenants who are at marinas, launch ramps, and campgrounds and would otherwise not be in your facility at all during the gap. Tactic 2, low-frequency RV owners. Not all RV owners use their vehicles constantly during the summer. The RV owner who takes 2 or 3 trips a season, a spring trip, a summer trip, a fall trip, stores their vehicle for 3 to 4 weeks between each one. They need storage from May through October, and they're in— they're an ideal summer tenant. The key: they often don't self-identify as needing storage because they think of it as permanent year-round product. So marketing to them specifically, month-to-month RV storage for owners who hit the road frequently. This reaches a segment that your standard marketing may not. Where you can find them: campgrounds, bulletin boards, RV social media groups, the dealer network you've already cultivated. A dealer who knows you offer flexible month-to-month options will refer customers who aren't ready to commit to a full year. Tactic 3, personal watercraft and jet skis. These tenants have a shorter season as well, faster move cycles, and typically need smaller spaces. At a facility with any available small spaces during the summer, personal watercraft are genuine gap-filling option. Their season mirrors yours— high in summer, out in fall. They fill faster than larger vessel categories because the supply of dedicated jet ski storage is thinner than boat and RV storage in most markets. Tactic 4: Marina dry storage overflow. The one most operators never think to use. Local marinas that offer in-water slips or dry dock storage run out of capacity during peak summer season. When a marina is full and a customer calls asking about storage options, That marina needs somewhere to send the referral. If you've cultivated the relationship with 2 or 3 local marinas before summer, you become their default overflow referral. The conversation with marina operators is straightforward. Hey, when you're full and customers are asking about land-based storage, I'd love to be the place you refer them. I have an open-air and covered availability during the summer, and I can accommodate anything up to X amount of feet. This is a commercial relationship, not a formal relationship. You don't need a revenue sharing agreement. You need the marina manager to have your card and a reason to use it. The referral volume from a single relationship with a well-trafficked marina can represent 5 to 10 summer move-ins a season. Tactic 5, month-to-month pricing at slight premium for flexibility. This is the structural tool that makes tactics 1 through 4 work. Rather than offering your standard long-term rate on a month-to-month basis, which creates a situation where a summer tenant Occupies the space you'll need to re-lease in the fall at a different rate. Position month-to-month availability as distinct tier at a 10 to 15% premium over your standard rate. The premium is the flexibility fee. Summer tenants who need flexibility are willing to pay for it. You maintain rating integrity, you fill the space, and you create a clear distinction between your summer flexible rate and your fall long-term rate. The 70% floor is something we need to pay attention to. It's the planning target that changes how you approach summer. The goal in summer is not to match fall or winter occupancy. The goal is never to let summer drop below 70%. At 70%, you're covering your operating costs, generating positive cash flow, and maintaining the tenant relationships and facility condition that position you for a strong fall. Below 70%, You're either running a cash flow deficit or you're close enough to it that it creates pressure to make decisions, rate discounts, hasty new tenants that damage your fall position. Build your summer gap marketing plan around that 70% target. Calculate how many occupied spaces represent 70% of your total capacity. Identify how many summer-specific tenants you'll need to reach that number based on your typical spring move-out pattern. Then deploy the 5 tactics. In short order or in order, short-term boats first, flexible RV owners second, watercraft third, marina overflow fourth, and then month-to-month premium tier as the structural product that supports all 4. If you hit 70% with 3 of the 5 tactics, you don't need all 5. If you're consistently hitting 80% in the summer with your existing tenant mix, the gap isn't a problem. It's the asset performing at its expected cycle. So plan for it proactively and it stops being a surprise. One operational note here. The summer gap is also your maintenance and improvement window. So when your occupancy is at its annual low and facility traffic is reduced, it's the right time to complete deferred maintenance, add amenities, resurface sections of the drive aisles, or upgrade the gate system. These projects are disruptive to tenants during the fall and winter when traffic is high. So summer is when you can get them done with minimal tenant impact. The operators who use the summer gap productively, maintaining and improving during the slow period, not just trying to fill it, enter fall season in with or with a better facility than the one they had it in spring. And that better facility is the product their fall marketing is selling. The gap is not just a revenue challenge; it's an operational opportunity. Here's the frame: The summer gap is predictable, plannable. And smaller than it looks when you approach it with 5 specific tactics rather than a discount on your standard rate. Plan for 70%. Don't discount below your floor. Use the downtime productively. All right. Like this if the marina overflow tactic gave you something to act on before summer. 30 minutes of outreach, no ad spend, 5 to 10 vacancies filled. Subscribe. Day 62 is retention. The August renewal conversation is easier than the September one. We'll show you exactly how to have it. So subscribe so you don't miss it. And if you know an operator feeling pressure to discount right now, send them this. StorageMoguls.ai, summer gap guide, outreach templates, pricing framework. It's free to join. Join Storage Moguls. Plan for the gap. Protect the rate floor. See you tomorrow.
