15 Riskiest Holidays to Rent out Your Airbnb

Tim Hubbard ranks the 15 riskiest holidays for Airbnb rentals and explains why each one is dangerous. He recommends minimum-night policies, strict guest vetting, deposits, and noise monitoring to protect your property during high-risk dates.
Chapters
This week we're just going to jump right into it. Some days are riskier than others when it comes to renting out our short term rentals. What am I talking about? So let's compare an average Wednesday of any given week compared to, I don't know, Halloween or New Year's Eve. Obviously these two days are very different. They may be attracting very different guests. You might want those guests, but you might not. So let's talk about some of the things to consider before accepting guests on these days. The first thing is what is your minimum night policy? If you're allowing one night, well then you gotta be extra careful with these days because someone will book them and yes, they will have a party. You might on the other hand, only allow three night minimums or four nights. And these holidays might be a really big moneymaker for you. But, but either way, we've gotta make sure that our properties are protected. There's a lot of things that go into that, from vetting our guests to deposits, to insurance on our property, to getting rental agreements signed, to our house rules, to having a noise monitor our property. We've talked about all these things in regards to protecting our property. So if you're just joining us for the first time, I'm glad you're here. My team and I have managed tens of thousands of guests, multiple cities, almost 20 now, and in multiple countries. So we've learned a lot. And I'm glad you're here. We've got all of our resources at Strict. We also have a really cool bot there where you can just go in and ask it, hey, what episodes have you done on protecting your property? So let's say you've already got all those protection steps in place and you're trying to decide how risky it really is for your property to rent on one of these 15 holidays. So a couple other things to consider is that some holidays are more celebrated in hot climates versus cold climates, right? So think fourth of July. It's much more celebrated in a hot climate than it is maybe in a winter climate. So you got to look at your individual property and sort of judge that. And you should know if you happen to live in that area, if you're not operating your properties remotely, what the sort of holiday climate is like. The other thing you want to consider is the size of your property, right? So the larger the property, the more people you're going to allow and the bigger a party could be. But again, this might be a really big money maker for you. You just want to make sure you have your property protected and you have all those things in place before accepting a reservation. The other thing to consider is that some holidays or some days that we think about as holidays aren't actually granted off from work. And so some of the more risky days might not seem that risky, but because most people have them off, it provides an opportunity for them to celebrate a little bit more. So with all those things considered, let's go ahead and jump in to the 15 riskiest days to be renting out your property. And number one, Christmas. I know what you're thinking, Tim. Christmas is a family gathering time where people are peaceful. And yes, that's very true. That's why it's the first. These are ranked in order of least risky to most risky. Christmas is generally not a huge red flag day, but most people have it off, right? And so they could be celebrating a little bit more. Second up is New Year's Day. Now, not to be confused with New Year's Eve, where most people are celebrating before the ball drops, before the hour changes for the day changes. And so this is New Year's Day, which most people are probably a little bit more tired if they were hanging out. It is a day that's most often granted off or it's a federal holiday. So we got to keep that in mind. But it's not quite as risky as some of the others. So let's jump into number three, Thanksgiving Day. Again, very similar to Christmas, so not a huge risky day. And some of these holidays are great money makers for short term rentals and also times where you want to make sure that your minimum stay requirement is two, three, four nights. One of the challenging things with some of these holidays is that they change year over year, so the actual dates change. I know that gets a little confusing, especially if you're trying to plan ahead and make sure you're not overlooking anything. So we've written an amazing chatgpt prompt that gives you all these dates, it gives you all the red flags, it sorts by riskiness level. So we've got that for you. You can grab it in the link and in that doc, we've also got tons of other AI prompts that my team and I use to write listing descriptions and all these cool stuff. So. So with that said, you don't need to take notes for today's show. You can grab all those, just grab the link below. So Thanksgiving, yes, it's another day that most people have off. And so because of that, it could be a little more susceptible to parties. But most of the Time, those are going to be more family gatherings. The next one is also not that risky. Right? It's Easter. Most people out there looking for eggs, it's not a day that people actually have off, but it is a day that is very often celebrated. Right. The next one, this is more for couples. This is Valentine's Day. And so again, not a super risky day. Aside from perhaps your bed frame getting a little messed up or some paint blemishes on your wall if your headboard is not fastened to the wall. You get my drift here. Most people are celebrating this as a couple. Also not a federal holiday, but one where people might be staying up a little later. Number six, President's Day. And most people actually do have this day off and it falls on a Monday, which means people have an extended weekend. Right? And so a lot of times these extended weekends are a time where people are doing a little more planning. They might have some more parties. Number seven, sort of a similar type of holiday, but this Martin Luther King Day, and this is another holiday that is granted off. So. So most people have this off and it also is another Monday holiday, meaning people have a longer weekend. With all of these days, these one day holidays, you really just want to make sure that your minimum stay is not just one day. Unless you are super confident in your abilities to vet every single guest and you're maybe there meeting them at the property, these days are a little more risky. So our recommendation is really just to bump them from a one night minimum, if you happen to have that, to a two night. The next one, this one's getting a little more risky. This is Memorial Day. And yes, most people have this day off as well. This holiday also happens to fall on a Monday, so people have a longer weekend. It's also a holiday that's more celebrated in sort of the hotter climates. People are outside barbecuing, they could be getting loud, staying in the Jacuzzis, staying in the pools, perhaps bothering neighbors with noise. So we're getting a little bit riskier here. We want to make sure, of course, we have all those things in there to protect our property. And again, we want to make sure that we're not allowing any short stays around these holidays. So Next up, number 10. This is Juneteenth. This is a national Independence Day. It is a day that is given off to most people working. So we want to be extra careful that our minimum stay strategies around these days are not too short. Next up, 4th of July, also a summer party time. Outdoors, barbecues, spas, pools Drinking all these things can be a great money maker. We just want to make sure our minimum stay is long enough because if we have a two, three, four night minimum versus a one night, right, someone's not going to be partying at our property for 3, 4 nights without anyone knowing about it. Most people try to sneak these one day parties by, so we just want to be careful with that. So next up, we have Veterans Day. First of all, shout out to all of you who serve for our country. Thank you very much for your service. Another federal holiday, another opportunity for some people to celebrate a little more than usual, I would say. You could easily argue that some of these days might get flopped around in this list, but nonetheless, they are all holidays. They all are days that people are celebrating. So we want to make sure that we're not getting caught off guard. These next three, 13 through 15, I can guarantee you are a little riskier. So coming in number 13, we have Halloween. This is actually not a federal holiday, so most people don't have this off. But it is a day where people are known for getting a little crazy, right? They're not themselves. You put on a costume, they've got a different personality going on. People are drinking, they're, they're having a good time. And these are also usually late parties. And so definitely want to make sure that around Halloween you're being extra careful with the guests you let in your property. Coming in at number 14, this is new Year's Eve, celebrating the new year coming, right? And this is not New Year's Day, but New Year's Eve. And so this is definitely a late night party type of day because New Year's happens at midnight, right? So be careful with this one. And coming in at number 15, St. Patrick's Day, this is a drinking holiday. You might be saying, Tim, this, this is not the riskiest day. And I would love to hear from you what you think is the riskiest day. This was a list that our prompt created. This is definitely a date that can be risky, right? It's known for Guinness and Irish car bombs and, you know, having green paint and doing all that. So it could be a little more wear and tear on your property as well. I know there are other days out there, other events that are really risky for your property. And so we're going to jump into those things. Like, is it okay to accept a bachelorette party? Is it okay to have birthday parties or events allowed at my property? When do I want to accept these and when do I not want to accept these? Days, so we'll break that down in the future on a different list. But until then, make sure that your minimum night settings for all of these 15 days are not just one night. It's a little too risky, right? You want to bump it up to at least two. Hopefully. These are big money making days for you and your property where you're having people stay for a whole weekend, three, four nights, maybe even a week at your property. Of course, we can find this information out by looking into sources like Price Labs that show us historic booking trends. So I hope this review was helpful for you. And if you haven't remembered some of these days, I hope that you're being proactive and you'll jump back in. Remember, you can get this list from us just by grabbing it in the link below as well as all of our other AI prompts and we've got a ton of really useful ones in there. Remember, sometimes these dates are changing year over year and it's a little confusing if it falls on a Monday or Wednesday. So go grab that. Make sure that your minimum nights day policies around these days are set up right. And until next time, I hope you have a fabulous week.
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