Revenue management, answered

In a weak season, should I discount early to lock in a base of occupancy rather than hold my price?

No. Blanket early discounting in weak season trains the market to wait for lower prices and compresses your RevPAR before demand even plays out. Hold rate longer than feels comfortable, then cut selectively by unit type and stay pattern if pace genuinely lags.

By Jack Murphy, Head of Revenue Management at UpRev. Running pricing for US vacation rental managers since 2017. Last updated September 1, 2026.

Pace First, Then React

Pull your booking pace against the same week from prior years before touching price. Weak pace at 90 days out does not always predict weak occupancy at 30 days out, especially in markets with shorter booking windows. If pace is tracking behind a genuinely soft comp period, narrow the discount to specific check-in days or minimum-stay configurations rather than dropping your whole base rate across the portfolio.

Protect Your Rate Floor

Discounting early sets an anchor guests remember and expect next year. Protect your floor rate and use value-adds like waived fees or adjusted minimum stays to move stubborn inventory without permanently marking down the unit. When you do reduce rate, do it in measured steps on a short window so you retain room to move back up if late demand materializes.

Segment Your Portfolio Response

Not every unit in a weak season deserves the same strategy. Higher-tier or unique properties often hold demand later than standard units, so discounting them early leaves money on the table. Identify which properties in the portfolio are genuinely at risk of going dark and treat those as your first candidates for targeted adjustments, keeping the rest of the lineup at hold.