Here’s a great example of what happens with a Wolf Property. This case study is for a small 1 bedroom cabin with great views and a hot tub. We had a lot of rental history from the prior owners, because their management company had marketed this home for at least four years and charged a fee of 15%. Prior to our management, the property:

• Grossed $28,405 for the year (rent, cleaning and sales tax)
• After the management fee, the owners were paid $24,144
• The owners still had to pay out sales tax or $3,059
• The owners were left with a net profit of $21,087
• They booked 184 nights, for an occupancy of about 50%
• Their average rate per night was $154

For the last 12 months ending July 31, 2023, the cabin:

• Grossed $114.452 in total revenue (rent and cleaning)
• Nearly all sales tax and platform commissions had already been paid by AirBnB.
• The owners’ net profit after The Wolf’s management fee was $68,610
• The occupancy was 99.16% (356 booked nights)
• Had a average gross rate per night of $321.50

Note that the owner profit soared from $21k to nearly $69k, a difference of $48,000.

It’s better to pay 30% to a top notch management company that drives maximum revenue than it is to pay 15% to a company that cannot.

Eyes on the listings aren’t the only thing that matters, however. We need people to click through to our listings and ultimately book them. As a result of our pricing strategy, listing optimization, and amenity investments, our properties are consistently filled, and booked at a higher nightly rate than our competitors. We believe our Wolf Dens are unique homes and good values. 

Here are two screen shots from AirBnB showing our occupancy rates and average nightly rates for our entire portfolio during the first half of the slow season: mid-August 2019 to mid-January 2020. We chose this because it shows off-season performance, since it’s pretty easy to get homes filled in the summer when the majority of Estes Park’s 5 million visitors come.

There are two important things to note here. 

First, the occupancy rate is more than triple the competition (an average of comparable properties of similar sizes and with similar amenities). The market average is 26% while our occupancy rate for this period of time was 92%. Indeed, some of our homes didn’t even have a vacant night. 

Second, our average nightly rate was only slightly higher than the competition. We believe our homes are worth that small price bump — and so do our guests. Our homes are well kept, well cleaned, and well stocked, and very well reviewed.

Nobody wants to risk an entire vacation by staying in a home that is falling apart or is noisy. But clearly guests feel confident that our properties are going to meet their needs, and are willing to pay a very small premium to ensure that. As a result, our homes remain a fantastic value to vacationers. 

While looking at these metrics, it’s clear that not only are our homes earning as much or more per night as our competitors, but they do so three times as often.

And this is a big part of what sets The Wolf apart from the rest of the management pack.