Dear St Barth Homeowners

Dear St Barth Homeowners,

After a very busy high season, we are enjoying the slower pace and longer days of the summer months. We want to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued partnership. In this letter we will share some important market information with you, and ask you to consider a new approach when considering inquiries for festive stays.

Occupancy Trends

We are seeing reduced demand vs year ago for the October-December time-frame. We advise caution if you are considering increasing prices over Thanksgiving. For festive we encourage owners to be flexible with minimum night stay requirements to maximize revenues from rentals.

Despite prevailing market headwinds, WIMCO St Barth Properties villa rental business has maintained its competitive edge and is continuing to outperform the overall market (as evidenced through a year over year increase in market share of nights rented). 

However, we are not immune to the significant challenges facing anyone in the Caribbean travel industry this year and are taking proactive measures to bring you reservations…including self-funding booking incentives for direct clients and travel agents, increasing the distribution of the villas we represent, and testing dynamic pricing for those owners who opted into the program.

Festive Season Strategy

Through the first six months of the year, demand for festive stays has been softer than last year, and the majority of inquiries for festive stays have been for less than 14 nights. To date, WSBP has had two times as many inquiries for festive canceled due to length of stay issues than the number of festive bookings that have been confirmed. 
…and clients who are making these festive inquiries are willing to pay. The median number of nights for canceled reservations was 10, with a median price of $47,000.

When we compare the length of stay requests being turned down now, versus the length of stay results that were achieved for festive in 2022…they are almost identical:

Booking dates for guests with a festive arrival (Dec 15-Dec 31)

Booking dates for festive stays are back-loaded due to 14 night minimum stay requirements in place through the end of September, or longer

What conclusions can we draw from these two data points? Based on recent history, consumer demand is not going to move from 7 night stays to 14 night stays, instead, villa owners will eventually move towards where market demand is, at 7-10 nights.

By waiting to lower the minimum night stay requirement, villa owners are forcing clients to wait until Sept and October when eventually the minimum night stays are reduced. Why not accept a 7 to 10 night booking now, and avoid the anxiety and uncertainty of waiting for a request for a longer stay that may never come?

An Alternative Approach to Your Minimum Night Stay Strategy

As a villa owner, your minimum night stay strategy for festive is based on how much net revenue you want . What if we were able to create a middle ground between clients only wanting to stay 7 nights, and owners wanting the revenue from a 10+ night stay? 

Take a look at the premium pricing model below. It proposes to charge the client a premium for stays of less than 10 nights…where the client agrees to pay a bit more than list price, and the owner agrees to accept a bit less than full revenue for a 10+ night stay. Each side makes a concession to secure the reservation, which makes it a win-win outcome.

If you agree with this tactic, we simply ask you to send us email saying you want to opt-in to the “FESTIVE PREMIUM” program. Then our Director of Sales Anne-Marie Caye will

instruct our reservations agents to use this model to negotiate a premium price for stays of a less than your minimum requirement. Please note that for those owners who opt in to this strategy, these premium price negotiations will be private one to one negotiations with the client. The price on the public website will not be changed.

Dear St Barth villa owner.

Please take one minute to complete a three question survey. Your answers will help us serve you better!

A Note from Cathy Menard in Owner Relations

Greetings from sunny St Barts!  The work for our reservations and concierge teams may slow down during the summer months, but over here in owner relations we are working hard year round! Since I joined the company in November 2022 (it’s actually my second term with WIMCO as I worked here prior to moving to France) I have been in touch with a great many of you. It is a pleasure working with such a diverse and interesting collection of people.

While the most interesting part of my job is building relationships with more than 300 individuals who own villas here, what is more interesting to all of you is what we are doing to generate bookings for you. I work closely with Stiles Bennet in marketing and Anne-Marie Caye in reservations to put together booking incentive programs, special offers and training programs.

For those owners who opt-in to an exclusive listing relationship, we also work together on implementing dynamic pricing and featured promotions in the WSBP client and travel agent newsletter.

One additional program we would like to tell you about is our home exchange partnership with THIRD HOME. Owners who choose to opt-in to this program can stay in luxury vacation homes around the world for a fraction of the normal rental cost. All you have to do is deposit one low season week into the “bank” and Third Home gives you credits which you can use to rent properties within their network.

If you are curious about this program, or about options to maximize your property’s revenue potential, please contact me at [email protected] 

Updates from Nocturne Luxury Villas

Our parent company Nocturne Luxury Villas has been busy! WIMCO Villas and St Barth Properties were both purchased by NLV in the second half of 2021, joining Exceptional Stays which was purchased in the first half of 2021. Since then we have been joined by two other luxury vacation rental brands – Cabo Villas and Paradise Retreats. 

What does this mean for you, the owner of a villa in St Barts? With Nocturne’s help we are becoming more effective and productive in all that we do. Nocturne is supporting all of us with centralized talent and resources in Marketing, Sales, Revenue Management, and Technology that benefit all of us operating companies. For example, we have moved our content onto more contemporary and effective websites, and migrated our team to new reservations and accounting systems that are more efficient and secure.

The combined WIMCO St Barth Properties has expanded its teams in both Newport and St Barts. The merged company continues its focus on developing long-term personal relationships with our direct clients, travel agency partners, local suppliers, and of course villa managers and the owners of the villas we represent.

MORE ABOUT NOCTURNE 

Enjoy 20% Off Our Nocturne Sister Brands

As part of the Nocturne family of luxury villa rental companies, we're pleased to share a great benefit with our homeowners. Book a stay with one of our sister companies during the next two months and save 20%. For bookings made after this two-month period, we're delighted to offer 10% off, ensuring you receive the best value for your exquisite getaway.

Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or concerns. 

All the best,