A Tuscan villa’s calendar does not have one rate, it has five or six. High season in July and August, with a seven-night minimum and almost always Saturday to Saturday. Shoulder months in June and September, now worth nearly as much as summer: the weather is better, international guests avoid the heat and northern European school calendars allow it. May and October with three- or four-night minimums and prices a third lower. Winter with low rates but not closed: Christmas, New Year and Easter fill houses with a fireplace and decent heating.
Then there are the days that move demand on their own. The Palio di Siena on 2 July and 16 August; the harvest and the village festivals of September and October; the Chianti Classico Expo in Greve; the Italian long weekends of 25 April, 1 May and 2 June. A villa half an hour from Siena during the Palio is worth more than the middle week of August, and should be priced that way — with the right minimum stay, because Palio guests come for two nights, not seven.
The right price is not the highest one. Ninety percent occupancy in July at full rate and an empty June earn less than seventy-five percent spread across four months. You work towards a seasonal revenue target, review every week against the requests that came in, the dates still free and what comparable houses in the area are doing, and hold only one number firm: the rate below which the house is not worth opening, because cleaning, linen and wear cost the same at any price.
Some items stay outside the price and must be stated first: final cleaning, linen, tourist tax, the deposit, pool heating out of season. Clarity before confirmation; disputes after the stay, never. The same goes for the cancellation policy: a moderate rule — full refund up to sixty days, half up to thirty — converts better than a strict one and costs less than it seems, because dates released in time are resold.
How we handle it: next season’s calendar is built in November, house by house, with minimum stays and the owner’s own blocked dates already in; then it is reviewed every week until October. The owner receives a monthly report with occupancy, average rate and revenue, compared with the previous year. If you own a villa in Tuscany and want to know what it could earn with a calendar built this way, write to us: the estimate is made on your data, not on an area average.
