High Season, Low Season
The peak nightly rate is about 49% higher than the low.
Picture a couple named Fritz and Joanne, 67 and 65. They wanted to spend a week in a beach town on the Algarve coast in Portugal before deciding whether to stay longer. Joanne's sister had gone in August and told them it was lovely. They looked at what a night costs in the town in three kinds of month.
The figures below come from published booking data for one Algarve town. They are nightly rates for short stays on one platform, and monthly rents for longer stays are a different matter.
| Time of year | Average per night | A 7-night week | How full the town's rentals were |
|---|---|---|---|
| Low months (January, November, December) | US$249 | US$1,743 | 28% |
| In between (shoulder) | US$308 | US$2,156 | not given |
| Peak months (June, August, September) | US$370 | US$2,590 | 57% |
The peak nightly rate is about 49% higher than the low. A week costs US$847 more in the busy months than the quiet ones. The in-between months sit about 17% below the peak, so US$62 less per night.
Fritz rubbed his chin. "August is a lot of money for one week."
"August shows us the town full of visitors," Joanne said. "If we want to know whether we could live here, we might see it in a quiet month too."
They did the arithmetic on both trips and decided to go in an in-between month, then come back for a long weekend in the low season. In the in-between month, the beach was busy enough for them to see how the town runs. In the low month, they saw it as its residents do, with fewer visitors on the street. They paid less for both, and they had two pictures of the town instead of one.
You could…
- Ask for the price in each season before you book.
- Visit once in a busy month and once in a quiet month before you rent for a year.
- Ask a landlord for a monthly price in each season, since nightly rates differ from monthly ones.
- Ask local residents what the town is like in the months you have not seen.
Which season showed you the truest picture of a place? Name the season in the comments. A reader choosing between two sets of dates could weigh your answer.
Figures are estimates for planning, based on public data.
Sources: published short-stay booking data for one Algarve town (nightly rates and occupancy by season). Other towns and countries may differ.
Tell us in the comments