The kind of condo in Calgary and the kind in Mont-Tremblant aren’t aimed at the same sort of guest, yet both suffer from the same causes of lost bookings: poor photos, unattractive pricing, reliance on a single channel, and compliance gaps that can result in a listing being removed altogether. If you address those four issues in turn, occupancy will increase.

Fix the Listing Before You Touch Anything Else

People scroll quickly; with just two seconds to decide on a search results page, the photo grid does most of the work. Properties photographed with sharp, well-lit, wide-angle images convert visitors into customers at a noticeably higher rate than those taken on a phone in poor lighting. Before considering price, amenities, or anything else, make sure the photos are no more than 2 years old or that renovations have taken place since they were taken.

Your title and description are just as important. Instead of using general phrases like “Cozy Retreat”, start with what guests actually look for: a title such as “Ski-In Chalet, Private Hot Tub, 10 Min to Sunshine Village” will outperform “Beautiful Mountain Getaway” each time. When writing the description, base it on the guest’s actual trip: business travellers need desk space and fast Wi-Fi mentioned at the top; families will want a crib and a fenced yard; and ski groups will look for boot dryers and gear storage close to the door.

Address reviews by responding to each, whether positive or negative, within a day or two. Often, a careful reply to a three-star review does more to reassure a potential guest than five highly positive reviews which include no response from the host.

Stop Relying on One Platform

Airbnb still has the highest usage in Canadian cities and remains the simplest way to reach international travellers and those booking last-minute weekend trips. However, if you rely on it as your sole channel, a single algorithm change or a flag on your account could eliminate your calendar all at once.

Vrbo, now part of the Expedia network alongside CottagesInCanada.com, is popular with families and multi-generational groups who book longer-term stays, which reduces your per-dollar turnover costs. In Quebec, WeChalet has acquired a loyal following among travellers seeking chalets and nature-based holidays outside of the major online platforms. Yet none of these services replace Airbnb; they exist alongside it.

From a practical point of view, the problem is managing the calendar. If you run three or four platforms by hand, you risk making double bookings. By using a channel manager, common examples among Canadian operators include Hostaway, Lodgify, and OwnerRez, you can synchronize your calendar and rates across all the platforms from one dashboard, which makes it possible to handle multi-channel distribution without turning it into a scheduling nightmare.

Price to the Market, Not the Season

Setting fixed seasonal rates, for example, deciding on a rate for summer and one for winter in January and sticking to them, results in lost revenue in both directions. In your peak weeks, the fixed rate is almost always lower than the market will bear, while during the shoulder season, the same fixed rate is often too high to be competitive.

Tools for dynamic pricing, such as PriceLabs, Wheelhouse, and Beyond, adjust rates each night based on local demand, similar properties, and booking pace, updating rates daily rather than seasonally. When it comes to the peak periods in July, August and during ski season, increase the minimum stay to five or seven nights in order to prevent costly one-night turnovers from reducing your profit. However, in April, May, September, and November, an alternative approach is more effective: reduce the minimum stay to 2 nights and add weekly or monthly discounts to keep the calendar full.

Keep an eye on your booking window as well, since Canadian guests are now more likely to book closer to their travel dates than they were even a few years back. Make sure that automated last-minute discounting is in place for any unbooked dates within the two-week period, and establish a ‘gap night’ rule which reduces your minimum stay to one night when there is a single open date between two existing bookings. An empty night at any price is better than an empty night at full price.

Add What Guests Are Actually Filtering For

In Canada, the winter season makes some facilities worth considerably more than they would be in a warm, year-round climate. A good example is a private hot tub: it keeps the property attractive during the shoulder and winter months and is always in the search filters guests use when comparing cottages and chalets. Similarly, a cedar sauna serves the same purpose, especially in ski towns and wellness-associated areas such as Canmore or the Kootenays.

The fact that a property is pet-friendly means that it becomes accessible to a whole group of travellers who eliminate pet-unfriendly listings before even looking at your property, no matter how good your photographs are. It is relatively cheap to make a property pet-friendly (it only takes durable flooring, an extra cleaning fee, and a few basic supplies) compared to the size of the audience it brings in.

Level 2 EV charging is now a real filter when people choose destinations to visit, and in cities with dedicated workspaces and genuinely fast Wi-Fi, midweek bookings can be secured from remote workers who would otherwise book only on weekends. Since none of these features are cheap to install, decide which ones to prioritize based on your market: a hot tub matters more in Invermere or Kelowna than in a downtown Calgary condo, and a workspace matters more in a business-travel city than in cottage country.

Compliance Isn’t Optional Anymore, and It Directly Affects Bookings

Most vacation rental guides omit this point because the guides aren’t written for a Canadian audience. Skipping it here is wrong, since a property that has been delisted or is non-compliant not only loses future bookings but also forfeits the tax advantages it has already received.

British Columbia

Under the Short-Term Rental Accommodation Act, short-term rentals in designated municipalities (broadly, communities over 10,000 people) are limited to a host’s principal residence plus one secondary suite or accessory dwelling unit. The requirement applies in more than 77 BC communities, and a growing list of resort towns has opted in over time, so it’s worth checking your specific municipality rather than assuming the rule does or doesn’t apply.

Alberta

Alberta has no province-wide principal residence rule, so municipalities determine the requirements. Calgary requires a short-term rental business licence, issued as either a primary or non-primary residence licence. Unlike BC or Toronto, non-primary (investment) properties are allowed. A minimum of $2 million in liability insurance is required. Other Alberta markets, including Red Deer, set their own local rules, so confirm requirements directly with the municipality rather than assuming Calgary’s framework applies.

Toronto

Entire-home rentals are capped at 180 nights per calendar year, while renting up to three bedrooms in your principal residence carries no annual limit. The city’s Municipal Accommodation Tax dropped back to 6% on August 1, 2026, after a temporary increase tied to World Cup-related funding. Registration is mandatory, and the number has to appear on every listing.

Quebec

Any short-term rental of 31 days or less requires a registration certificate from the Corporation de l’industrie touristique du Québec (CITQ), and the certificate number must be displayed clearly on every listing and advertisement. Montreal layers its own municipal restrictions on top of provincial rules, so a CITQ certificate alone doesn’t guarantee compliance within city limits.

Federally

Since 2024, section 67.7 of the Income Tax Act denies rental expense deductions to the extent they relate to a “non-compliant” short-term rental, meaning a rental that’s prohibited by, or fails to meet, provincial or municipal rules. The denial is prorated based on how many days the property was non-compliant relative to how many days it operated as a short-term rental, not an automatic loss of every deduction the moment you slip out of compliance. However, it’s still a real cost, and the CRA faces no time limit on reassessing non-compliant expenses.

No matter how careful you are, it doesn’t take the place of getting advice from a tax professional or from a lawyer who is familiar with the bylaws of your municipality, since the rules in this area change so frequently that what is correct this year might not be correct the following year.

Build Toward Direct Bookings, Even If Slowly

The OTA fees are generally between 14 and 20 percent when both the host’s and the guest’s charges are taken into account. A direct booking website will not take the place of Airbnb or Vrbo as your primary source of traffic, particularly in the early stages, but each guest who books directly rather than via a platform brings in more revenue for you and can be marketed to again the following year.

Start simple: create a website with real-time availability (make sure it’s synced with your channel manager so you don’t end up with double bookings), and build an email list from past guests. A short email sent after a stay, which offers a discount to returning guests, is more effective than almost any paid advertisement you could run for the same amount of money.

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s the fastest way to increase vacation rental bookings?

Pricing correction usually shows results fastest. If your calendar is running at 90%+ occupancy, you’re likely underpriced for your market. If it’s sitting below 60% on dates that should be strong, look first at pricing and photos before assuming you need new amenities.

Does listing on more platforms actually increase bookings?

Generally yes, because different platforms reach different guest types, but only if you’re using a channel manager to keep calendars synced. Adding platforms without one increases your risk of double bookings faster than it increases your revenue.

Do I need a registration number to list a short-term rental in Canada?

In most regulated markets, yes. Toronto, British Columbia’s designated municipalities, and all of Quebec require a registration or classification number displayed on the listing itself. Requirements vary by province and municipality, so check your specific location before listing.

If you’d rather leave pricing, distribution, and compliance to someone else than handle it yourself, arrange a consultation with Nomadics to learn how a dedicated property manager would handle your market, or read our guide to growing a vacation rental business if you’re planning to scale beyond one listing.