Pella Shoulder: August Peak, February Hole, May Tulips

Jacob Mishalanie
2 days ago
7 min read

Updated: 1 day ago

Empty Madison County Iowa covered wooden bridge, no people

AirROI's current Pella extract, August 2025 through July 2026, pins typical listings at about $20,593 a year on 56 active rentals. The average night was $191. Occupancy was 38.7 percent. Revenue per available night was $78. Year over year is minus 11.8 percent. Active supply moved plus 36.6 percent. Des Moines city cluster 240 is already LIVE at $16,916 on 619 listings. Do not remesh it. Do not average Pella $20,593 with that city year. Winterset has no AirROI extract on this pass. Do not invent a Winterset year. A separate Rabbu pass printed Pella at 24 listings and about $22,939. Do not average. Call Pella City Clerk Mandy Smith at 641-628-4173. 825 Broadway Street. Planning and Zoning 641-628-0043. Iowa Code 414.1: no city STR-specific CUP or STR-specific license/permit fee on this research pass. STR classified as residential. Generally applicable health and safety still allowed. State hotel and motel tax is 5 percent. Confirm remaining Pella local hotel tax at Iowa DOR. Confirm 2026. AirROI's low-regulation scrape is not the clerk file. Confirm remaining Winterset clerk before you advertise a Madison County driveway. Des Moines Development Services 515-283-4200 is the 240 city hall. Do not remesh 240.

August Is the Busiest Revenue Month

February Is the Slowest

56 active listings is a gallery. Superhost share is 78.6 percent. Professionally managed share is 21.4 percent. Andrea holds 3 listings. Entire homes are 92.9 percent. Houses are 58.9 percent. DIY vs Hire in Pella is already live on Crest and Cove. Use it for the related stay, not as a blended year.

May ADR Peaks Around Tulip Time

August is the busiest month. May and September are the other strong months. February is the slowest. Stay is 4.2 nights. Lead is 62 days. Most guests arrive from Des Moines, then Omaha. Who Books Near Des Moines is already live on Crest and Cove. Use it for the related stay, not as a blended year.

A Named Weekend Is Not a Filled Month

Call Pella City Clerk Mandy Smith at 641-628-4173. 825 Broadway Street. Planning and Zoning 641-628-0043. Iowa Code 414.1: no city STR-specific CUP or STR-specific license/permit fee on this research pass. STR classified as residential. Generally applicable health and safety still allowed. State hotel and motel tax is 5 percent. Confirm remaining Pella local hotel tax at Iowa DOR. Confirm 2026. AirROI's low-regulation scrape is not the clerk file. Confirm remaining Winterset clerk before you advertise a Madison County driveway. Des Moines Development Services 515-283-4200 is the 240 city hall. Do not remesh 240. Buying a Pella Rental is already live on Crest and Cove. Use it for the related stay, not as a blended year.

A 62-Day Lead Time Is Not Occupancy

Des Moines listings earned about $16,916 last year from 619 active rentals on the current AirROI extract used for the already-LIVE 240 city cluster. Keep that stay on its own line. Do not remesh 240. Winterset has no AirROI extract on this pass. Do not invent a Winterset year, listing count, or ADR. Name Roseman Bridge, Holliwell Bridge, and the John Wayne Birthplace Museum as visitor demand, not occupancy. Pella Tourism Data is already live on Crest and Cove. Use it for the related stay, not as a blended year.

Covered Bridge Weekend Is Winterset Demand

Tulip Time 2026 was May 7 through 9. Tulip Time 2027 is May 6 through 8. Covered Bridge Festival is October 10 through 11, 2026. Confirm hours. Do not invent a visitor count as occupancy. Complete Visitor's Guide to Pella and the Covere is already live on Crest and Cove. Use it for the related stay, not as a blended year.

Protect Rate Around Named Town Demand

Downtown Pella, Lake Red Rock, and Winterset's courthouse square are three occasions. Write the one the house can actually host. What It Costs to Start a Legal Pella STR Stay 20 is already live on Crest and Cove. Use it for the related stay, not as a blended year.

Price the Month the Extract Named

How a host should read this map is to file Pella $20,593, leave Winterset uncounted, and leave Des Moines 240 on its own live line. Financing a Pella Rental Without a Des Moines Ye is already live on Crest and Cove. Use it for the related stay, not as a blended year.

Hosts who underwrite Pella stays should keep $20,593 on 56 town listings, call 641-628-4173, leave Winterset uncounted, and leave Des Moines 240 on its own live line. We market. We do not take the lock.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which three months make up Pella's peak season?

August, May, and September run above the annual average in the current extract, with August the single busiest month. May's lift lines up specifically with Tulip Time, while September likely benefits from cooler weather and fall visitor traffic. A host building a seasonal pricing calendar should treat those three as the named peak months, not assume the whole summer is uniformly strong.

When is Pella's slowest month?

February is the clear low point in the current data, both in revenue and occupancy. A host shouldn't try to manufacture February demand with an unrealistic listing description — instead, price it as the shoulder low it actually is, and consider using that stretch for maintenance, deep cleaning, or a value-priced promotion aimed at a different guest segment than the festival crowd. A host shouldn't try to manufacture demand with an unrealistic listing description during that stretch; pricing it honestly as the low point tends to perform better than pretending it's a normal month.

How does Tulip Time affect May pricing specifically?

Tulip Time 2026 runs May 7 through 9, and May's ADR lift in the current data tracks with that festival window rather than the whole month evenly. A host should price the actual event dates as the peak, with the surrounding May days stepped down toward the annual average, rather than flattening the entire month to festival-weekend rates guests won't pay for a random Tuesday. Pricing the surrounding May days closer to the annual average, while reserving the premium rate for the actual event dates, avoids losing bookings to guests unwilling to pay a festival rate for an ordinary weekday.

What is the annual revenue figure behind this seasonal pattern?

The peak and shoulder months described here sit inside a year that AirROI's current extract puts at about $20,593 typical revenue on 56 active listings, with a $191 average nightly rate and 38.7 percent occupancy overall. That $191 figure is an annual average — actual peak-week rates run above it and February rates run below it, so it shouldn't be posted as a flat nightly price across the calendar. Both the year-over-year decline and the supply increase are worth weighing alongside any single month's performance when deciding how aggressively to price a specific week.

How long do guests typically stay during peak months?

The average stay across the full sample is 4.2 nights, with roughly a 62-day booking lead time. During named peak weekends like Tulip Time, that lead time functions more like a minimum than an average, since a small 56-listing market fills its best houses first for well-known event dates. Booking further ahead matters more during those specific weeks than during an ordinary shoulder month.

Did supply growth affect how peak months perform?

Active Pella supply grew 36.6 percent on this extract while revenue moved down 11.8 percent year over year, meaning more listings are now competing for the same named peak weeks. A host relying on August or Tulip Time weekend to carry the year should watch that supply trend closely — a strong month can still soften if enough new competing listings enter before demand catches up. A host who assumes August will perform the way it did last year without checking current listing counts risks overestimating how much of that demand their own property will actually capture.

Should a host discount the February low season?

That's a pricing decision each host has to make against their own costs, but the data supports treating February honestly as the market's weakest month rather than pretending demand is flat. Occupancy is weakest in February, and a listing that holds peak-season rates into that stretch is likely to sit empty longer than one that adjusts. Landscape amenities near the property don't change that seasonal reality.

How should a host handle pricing during the shoulder weeks just outside the peak-3 months?

The weeks bordering August, May, and September aren't as strong as the named peaks, but they aren't the February low either. A host should step pricing down gradually from the peak-month rate rather than dropping straight to a low-season price, since demand in those transition weeks still runs above the annual average in the current data. Watching actual booking pace week to week is more reliable than guessing at a fixed shoulder discount.

Work with Crest & Cove Creative

Pricing every month like August, or every night like the $191 annual average, leaves real revenue on the table during Pella's actual peak weeks and prices the February hole wrong too.

We build seasonal pricing calendars and campaign timing around Pella's real peak months and real slow stretch, so promotions land in February and premium pricing lands on the weeks that can support it.

Reach out at crestcove.co or (256) 998-7502.