Latest / Host Planet: Airbnb, Holiday Let, and Vacation Rental Insights / What’s The Right Price For Your Countryside Airbnb?

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What’s The Right Price For Your Countryside Airbnb? · Host Planet: Airbnb, Holiday Let, and Vacation Rental Insights

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  Welcome to STR pricing secrets. This series is powered by Host
• 0:04
  Planet and beyond. The.
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  Global leader in revenue management for short.
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  Term rentals this. Series is your go to guide for
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  mastering pricing strategies that.
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  Maximize your earnings. Whether you're a seasoned host
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  or just starting out, we'll break down the latest trends,
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  expert insights, and actionable tips to help you boost
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  occupancy, increase revenue, and stay ahead in the ever changing
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  vacation rentals market. Ready to unlock the secrets to
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  smarter pricing? Let's dive in.
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  In today's episode. We're going to focus.
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  On how to price of rural rentals, we'll.
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  Look at the. Challenges.
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  Of getting your rates right. How?
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  Dynamic pricing differs between. Urban and rural markets.
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  And the strategies? Rural hosts can use to maintain
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  occupancy. Throughout the year and joining
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  me to share her extensive. Knowledge on the.
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  Subject is Lizzie Grayson, an accounts executive from Beyond.
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  How's it going, Lizzie? Yeah, good.
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  Thanks, James, How are you doing?
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  Hi, I'm really well. Thank you.
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  Looking forward to this episode. So first of all, then, let's get
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  straight into it. What makes?
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  Revenue management challenging in rural locations, of course.
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  Yeah, well, I think, you know, with every listing, every
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  property, there's going to be differences, right, that are
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  unique and there's nuance always.
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  I think when we're focusing more so on rural, what we often see
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  is that the demand is fluctuating differently than
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  what we can maybe expect in cities.
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  With rural areas, we're often seeing that the season is the
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  main driver of where we have like higher demand and higher
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  occupancy, but it can also be tied to things like the the
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  weather, unfortunately in the UK, but also with like local
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  events that are going on in the market.
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  And So what we need to do is being sure that we can reflect
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  that within our pricing strategy in rural markets, but making
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  sure it's done at the right time so that we're getting the right
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  price for the listing as well. And often we're seeing with
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  rural property managers that they have a really great and
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  deep understanding of their local market, but often they're
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  not maybe using tools to help automate or or streamline those
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  processes. And so it can be quite time
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  consuming for them to stay up to date with those changes and
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  those fluctuations in their market in order to to optimize
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  the prices there as well. Yeah.
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  Do you find that the? Rural prices.
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  Are different to the urban prices in the urban prices are
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  kind of maybe more consistent and the rural changes you might
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  have a big difference between summer season and low season,
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  for example. Yeah, I definitely think the
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  strategy that's implemented and you know the the priorities even
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  right that what's driving the owners or the property managers
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  in the different areas can can impact the way that the rates
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  are, are are reflected. But I also think part of it is
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  the demand, right. We're seeing the in urban
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  locations, we can have pretty big jumps and spikes in the
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  demand that we're seeing day-to-day.
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  And then what we often see, like you say is that in rural
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  locations, we don't necessarily have flat pricing, but often it
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  we're not reflecting the daily changes in demand.
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  We're almost set to sometimes just 12 seasons across the year,
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  which could, you know, potentially be further optimised
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  to reflect those daily changes in demand we're seeing in the
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  markets. I guess with the consistency
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  that might be a good thing for the rural locations because it's
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  showing that they are year round destinations.
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  And whether it's winter, you're going to get people walking
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  there taking their dogs and stuff.
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  And if it's summer, they might be going, if it's the Lake
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  districts for example, they're going on boat trips or, or that
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  kind of thing. So you you have that level of
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  consistency because you've got people who are happy to go for a
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  weekend away to a rural location whenever it doesn't really
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  matter about what the weather is like.
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  Or I guess sometimes, sometimes it's going to matter what the
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  weather's like. But but yeah, you kind of have
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  that consistency, right? I think it depends.
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  Yes, I think definitely if we're, you know, demonstrating
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  the desirability of markets in the winter season, then there's
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  ways that we can really optimize and maintain that demand and
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  that occupancy. But I do think some markets
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  struggle in the sense that maybe people aren't as likely to go on
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  holiday, for example, like families, maybe they're in
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  school and obviously they're getting more stringent with the
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  rules around coming out of school, right.
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  And so we're seeing a lot of property managers having to
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  adapt in order to maintain the occupancy outside of the the
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  high seasons. It's a challenge, but it doesn't
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  mean that it's not possible. Now, you mentioned this a little
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  bit before in terms of the property managers knowing their
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  rentals and their location kind of better than anybody else.
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  So how important is local knowledge in rural locations?
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  Especially those places. Where there's hardly any
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  competition. Yeah, I think, you know, one
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  thing we're seeing is that that experienced guests are wanting
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  to achieve with their stays, right.
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  And I think if the property managers are able to reflect
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  their local knowledge and the experience that guests can have,
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  that can be a really great way of getting people in the door.
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  But I also think understanding what is driving the demand in
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  the local market is super, super valuable, right?
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  And the more you know your local market and the, the unique
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  drivers of it, the better you can respond in terms of your
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  pricing strategy or your marketing strategy in order to,
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  to get those guests right and to get people to come and, and find
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  your stay. But I think, yeah, more so now
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  like than ever. It's important to to be that
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  local expert as it were. I had a property manager say to
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  me recently, he said there's hardly any competition where I
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  am. I know what rates I should be
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  charging. I don't need a dynamic pricing
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  tool. Why might that guy be wrong?
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  I think, yeah, I hear this as well.
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  I think it's a great question. I think it's never to say that a
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  dynamic pricing tool is going to know your market better than you
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  and know the the nuance. But what it will allow you to
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  view is you know how trends are evolving year over year and also
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  spot trends that maybe you're not even aware of taking place.
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  You know, often it can be maybe a a music event or, you know, a
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  festival that you're not aware of that actually has an impact
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  on the demand in the local market and it creates great
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  opportunity for a property manager.
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  But if that's something that maybe we miss the, the timing
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  on, then it's an opportunity lost, right?
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  And so dynamic pricing is almost being that, that second set of
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  eyes or that tool that's supporting you and having, you
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  know, not only informed decisions, but picking up on
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  things that sometimes we're not even aware that we're we're
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  missing, right. And so it's like working as a a
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  tool to support you as opposed to, I say, I think some people
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  think it's to replace them. It's it's not it's to to broaden
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  that tool step stack that you have available to you.
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  Yeah, definitely. I remember when I was starting
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  out I must have left a lot of money on the table because my
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  properties are between Leeds and York and the UK.
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  And I didn't realize that Leeds festival was going on and that
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  we had a lot of a lot of interest in the property.
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  And I'm charging a crazily low rate.
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  Yeah. It was only after using dynamic
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  pricing that I realized how much money I'd been leaving on the
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  table, so in. Terms of we've.
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  Kind of touched a little bit. So how should rural hosts
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  balance seasonality and special events when setting prices?
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  Because those special events you mentioned, like, because in my
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  experience, it's not necessarily like the big music festival.
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  It might just be a wedding that's taking place in the next
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  village. And suddenly you've got a lot of
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  people who are interested because they don't have many
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  hotels nearby. So, so how do they get the
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  balance right there? Yeah, definitely.
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  So I think one thing is always to keep as up to date as you can
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  with with both seasonality and with the events, right.
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  But I think that example of like a wedding that's in the local
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  area is a perfect example of something that if you don't have
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  a a tool or if you're not looking at the market data, it's
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  easily missed because you might not know that family that's
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  having the wedding, right? So I think it's always about
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  keeping us formed as informed as possible, but also understanding
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  how, for example, seasonality changes and there's pacing to
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  it, right? Is that evolving year over year?
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  And then with events, understanding the relevance of
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  those events, right? Do they help you justify higher
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  rates? Because if you've got a local
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  event that's like a wedding, it's maybe not going to help you
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  justify rates in the same way that a festival is, right?
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  Where there's a higher number of people coming to the local area
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  or even like the duration of the the event as well have an impact
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  on how you evaluate its relevance and the impact that
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  that directly will have on your rates and how you set them.
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  But yeah, I have to say I hope you went to Leeds Fest after you
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  realised it was there. No.
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  Did you, did you go see it? I was, I was living in Qatar at
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  the time, so I, I didn't have a chance to go to, to Leeds Fest,
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  but I, yeah. Obviously I knew.
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  It was happening maybe in the back of my mind years ago, but
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  yeah, I'd absolutely, absolutely forgotten about it and not, not
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  put my rates up, which was was a bit silly, but there you go.
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  You. Live and learn, maximise your
• 9:57
  holiday, let revenue with beyond.
• 10:00
  Are you leaving money on the table without dated pricing?
• 10:04
  Beyond is the global leader in revenue management for short
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• 10:15
  automated pricing updates and AI driven strategies, Beyond takes
• 10:20
  the guesswork out of setting rates.
• 10:22
  So you can earn more. While doing less, join thousands
• 10:25
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• 10:29
  maximize profits. Try Beyond today and what's your
• 10:33
  revenue soar? Visit beyondpricing.com to get
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  started. OK, so how?
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  Can, I mean, again, we mentioned this a bit, but how can a
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  dynamic pricing tool like Beyond really help property managers in
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  rural locations to make sure that they're getting the right
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  rates all the time? Of course, yeah.
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  And I think that comes back to what we kind of started on,
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  right? It's supporting the application
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  of like those property managers that have great local knowledge,
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  right, helping them apply that knowledge, but also with the the
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  data. So sort of support that we're
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  making informed decisions. So it would help them in having
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  up to date market trends and visibility on those and how
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  that's changing on a daily basis so that it's automatically
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  reflected in the rates. That will ultimately save them
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  time and build the assurance that they have there.
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  And that time then can be spent either investigating other areas
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  such as like marketing or how do we create more of an experience
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  for the guests. But it can also be so that we
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  can understand how to further develop the portfolio and
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  identify areas of opportunity of growth, for example.
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  And I think by having the data there, it's going to help, you
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  know, make informed decisions and, and to to support that
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  growth there. Now there will be managers in
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  rural locations who have pretty defined seasons, you know,
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  places, months where they're really, really busy and then
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  months where it's a bit quieter. So what are the best strategies
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  to ensure that you're getting the bookings coming in during
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  those lower seasons? Yes, yes, exactly.
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  I think with low seasons, it's can be a challenge for for many
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  property managers I think as well when you know, maybe
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  there's a reluctancy to be flexible with rates, for
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  example, in like the winter months where maybe the overheads
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  are a little bit higher with like the cost of heating a
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  property, for example, right? I think the first thing is being
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  prepared and understanding how the season fluctuates, right?
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  And understanding the impact that will have on the the
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  demand, right. So I think we need to make sure
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  that we're conscious of kind of utilising our last minute offers
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  or longer stay discounts in order to sort of entice guests
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  to come in these periods of time and make it sort of a good
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  financial decision. But also, you know, speaking to
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  the audience and showing the understanding of the local
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  market and, and how we can attract them.
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  I think I, I can't remember who told me this recently, but
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  somebody was given the example of even just changing the images
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  for a listing to have like cozy environments and that something
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  that's ticing you to come and visit in like the the colder
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  periods, for example. And then maybe in the summer
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  periods, you reflect it by making it look open in an airy
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  and, and, and lovely, right? So it can just help make the
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  guests feel more, I don't know, like more relating to the stay
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  and seeing it as sort of idyllic throughout all high and low
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  seasons. But of course, the price point
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  has to be right. And I think the dynamic pricing
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  tool will help understand where the the pacing is changing and
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  what kind of rates we can justify in order to make it
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  worthwhile for those days to take place as well.
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  Yeah, seasonal photos is, is a great tip.
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  And another one there might be just changing the content in
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  your listing a little bit to reflect what's going on in the
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  different seasons. And maybe even like mention if
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  there's any events going on nearby to your listing, put them
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  in the listing because people who are searching, the good
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  chance that they'll show up. What, where do you stand on kind
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  of minimum stays when it comes to low season?
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  Is that something to perhaps change in, in different times of
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  the year? I think what we're seeing is
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  like the flexibility that you are able to achieve and offer is
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  beneficial, right. If if you can offer that
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  flexibility and it's OK with yourselves or with the owners,
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  then brilliant. But of course it's going to be
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  case by case basis. I think it's almost the opposite
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  of like summer. If we know that we've got
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  sustained demand for a long period of time, maybe we can
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  strive for for longer minimum stays.
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  And then of course where the demand is lower, often in
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  shoulder seasons we see really strong weekend demand for
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  example, but maybe not weekday. Then by having that flexibility,
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  we're looking to achieve higher occupancy for those those dates
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  that are relevant, right. And where there is that demand
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  drive in them. Yeah, I think being flexible is,
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  is is so important in in this business.
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  Just finally then, if you could give us.
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  Three, key pricing. Tips to implement today for
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  rural short term rental hosts. What would they be?
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  3 key tips. So I think ultimately it's
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  staying as up to date as you can with the the things that are
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  driving demand. And I think ultimately, you
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  know, one of the ways of doing that is by having a dynamic
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  pricing tool, it's going to allow you to have the ability to
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  view the data throughout the year and assess how that's
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  evolving so that you can ultimately stay on top of that
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  and then adapt accordingly. I think the second thing, and it
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  kind of ties back to everything we've mentioned about being like
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  an expert in your local market. The more you know about what's
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  going on in the local market, the more that you're able to 1,
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  capitalise on those local events.
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  But it can also then tie back to the experience that you're
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  offering for your guests and how you attract them when it comes
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  to things like marketing. And as you said, maybe highlight
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  in those local events and those those, you know, attractive
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  things within the marketing of each listing.
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  And I think then the third thing is, you know, plan for that
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  seasonality, whether that's about changing how flexible you
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  are with your your minimum stays, as we've said, whether
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  it's about offering, you know, length of stay discounts.
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  But understanding that the performance in those those key
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  high seasons versus those low seasons can be different and
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  there can be challenges there, But it doesn't mean that there's
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  no opportunity to be to be achieved and to be experienced
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  in those periods as well. Superb, brilliant tips.
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  And Lizzie, if people are interested in utilising Beyond
• 17:09
  for their dynamic pricing and revenue management, where should
• 17:12
  they go for more info? Of course, yes.
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  So we obviously have our wonderful website that has like
• 17:19
  a lot of information around Beyond.
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  So that's beyondpricing.com. But also feel free to to reach
• 17:27
  out to me directly, which is elizabeth.grayson@beyondpricing.com.
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  I'll be more than happy to help where I can.
• 17:36
  Fantastic. We'll put all those links in the
• 17:38
  show notes. Lizzie, it's been a real
• 17:40
  pleasure to discuss rural locations and dynamic pricing.
• 17:44
  Thanks for joining us on STR Pricing Secrets.
• 17:47
  Thank you so much, James. Great to chat to Lizzie Grayson
• 17:50
  there from. Beyond I love those rural.
• 17:52
  Hosting strategies, particularly changing your.
• 17:55
  Photos to make. Them look seasonal.
• 17:59
  All right, that's it for today's episode of STR pricing secrets.
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  Remember, this series is sponsored by beyond and if you'd
• 18:05
  like to try their dynamic pricing tool, head to
• 18:07
  beyondpricing.com. For more free education tips and
• 18:11
  trends from the STR industry, visit houseplanet dot.
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  Club. Where you can sign up for our
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  newsletter, Listen, listen to our podcasts and download a
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  suite of ebooks. For hosts.
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  And property managers. That's it for today's episode.
• 18:24
  Until next time, happy hosting.