Latest / Host Planet: Airbnb, Holiday Let, and Vacation Rental Insights / Want To Stand Out On Airbnb? Use Dynamic Pricing Like A Pro

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Want To Stand Out On Airbnb? Use Dynamic Pricing Like A Pro · Host Planet: Airbnb, Holiday Let, and Vacation Rental Insights

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  Welcome to STR Pricing Secrets. This series is powered by Host
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  Planet and Beyond, the global leader in revenue management for
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  vacation rentals. This series is your go to guide
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  for mastering pricing strategies that maximize your earnings,
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  whether you're a seasoned host or just starting out.
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  We'll breakdown the latest trends, expert insights, and
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  actionable tips to help you boost occupancy, increase
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  revenue, and stay ahead in the ever changing short term rental
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  market. Ready to unlock the secrets to
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  smarter pricing? Let's dive in.
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  Welcome to STR Pricing Secrets. Today we're talking about how to
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  stand out in a crowded market with smarter dynamic pricing.
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  And with me to share his extensive knowledge on this
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  subject is Roman Solanik from Beyond.
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  How's it going, Roman? Great.
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  Thanks, James. Pleasure to be here again.
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  Pleasure to chat again. 3rd and final time you'll be involved in
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  this six part. Let's dive in then.
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  How can property managers used advanced revenue management
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  strategies to stand out in competitive markets and gain
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  owner loyalty? Of course, which is really
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  crucial. Yeah.
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  I mean, with more properties on the market than ever, right,
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  guests do have endless choice. A proven way to stand out is is
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  smarter pricing strategies, right, that attract bookings at
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  the right time without having to undercut rates, right.
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  So dynamics pricing strategies help keep property managers
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  ahead. Winning property managers don't
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  just set and forget pricing, right?
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  They use revenue management solutions with dynamic pricing
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  to adjust for things like seasonality of the market,
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  events happening locally, and general market trends in in real
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  time. So it allows them to gain an
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  edge of competitors that are still using outdated pricing
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  models. So utilizing dynamic pricing and
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  incorporating smarter pricing strategies is 1 surefire way of
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  of of standing out and remaining competitive in an otherwise
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  competitive market. You mentioned there the owners
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  who just rely on kind of set and forget pricing.
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  What are the pitfalls of doing that?
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  Yeah. I mean set and forget market
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  trends, booking trends change all the time, right.
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  So keeping on top of trends is vital.
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  Just basing your strategies on on what were previously or or
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  historical kind of data just isn't going to gut it, right
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  because of these ever changing trends.
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  So having that set and forget approach, it's, it's not
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  proactive enough, right? It's, it doesn't keep in line
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  with the changes that are continuously happening.
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  And ultimately, it creates a hurdle for yourself in
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  maximizing the occupancy and the revenue potential of your your
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  properties. So having a proactive strategy
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  using dynamic pricing in particular, right, which
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  automates your pricing every every 24 hours, automatically
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  adjusting to these market trends, but also proactively
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  keeping on top and making changes right in line with your
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  strategy is crucial. So the the days of set and
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  forget are long gone. There'll be owners out there, I
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  guess, who are a little bit skeptical about dynamic pricing,
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  but if you're a property management company, how can you
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  prove real value to those owners through using a dynamic pricing
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  tool? Yeah, I mean, absolutely.
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  Like proving value to owners is is a real game changer right
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  now. Owners don't just want bookings,
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  they want higher earnings, they want better occupancy.
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  They want long term success for for their properties.
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  Right now, property managers who leverage data-driven revenue
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  strategies can easily demonstrate the value that
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  they're bringing to the owner, right.
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  So it ensures that owners stay loyal instead of switching to to
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  the competition. So having, you know, also access
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  to data that can help you paint the narrative of the impact that
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  you're having on the management of that listing and the success
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  of that listing will help you build stronger relationships
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  with owners and which will ultimately lead to ideally
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  growth of your portfolio through word of mouth recommendations
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  and so on. When it comes to occupancy, how
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  can a dynamic pricing tool ensure that your rentals are
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  achieving strong occupancy rates?
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  Because it it's not just about getting that higher revenue when
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  the demand is there and making sure that you're filling that
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  occupancy when it's lower demand.
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  So how? How can it really supercharge
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  your occupancy? Yeah.
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  So that's the I guess is you what you just mentioned, right.
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  Pricing isn't just about getting the best possible rate around
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  key events, right or key drivers of of demand.
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  It is crucial to get occupancies and income right, right in the
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  off season, in the shoulder periods and so on.
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  Now again, dynamic pricing will help with that because
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  ultimately we adjust your prices based on the supply and demand
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  going into your particular market, right?
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  So when demand is lower, naturally we'll be a bit more
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  flexible with the prices to incentivize guest the book and
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  make sure that you're not sitting empty.
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  And in those peak periods, we will ultimately increase prices
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  to make sure that you're getting the best possible rates out of
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  that listing. But flexible pricing ultimately
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  also allows you to keep the, the owners happy, right?
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  Because in the lower periods, you're still bringing them good
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  income and good occupancies for that listing.
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  And then you're getting the, the best possible revenue in the, in
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  the busier times. But having that the the right
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  tech and data that can ensure consistent income for owners,
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  which goes without saying, they they love right?
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  So it'll help with that too. A few scenarios then that just
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  kind of like popped into my head there, you know, with, with
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  owners, if they're using set and forget pricing, let's for
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  example, say they've got a, a low season rate of £100 a night
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  and their occupancy is like 98%. That might be 1 scenario where
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  you might think, OK, maybe your rates are, are too low.
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  If it's 98% on the other scenario, they've said a rate
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  and they're just not getting any bookings.
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  And I guess if they'd have gone dynamic and maybe just brought
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  their rates down by 10 or 15% in line with the market, they might
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  find that their occupancy is is a lot higher.
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  So are those scenarios that are likely with with set and forget?
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  Yeah, exactly. So that's the, I guess that's
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  the problem with set and forget is that you're not adapting to
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  these changes in demand where you could be driving more
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  occupancy or you could be getting a better rate because
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  you're just, you've got flat pricing, right, and you're not
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  getting booked. That's a clear indication that
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  your price is likely too high. What a dynamic pricing tool will
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  do is it will look at your price, it will see that demand
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  is low in that market, you're not getting booked and it will
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  automatically lower the the price, right, to maximize the
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  chances of getting booked. And vice versa on those key
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  events. It will automatically pick up on
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  the increased demand around those events and increase your
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  prices to maximize the daily rate from from that.
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  If it's just set and forget, you know you're not reacting to any
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  of these of these changes and you're either then basically
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  making yourself sit empty or you're leaving a substantial
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  amount of money on the table. Using that example of what you,
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  you said right, is if they've got 98% occupancy at £100 a
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  night, let's call it 100% occupancy at £100 a night,
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  right? And they're getting an income of
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  of 3000 lbs in a 30 day a month and they're sitting completely
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  full. And they think that's, that's
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  great, right? And now what if, for example,
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  you could get 80% occupancy, 125 lbs a night, right?
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  So although there's less occupancy, the income is still
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  the same. It's still £3000 per month or
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  over those 30 days. But there's less cleaning,
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  there's less laundry, there's less admin, there's a range of
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  other kind of benefits that come from that.
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  So just because you've got 100 100% occupancy doesn't
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  necessarily mean that you're getting the best out of your
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  your listing. And so that's where dynamic
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  pricing can can also help to ensure that you are getting the
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  best performance and getting the best ultimately the best
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  returns. Yeah, 100%.
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  You know, there'll be definitely a lot of property managers out
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  there who will tell you 6070% occupancy is about right and
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  probably the most profitable area.
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  Because I know, I know there's one property manager out there.
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  He says, look, if if your occupancy is over 90%, then very
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  simply your, your rates are too low.
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  So yeah, think about that. It's the the just having that
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  occupancy rate of really high 90%.
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  It might sound like a great metric, but it's not necessarily
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  the best for your business, especially with the wear and
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  tear angle as well. Like you say that the cleaning
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  and the maintenance too. Maximize your holiday.
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  Let revenue with Beyond. Are you leaving money on the
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  table with outdated pricing? Beyond is the global leader in
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  revenue management for short term rentals, helping hosts and
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  property managers boost revenue by up to 35% with real time
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  market insights, automated pricing updates and AI driven
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  strategies. Beyond takes the guesswork out
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  of setting rates so you can earn more while doing less jointly in
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  thousands of successful hosts who price smarter Fillmore
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  nights and maximize profits. Try Beyond today and watch your
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  revenue saw. Visit beyondpricing.com to get
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  started. So when it comes to saving time,
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  then to what extent can a revenue management tool like
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  Beyond save your time and help you to concentrate on on other
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  areas of your property management business?
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  Yeah. So I guess you know advanced
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  revenue management, like it's not about spending hours and
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  hours in adjusting prices, right?
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  It's about using the the right tools to make smarter, faster
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  and I guess more profitable decisions.
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  So I already mentioned with Beyond, right, with our dynamic
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  pricing system, your prices are automatically refreshed every 24
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  hours. So if you had to do that every
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  single day for the next 365 days for each one your listings, I
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  say that takes a lot, a lot of time and effort.
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  So automating that is a is a game changer.
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  I'd say the prices do adjust every 24 hours in line with the
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  market. So again, instead of you having
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  to spend time keeping on top of what's happening in the market,
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  you can free up that time to use on, you know, whether it's
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  delighting your your guests with the guest experience, whether
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  it's, you know, managing your your own conversations or
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  expanding your portfolio and your acquisition efforts, the
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  time saving from beyond can help empower you in multiple aspects
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  of the business. Final thought then why should
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  hosts and property managers be checking out Beyond Today?
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  There's there's too many, too many answers that I could give
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  to this, but ultimately, you know, having a successful
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  business, remaining competitive in an increasingly more
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  competitive market is crucial for the success of the business
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  and for the growth of the business.
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  Revenue management and pricing in general is a crucial part of
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  any successful short term rental or property management business.
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  So utilizing beyond will not only help you save time and
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  effort on an otherwise very laborious process is going to
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  help you maximize the revenue potential and the performance of
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  your portfolio, which at the end of the day means more income for
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  your business and more free time to focus on growing the business
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  and also more delighted owners. So it's a it's a win win for
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  everyone. But ultimately, our tools are
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  there to to make you more effective and and empower you to
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  be as successful as possible. 100% more delighted owners.
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  I think everybody will will raise a glass to that.
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  Roman. Thank you so much for joining us
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  on this edition of STR Pricing Secrets.
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  Thank you very much for having me, always a pleasure.
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  Great to chat to Roman Sollyanic there about how to stand out in
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  a crowded market. Remember, dynamic pricing can
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  help you boost revenue and occupancy.
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  So give it a try. All right, that's it for today's
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  episode of STR Pricing Secrets. Remember, this series is
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  sponsored by Beyond. And if you'd like to try their
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  dynamic pricing tool, head to beyondpricing.com.
• 13:29
  For more free education tips and trends from the STR industry,
• 13:33
  visit Houseplanet dot Club, where you can sign up for our
• 13:35
  newsletter, listen to our podcasts and download a suite of
• 13:39
  ebooks for hosts and property managers.
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  That's it for today's episode. Until next time, happy hosting.