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How To Price Your Urban Airbnb for Maximum Bookings · 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.
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  Management. For vacation rentals, this
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  series is your go to guide for mastering pricing strategies
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  that maximize your earnings, whether you're a seasoned host
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  or just starting out. We'll breakdown the latest
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  trends, expert insights, and actionable tips to help you
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  boost occupancy, increase revenue, and stay ahead in the
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  ever changing short term rental market.
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  Ready to unlock the secrets to smarter pricing?
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  Let's dive in. Welcome to.
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  STR pricing secrets. This episode is titled City
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  Rentals Big Profits Pricing secrets.
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  Revealed and with me to. Share his knowledge on this
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  subject. Is Roman Solianic from beyond?
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  How's it going, Roman? Great.
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  Thanks, James. Pleasure to be here.
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  How are you doing? All good.
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  Thank you. Pleasure to chat again.
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  All right then. So talk to us about the
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  challenges that. Hosts are facing in urban
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  markets when it comes to revenue management.
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  We know, of course, that events like concerts.
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  Football matches, business conferences, They obviously can
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  drive. A lot of demand and extra
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  revenue, but it's difficult, right?
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  To stay on. Top of everything that might be
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  happening, especially if you're based in somewhere like London
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  or Manchester. Yeah, absolutely right.
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  So events always pose a a massive opportunity for
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  additional revenue, right, Because there's always increased
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  demand around these events. But they do also pose challenges
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  because you'll see drop offs in occupancy in the build up and
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  the follow after an event, right.
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  So keeping on top of that and you know, setting the rates
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  correctly to maximise revenue during the events, but get good
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  occupancies before and after is is very difficult and a hard
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  balance to to kind of strike. Also keeping on top of events in
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  in general, right, with multiple stadiums in a single city, for
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  example, multiple types of events like you mentioned,
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  whether it's concerts, you know, exhibitions, football games,
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  etcetera. It is very difficult, especially
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  if you've got a varied portfolio in different areas, right?
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  So having data that can detect these is in demand, right, can
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  ensure that you're getting the best possible rate and occupancy
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  for your business. And that's what we do with
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  Beyond event detection. So we look at data from all the
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  major OTAs looking at the demand in the buildup and during the
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  event to make sure that you don't miss out on the right kind
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  of rate adjustments. And because real time pricing
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  is, is essential, right, manual updates won't keep up with these
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  urban demand shifts. So working with Beyond will
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  essentially help you get the best performance from your
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  properties in these urban markets that are quite
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  challenging to keep on top of otherwise.
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  Yeah, very challenging. I mean, you just, it's
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  impossible really to know about everything that's going on.
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  I mean, even in a rural market where I've got a couple of
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  properties, sometimes there's a demand spike because there's a
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  wedding going on nearby and you're never ever going to know
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  about that unless you're checking like parish notice
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  boards or something. So it really is vital that you
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  use a dynamic pricing tool because it it just is impossible
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  to know everything that's. That's going on, and I guess
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  there's nothing worse than. Getting a booking for a few
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  months in advance at a normal average rate and not realizing
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  that it's because there's a big event going on nearby.
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  Yeah, Yeah, exactly. We actually have within beyond
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  you do also have kind of tools or customizations to help you
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  essentially protect yourself from that kind of situation.
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  So if you are taking bookings far further out, we'll add
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  premiums onto the pricing to protect your revenue as like you
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  mentioned, you never know what's around the corner and they might
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  announce a new event that's happening next year and all of a
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  sudden you've, you know, sold out at a margin of of what you
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  could have actually achieved. Talk to us, then, about.
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  Real time pricing. What are the benefits of this
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  and how often does a tool like Beyond update your rates?
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  Yeah. So real time pricing, right, it
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  is a it's essential these days, right.
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  Manual updates just don't keep up with urban demand shifts.
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  Now what we do is, is like you mentioned is we, we automate
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  pricing adjustments and now the beyond automated pricing, that's
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  David. So every 24 hours.
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  So it helps you stay competitive and maximize the revenue from
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  your listings. But what we do is we look at the
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  say the data from the major OTAs to understand the supply and
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  demand in a particular area, see if that demand is increased or
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  if demand drops off. We'll then automatically adjust
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  your prices every 24 hours based on these changes in in your
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  market. And how does it look, for
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  example, I'm, I'm thinking here like from a football point of
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  view, when two teams, they win the semi final and then they're
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  going to Wembley for, for the FA Cup final, let's say in, in
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  London. I guess when?
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  Suddenly the demand starts peaking because all those fans
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  are looking at, you know, buying tickets and, and getting
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  somewhere to stay. Do you see like the the average
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  daily rate just go up and up and up for those dates when when
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  something like that happens? Yeah.
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  So like using that, if there's a final for example that's
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  announced and they say the date is 18th of May, just picking a
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  random date there. So we will see from the data
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  from the online travel agents that demand is increased, right.
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  More bookings are coming in, less inventory is available,
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  demand is skyrocketing, supply is decreasing, right.
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  So in turn, that will then allow our algorithm to automatically
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  increase your prices based on that increased demand to make
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  sure that you capitalize on that increased demand and get the
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  best possible rate. So we'll automatically adjust
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  your prices for you so that you don't have to keep on top of all
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  these new event dates, right? And in the fear of missing out
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  on potential kind of revenue opportunity?
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  Yeah, that is the point, isn't it?
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  It's done automatically. So if once the final is
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  announced or the teams qualify, you don't have to then suddenly
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  go in and and start changing. Your prices maximize your
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  holiday. Let revenue with Beyond Are you
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  leaving money on the table without dated pricing?
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  Beyond is the global leader in revenue management for short
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  term rentals, helping hosts and property managers boost revenue
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  by up to 35%. With real time market insights,
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  automated pricing updates and AI driven strategies, Beyond takes
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  the guesswork out of setting. Rates so you can earn more.
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  While doing less, join thousands of successful hosts to price
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  smarter Fillmore nights and maximize profits.
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  Try Beyond today and watch your revenue saw.
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  Visit beyondpricing.com to get started.
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  I think anyone operating in an urban.
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  Market will know that. They'll get guests.
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  Who are booking? Short term stays, they're
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  probably. Going to get guests booking much
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  longer. Stays as well.
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  So what's your advice when it comes?
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  To minimum stay tactics to make sure that you're taking
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  advantage of the demand for both.
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  Yeah, it's a great point, right? Like you, you, you say it is
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  indeed in, in urban markets you get a mixture of both short term
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  and and kind of long term travellers.
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  So having I guess dynamic minimum stays is, is important
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  as well. And doing that, having access to
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  the data to see how these lengths of stay trends change
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  throughout the year will help you be more effective and
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  ultimately make sure that you're not restricting yourself from
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  picking up the best possible bookings.
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  In terms of also like maximizing the, the inventory or the, the
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  availability in between kind of the longer and shorter stays or
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  you might see happen is for example, there's 2 long stays
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  booked each one side of the other, but there's a gap of
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  three nights in between, for instance, right?
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  But your minimum length of stay is, is 7 nights, right?
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  So we can automate the process of identifying that gap,
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  reducing your length of stay automatically to help you ensure
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  that you pick up a booking in that gap and not sit empty in
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  between two longer term kind of bookings.
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  So you have a range of different kind of customizations and
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  settings to help you optimize occupancy without kind of
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  unnecessary restrictions. And you have access to data to
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  show how the length of state trends change throughout the
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  year to make sure that you're never kind of restricting
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  yourself too much. The example of you might be in a
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  in a rural market, right, where you know that in June, you know,
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  traditionally you've had people stay for seven nights, right?
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  So your minimum length of stay is set to to a week.
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  However, actually the data shows that you know, 80% of people are
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  actually booking between 3:00 to five nights, right?
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  So in turn, having a seven night length of stay restrictions,
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  you're immediately kind of kind of putting a hurdle in front of
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  yourself in picking that booking up.
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  So adjusting your length to stay in line for that will help you
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  pick up more bookings, but having the access to the right
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  data is crucial for that to make sure that you're continuously
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  optimizing. And for bookings.
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  Further out. Say if.
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  You you've got your calendar open for the next 6 months.
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  Is it better for bookings that people may be looking in four,
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  5-6 months time to have a higher minimum stay and then bring it
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  down gradually as we get closer to those dates?
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  So that then for example, maybe in six months time you don't
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  want somebody booking a one night or a two night stay.
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  You just want to make sure that if you're getting a booking far
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  out, they are booking a week or at least five nights or
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  something like that. Yeah, absolutely.
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  So it really depends like on your, your own strategy and
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  your, your own approach and it might even vary by owner, right.
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  So the key thing is, is having the ability to be flexible with
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  different strategies and apply these these strategies in terms
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  of how you approach bookings further out.
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  There's different ways of looking at it, right.
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  So you could ask for a longer length to stay, right, so that
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  it doesn't impact your calendar as much as multiple shorter
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  stays. You can add premiums for prices
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  further out, kind of also covers yourself for something that we
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  mentioned earlier, right? If there's a new event that's
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  announced, at least you've sold at a premium around those dates
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  already. So there's a range of different
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  tactics that you can use. And but the great news is you
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  have the ability to customize these tactics within Beyond
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  tools. So you can set these parameters.
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  If anything is being booked further than 180 days out or six
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  months out, the length of stay is, you know, seven nights.
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  When it's within 90 days, the length of stay is 2 nights.
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  For example, if it's within the last three days, well, you'll
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  take a one night just to not sit empty, right?
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  So there's a range of different things that you can utilize to
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  be in line with what strategy you want to to adapt.
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  Yeah, exactly. It's just kind of being aware of
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  the data and the market trends and, and you know your market
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  better than anybody probably and, and, and coming up with
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  something that's going to suit. Just finally then, so you know
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  many out there, many owners out there are obviously.
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  Looking to to. Scale their businesses.
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  They want to get more and more properties, so how can a tool
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  like Beyond support the growth of a property management
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  business? Well, pricing in general, right,
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  is an extremely labour intensive process in general, right.
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  If you want to be kind of proactive, there's a range of
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  different things you've got to look at make kind of daily
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  adjustments. So it's a time consuming
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  process. So if we can save you time and
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  effort on an otherwise laborious process and you can free up that
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  time to focus on, you know, expanding your business, that's
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  of course, one of the key benefits of, of dynamic pricing
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  is saving you time and effort and, and freeing up your time to
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  where it really matters. And you can focus on, on growth.
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  But ultimately what's key to fueling growth is, is revenue
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  and profit, right? And having the, the right
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  pricing to help you maximize occupancy in the offseason,
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  maximize your daily rates in the, in the peak periods and
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  boost your income will also then help with your acquisition
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  efforts. And also whether that's your,
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  you know, freeing up more funds for things like marketing,
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  expanding into new areas and so on.
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  So there's a really a plethora of ways that dynamic pricing can
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  help you grow your business. And also, there's lots of nifty
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  tools within the dashboard that can help you actually identify
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  which properties you want to potentially target to bring in
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  under management. Yeah, there's a very cool
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  property analyzer tool that Beyond has so if you want to
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  check out what an existing listing can earn or should be
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  earning or you're interested in a in a new property, it's a
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  really great way of kind of working out how much income you
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  should be generating that's fantastic then Roman.
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  Yeah. And and bottom line of course is
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  you know you're going to earn more revenue when more revenue
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  will will help you to to grow your business.
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  Thank you so much for joining us again on this episode of STR
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  Pricing Secrets, and we'll speak again soon.
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  Thanks very much for having me. OK, go.
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  Great to chat to Roman Solanic there about big city rentals.
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  I love those tips. About the minimum.
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  Stay strategies. Make sure you give them a try.
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  All right, that's it for today's episode of STR Pricing Secrets.
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  Remember, the series is sponsored by Beyond.
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  And if you'd like to try their dynamic pricing tool, head to
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  beyondpricing.com. For more free education tips and
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  trends from the STR industry, visit Houseplanet dot Club where
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  you can sign up for our newsletter, listen to our
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  podcasts and download a suite of ebooks books for hosts and
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  property managers. That's it for today's episode.
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  Until next time. Happy hosting.