Are You Using A Pricing Manager and Do You Like It?

Question

I've been using Beyond off and on. I'm on the fence. I like it for a couple of weeks, it ticks me off because the prices are way too high or way too low, I turn it off and do it all myself. Today I think I've decided to turn it back on but I'm not sure why. I'll probably just turn it off again and have to adjust the whole damn year manually again.

What's your 2 cents?

Thanks!

What's your 2 cents?

Thanks!

Ken Latchers · Answer

there is no bait and switch. It is supply and demand. There are peak, shoulder and offpeak times. Airlines. Hotels. etc.

Collin Hays · Answer

VRBO’s market maker is a wonderful tool for self managers!

Ken Latchers · Answer

Pricelabs i prefer. You can see reviews on these at capterra.com

it is all about accepting their suggestions for pricing in a minimum stays, setting the lowest and highest you think you want to go, making sure events or holidays properly captured. Also orphan days is useful to ponder. Or if you have change over days.

it is my belief that people who obsess over One Missed Opportunity you are missing the point. This can bring you 10 20 30% more revenue if you know what you're doing. Unless you already manually price everything obsessively. Of course depends on how much your time is worth.

Julie McCoy · Answer

@Lucas Carl I've been using Beyond Pricing since December, I think, so I don't have much data yet but here's what I got in January 2020 vs. January 2019 with manual pricing.

Cabin #1:- ADR +16%- Occupancy -4%- Net rental income +5%

Cabin #2:- ADR +16.5%- Occupancy -12%- Net rental income +11.5%

Cabin #3:- ADR +11%- Occupancy -20%- Net rental income - no change

The prices scare me sometimes because I think they're too high, but then people book them, so yay!  It DOES change the booking timeline - people are less inclined to book further in advance, and you get more in the ~30 days prior to staying.  Since my cabins are small, that doesn't bug me; if they were 4BR+ I'd want a different timeline.

Overall I'll happily sacrifice occupancy for a higher gross rental income month over month; fewer guests to deal with, less wear and tear on my cabins; but hopefully I can get it to the point where my occupancy stays up AND my ADR goes up.

So far I'm getting good ROI from Beyond Pricing.

John Underwood · Answer

I really like Vrbo's market maker also.

Paul Sandhu · Answer

@Lucas Carl

I just monitor the local motels and follow their pricing.  Local motels are my only competition.

Nancy Bachety · Answer

We just started using beyond pricing, like @Lucas Carl. I go on rants, “it’s too low” at one property or “it’s too high” at another. I decided to let it book a few nights “low” then adjust our base higher. At our “too high”  property, I’ll adjust and lower the price about 45 days in advance. I’m not familiar with pricelabs. If we’re too empty I’ll adjust prices, and if we’re nearing  full, I’ll adjust the price. I just wish I felt better about a pricing tool other than my intuition or thinking we we’re off.

At the end of the day, I take the total of our expenses, and divide by 15, and aim for that number. Good question.

Sean Mentzinger · Answer

In my experience, If you have better than average units/location/reviews/photography, then pricing software will lose you money in the long run if you simply apply their suggestions to your calendar.  The compression dates when there's a conference in town, long stretches of holiday season, or simply a big sports game is when you need to really boost your pricing...  Could even be a silent killer to your biz

Mark Miles · Answer

So, I used to like beyond and then I soured on it. Here’s one of my big gripes: it acts like this amazing pricing tool, but you have to manually set the discount rules to apply as you get closer to booking date. For example, you manually set a discount that get triggered at 30 days out & 20 days out & 15 days out & 10 days out.

If you were legit pricing software, you should know automatically when to apply these discounts. I shouldn’t have to tell the software when to discount my place. Do what you’re supposed to do, Beyond, and use the  historical data to know when to slash my prices.  It’s advertised as this amazing smart pricer tool, but it seems like more of a dumb pricer to me

Ken Latchers · Answer

I think wheel house is supposed to sync up with some kind of events company to know what's going on? But all of us know our own markets best.

Here, three-day major holidays will be great. Christmas to Jan 1 is good. Our 3 weeks of fall leaf festivals is great. Etc. I need to make sure these are price optimal. The rest of the year, I will let PriceLabs do its thing.

We are essentially Friday Saturday bookings. Jan to March dead.

Are You Using A Pricing Manager and Do You Like It?

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