Great video Daniel! I've been looking for revenue management tips like this for a while and tried to even pay some people. So glad I was able to get this much value from a free video. You're a legend!
Good point! My experience told me so....then I removed my last minute discount for the past 3 months to test and I've still gotten numerous bookings within 5 days of checkin including for the past two weeks in a row.
How much time how far apart dates should I select on the blt dashboard on Airbnb. I know seasonality plays a role, slow season is aug- September in Miami. How long should I select?
I can't help but believe that your gradual 40% discount didn't play a role in attracting those last minute bookings. If you just lowered your base price in Pricelabs to begin with would you have gotten more bookings further out before that 40% discount took affect, or was just starting to hit? I'll be curious to see if and how your numbers start changing now without the discount. Will your occupancy just go down so you end up adjusting your base rate down to keep that Booking Lead time where you want it? You check/adjust base price every Wednesday so checking your Base Price History changes in the past and going forward might be something worthwhile to track. Booking Lead Time is also variable throughout the year based on the seasonality of your location and the type of location you're in. These Spring numbers could be useless in July or November. I'm in the central Florida beaches and most snowbirds book next year this year, I don't allow that but most hosts want that guaranteed money. But the summer vacationers book much closer to the trip so vastly different Booking Lead Time from season to season. Also, when you say you "removed the discount" what does that mean? Did you set it back to the standard Pricelabs default Last Minute Discount where it applies 30% over the last 15 days, or did you toggle that switch on and apply no discount so you stayed at the recommended price without the last minute discount at all? I've just created a similar spreadsheet to track Booking Lead Time manually because you may be on to something, I'm just hesitant to make a change until there's more info. I'm running the default 30% gradual in Pricelabs, keeping my calendar at 3 months open in busy seasons and 6 months right now to open up the slower fall season, and 85+% of my bookings come within 21 days, with 42+% within the last 5 days. It can be nerve wracking booking that close and watching the daily price drop, especially when it's a slower month, so would I be better off just to lower the base price all together since virtually no one is paying the top price that Pricelabs is setting?
I addressed the first part of this comment already, but here's the big differnece is that my 40% gradual discount applied to all days, including weekends. Now, I have an overall discount for Mon to Wed only. That was the booking pattern I noticed, not that I would not get last-minute bookings. Booking Lead Time can be variable, for my market, it's relatively consistent yearround. Correct, set it to the default. It's all about patterns. You notice a pattern, you make a change. I thought I noticed a pattern, I did some research, the numbers surprised me, and I made a change. This month for May, I am basically 100% booking. There are 2 single open nights, one of which can still get booked.
One thing I wasn't sure I understood from the video. You mentioned something about denying booking (while you were staying at the listing), which doesn't hurt your conversion rate. What would be the alternative that would hurt your conversion rate? Is it just to simply not take an act of accepting or denying? Keep on the good work and thanks from Israel :-)
Well, you were getting those bookings because you’re offering a discount? Interested to hear how the strategy has affected your revenue. Bookings gone back to what you would expect as a normal curve
Yes, more discount = more bookings generally. The idea here is to push the occupancy higher, among other things a highly booked listing will get more impressions which will translate into more bookings generally
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Great video Daniel! I've been looking for revenue management tips like this for a while and tried to even pay some people. So glad I was able to get this much value from a free video. You're a legend!
Glad it was helpful!
This was a very insightful video. Great job!
Thanks!
One of the more useful and under discussed topics related to STR's and pricing. Thanks!
Glad it was helpful!
Niiiice!! Thanks for this video!
Glad you liked it!
What's to say your not getting those close bookings because of the discounts you are giving?
Good point! My experience told me so....then I removed my last minute discount for the past 3 months to test and I've still gotten numerous bookings within 5 days of checkin including for the past two weeks in a row.
How much time how far apart dates should I select on the blt dashboard on Airbnb. I know seasonality plays a role, slow season is aug- September in Miami. How long should I select?
30 days BLT as a rule of thumb you should tweak it depending on your situation
There's a way to create a special discount from days within 26-45 lead time in pricelabs?
Have a look at my dedicated pricelabs playlist
I can't help but believe that your gradual 40% discount didn't play a role in attracting those last minute bookings. If you just lowered your base price in Pricelabs to begin with would you have gotten more bookings further out before that 40% discount took affect, or was just starting to hit? I'll be curious to see if and how your numbers start changing now without the discount. Will your occupancy just go down so you end up adjusting your base rate down to keep that Booking Lead time where you want it? You check/adjust base price every Wednesday so checking your Base Price History changes in the past and going forward might be something worthwhile to track.
Booking Lead Time is also variable throughout the year based on the seasonality of your location and the type of location you're in. These Spring numbers could be useless in July or November. I'm in the central Florida beaches and most snowbirds book next year this year, I don't allow that but most hosts want that guaranteed money. But the summer vacationers book much closer to the trip so vastly different Booking Lead Time from season to season.
Also, when you say you "removed the discount" what does that mean? Did you set it back to the standard Pricelabs default Last Minute Discount where it applies 30% over the last 15 days, or did you toggle that switch on and apply no discount so you stayed at the recommended price without the last minute discount at all?
I've just created a similar spreadsheet to track Booking Lead Time manually because you may be on to something, I'm just hesitant to make a change until there's more info. I'm running the default 30% gradual in Pricelabs, keeping my calendar at 3 months open in busy seasons and 6 months right now to open up the slower fall season, and 85+% of my bookings come within 21 days, with 42+% within the last 5 days. It can be nerve wracking booking that close and watching the daily price drop, especially when it's a slower month, so would I be better off just to lower the base price all together since virtually no one is paying the top price that Pricelabs is setting?
I addressed the first part of this comment already, but here's the big differnece is that my 40% gradual discount applied to all days, including weekends. Now, I have an overall discount for Mon to Wed only. That was the booking pattern I noticed, not that I would not get last-minute bookings.
Booking Lead Time can be variable, for my market, it's relatively consistent yearround.
Correct, set it to the default.
It's all about patterns. You notice a pattern, you make a change. I thought I noticed a pattern, I did some research, the numbers surprised me, and I made a change. This month for May, I am basically 100% booking. There are 2 single open nights, one of which can still get booked.
do you provide that formula for your spread sheet?
No, it would only work if all your cells are aligned up perfectly to mine.
@@OptimizeMyAirbnb Okay, thanks papito.
@@yeseniasplace jaja
One thing I wasn't sure I understood from the video. You mentioned something about denying booking (while you were staying at the listing), which doesn't hurt your conversion rate. What would be the alternative that would hurt your conversion rate? Is it just to simply not take an act of accepting or denying?
Keep on the good work and thanks from Israel :-)
Denying a booking does hurt conversion rate...?
I dont think 36 bookings isn’t enough data
Well, you were getting those bookings because you’re offering a discount? Interested to hear how the strategy has affected your revenue. Bookings gone back to what you would expect as a normal curve
Yes, more discount = more bookings generally. The idea here is to push the occupancy higher, among other things a highly booked listing will get more impressions which will translate into more bookings generally
Mine also says 26.7 lol what a coincidence