With the approach of 2024, our latest updates ensure your pricing strategy is in line with the market trends. Discover high-demand dates effortlessly with our new Events/Holidays feature, bringing you the ability to view and report events directly from the product itself. Plus, more details on migrating to Hyper Local Pulse algorithm.
Prepare well for upcoming Events, Holidays, and high-demand dates
A well-defined vacation rental pricing strategy seeks to get the best out of every date in the calendar. Holidays and events make up some of the high-demand dates for every region. For instance, the 2024 Summer Olympics will be taking place in Paris, France in July-August 2024.
A glance at PriceLabs’ pacing data, accessible through our complimentary tool, the World STR Index, reveals a striking surge. As you can see in the below graph, the current occupancy in the Ile-de-France region is surpassing last year’s figures by over 200%.
Events and holidays are occasions or happenings that can influence the demand for short-term rentals in a particular location. As experienced property managers know, events and holidays can make or break the performance of any vacation rental. With the right prices, an event can make up for an entire month’s expected revenue. Hence, it makes sense to closely track all holidays and events whether they are periodic events like the Olympics and Super Bowl or one-off like Taylor Swift concerts.
One way we solve this is with the help of our Hyper Local Pulse algorithm. By looking at the nearest 350 similar properties in your vicinity, we gauge if there’s increased demand for any date. Altogether, this gets captured in the demand factor component of your prices. We club holidays, events, and day-of-week trends and show them as “Demand Factor” when you hover over a date on the calendar. In essence, we automatically detect high-demand days even if we don’t have the specific event listed.
But, our users were looking for a more hands-on approach for events and holidays. So, with the new Events and Holidays table, we have made the tracking of events possible right in the product. To view this, click on the View Event/Holidays button next to your pricing calendar in PriceLabs. We utilize the industry data available on worldwide events & holidays such as Christmas, New Year, and school holidays to populate a database for each region. Now instead of searching online, you can click on Events/Holidays to discover upcoming high-demand dates for your region.
The challenge also lies in the unpredictability of certain events and when they might occur. There are countless local events like conferences, sports events, music tours and concerts, festivals, trade shows, etc. Tracking each of them all across the globe is not feasible. Hence, now our users have two new buttons to provide us with inputs for events and holidays.
- Report Event – You can use this feature to report an event that is not listed in the events and holidays table
- Add Feedback – This is an added ability for users to provide feedback for an already listed upcoming holiday in the Events/Holidays table. You can use this feature to let us know if you see a particular event day priced too high or too low.
Your suggestions will undergo an evaluation by the team. If added, it will start reflecting in the table.
We don’t just end here. In the instance that your property witnessed an increase in demand due to a one-off local event, we ensure to remove it from our price recommendations for the next year. Similarly, for any region, there could be negative demand days like natural disasters, wars, pandemics, etc. If any of this happens this year, we update our forecasts to remove the effects of it in the next year’s prices.
Everything you need to know to migrate to Hyper Local Pulse Algorithm
Why migrate to the new algorithm?
- We are confident that our updated algorithm, Hyper Local Pulse (HLP), will enhance your business’s revenue potential by aligning more precisely with your local market. Evidence from our trials suggests that the new methodology can improve revenues by an additional 9% compared to our previous model.
- Furthermore, all future innovative features related to pricing will be exclusively available through this new algorithm. If you’re using HLP, your listings will also benefit from our market-driven discounts and premiums for last-minute and far-out prices. Don’t overlook these enhancements as they are specifically designed to propel your business growth.
When and how to migrate?
- If you created a PriceLabs account after July 6, 2023, you already use HLP.
- Thousands of our existing users have been transitioned to Hyper Local Pulse already. These users have been notified through email and within the product. If you want to know which version of the algorithm you’re running, here’s how to do it.
- To migrate, follow the instructions in the below knowledge base articles. Depending on your former settings, some adjustments might be necessary for the transition to HLP, and we’re committed to making this as seamless as possible. Find out more details on what to expect from the migration here.
Read our Knowledge Base article for more information:
- For accounts with less than 10 listings – Migrating to Hyper Local Pulse (less than 10 listings) OR Watch this video
- For accounts with more than 10 listings: Migrating to Hyper Local Pulse (more than 10 listings)
That’s it for this month and we will see you soon in the new year. From the entire team of PriceLabs, we wish you and your loved ones Happy Holidays!