¶ Introduction and Welcome
Hello. Welcome back to another great episode. My name is Sarah Karakaian.
I'm Annette Grant, and together we are. Thanks for Visiting.
And this is the Hosting Hotline. Okay.
¶ Today's Special Format
We're doing the hosting hotline a little different today.
You scared me.
I know. But I still want you all to know that you can go to hostinghotline.com, ask your hosting question and get it answered on the Tuesday podcast episodes,
but today we are mixing it up.
We are, because we're gonna continue
¶ YouTube Questions and Price Labs
to do this, I think.
Yeah, because if you have not been around the last however many videos, we want you to subscribe to our YouTube channel, and today's question is a question
posed in the comments of a YouTube video.
Yes. And we, what we we're, we're just gonna share with you on YouTube. You can ask us questions. Yes. And we can respond to you just like we can hosting hotline here and we respond. But know that that's another place if, if you're more of someone that wants to a keyboard warrior, if you will, and you wanna ask us a question, uh, in YouTube, in the comments, bring it, don't sing it. So we have one today from @SRAE1503. Is Price Labs worth it with only one seasonal property?
Such a good question. And to that, we say yes. And honestly, if your property is highly seasonal, Price Labs might be even more valuable for you than someone who's booked year round.
¶ What is Price Labs?
First of all, if you don't know, let's tell them what Price Labs is. Just a little plug there so they understand what it's,
it's a dynamic pricing software. It is third party. So if you are on Airbnb, which so many of you are, which is why we often go to Airbnb as a way to explain things, although all you season TFV listeners, we of course are direct book champions, but we've got a meet our listeners and our viewers where they're at. Sometimes if you're on Airbnb, you may have heard of smart pricing, right? Where Airbnb tells you that if you turn on smart pricing, it'll dynamically adjust your pricing.
They claim to be competitive, but it is an Airbnb product. And what does Airbnb want? They want you to be booked at a rate that's gonna make the guest happy, but having a third party dynamic pricing software, it really keeps things rooted in data. And it doesn't, it has, it's not bias, right? It's just showing you what people are booking at, what the market is like, and how you can fit into the market. And if you are part of the TFV Price and Profitable Bootcamp, win in the market.
Is that good, Annette?
It is.
And we use price labs here at TFV we have for years at, and
we're partners of theirs. We love them.
I've been using them since 2018, I think. But there are others in the industry who we have no beef with either. Like they're great beyond, uh, wheelhouse.
This is just the one that we know.
Yeah. And we use, yeah.
¶ Benefits of Price Labs for Seasonal Properties
So SRAE1503 asked is Price Labs worth it with only one seasonal property? So I like how she. Qualified her property there.
Yeah. And so again, we said yes, absolutely, yes. So here's, here's why. When the season is short, you have to make every, and we say each and every single night count, and you don't have time to hope that your prices are right. And Price Labs will help you stay competitive and make the most out of those limited booking windows that you have.
Yeah 'cause you're not, you know, Price Labs, first of all. As a mindset shift is about 20 bucks a month for one property, and the more properties you have, they do have bulk pricing, which is great. So think about that investment over an entire year, and your property is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars or more, if not millions, millions of dollars. So that investment of $20 a month to get insight, unbiased insight into the marketplace.
Even during your slow periods so that you can use the data it shares with you and ask, is anyone else in my area still getting bookings right now? And if they are, you can dig into why. Because maybe they've adjusted their minimum stays, maybe their price dropped at the right time. Maybe there's a new trend you haven't tapped into or tested yet. Right? So that kind of info helps you make smarter decisions moving forward, not in just in your high season. This year, but every season after,
and like we said before, we are users of Price Labs. It has been such a trusted part of our revenue management strategy and our business. And like Sarah said at the beginning, with the low monthly rate, we wanna even remove more of that risk. They do offer. We'll make sure it's in the show notes. A free trial. So really there is nothing for you to risk. And if you have been doing pricing on your own, everyone please.
¶ Maximizing Your Investment with Dynamic Pricing
This is, this is absolutely, we say this with so much conviction, when any host asks us what the first thing In their tech stack They should invest in, we say a dynamic pricing software. This is the tool that. Can, will, should all of the above make you more money,
even if it gets you one extra booking SRAE1503 or helps you nail pricing for one big weekend during your incredibly seasonal business, it's already more than paid for itself. Like that kind of ROI isn't common in our world. So you gotta, you gotta take it when you can.
We love and like we really love, um, looking into the market dashboard. Really digging into our competition, our comp sets. There's, it can be, honestly, Price Labs is fun. If you wanna have more fun in your short term rental,
she's going wild not everyone, it is fun, but not for everyone. And I know why. But you can protect, you can, you can try to, you know what, you're right. Positive thinking.
Yep. And I actually, I just went to Price Labs website really quick. For your free trial, there isn't even a credit card needed to start. So there really is, they've removed any friction for you to take a look. You know, take a look under the hood,
make sure you tell 'em TFV sent you.
And their customer support is awesome too.
They, they really are. Yeah, they,
so let's do this, let's make more money with, we have limited inventory. Everyone I say this. So, I mean, how many times do I say this a week, Sarah? We get 365 days of inventory a year. Mm-hmm. We have to be dialed in on our pricing because every day that goes by is another day that's missed. So we need to make sure that we're maximizing it
and we're going rogue a little bit here, but that's okay. We're passionate about this. There are so many people that out there, out there that help you buy your property at the right price, right? And you wanna, you wanna do your pro forma and you wanna do all these things to like buy your property. But then I feel very little content is out there about maximizing that thing that you just invested in. Yes. Buy, right?
Like of course you wanna make money on the buy and I get that, but now you have to work that buy and you do that through calendar management and dynamic pricing and really understanding it. So if you're quote unquote not a numbers person or you log into Price Labs and you never understand, like then figure it out. Hire someone to help you or dedicate time each week to understanding and hopping on their, their calls. Whatever you need to join, hosting MRS.
Mastery with a net mean will teach you, but you need to make that a priority for yourself. 'cause your, your property isn't gonna just perform the numbers you put on your spreadsheet when you bought it on its own.
We have a YouTube video all about dynamic pricing.
Oh yeah.
We'll make sure to put that in the show notes too. Yeah, so if you're still on the fence and you wanna learn more, you have to go to our YouTube channel. We'll put the link in the show notes and do some homework today on dynamic pricing.
¶ Conclusion and Next Steps
With that, I am Sarah Karakaian.
I'm Annette Grant, and together we are. Thanks for Visiting.
Talk to you next time.