Vancouver Airbnb Pricing Guidance - Part 1/8

Airbnb Smart Pricing?  "Forget About it!"

,Every Airbnb host wants to know how they should price out their units over the course of the year.

And if you've ever used Airbnb's Smart Pricing, you may have noticed you are leaving money on the table. They just don't have enough local market intelligence to loop back into their algorithm. Nor would this be in their best benefit that aligns with ALL hosts and Guests in the community.

We at Vancouver Super Host, put a ton of focus on research and analysis to guide optimal Airbnb pricing for the Vancouver market through the four seasons of the year. The goal is to maximize revenue.

Just like you, other hosts are left in wonder:

How often should I update my pricing?
How booked up in advance should my calendar be?
When do I increase daily rates?

Baby steps, let's start with how your pricing should change over the year, month to month, with general trends and adjustments (Level 1).

Pricing is ultimately driven by factors that affect supply and demand of short term rental accommodation in the marketplace (Duh). But that is not important to you. What is important is what drives those factors and the timing of it so you as a host can adjust your calendars.

Supply is less of a focus for everyday hosts, as this variable is slower moving, based on the number of Hotel and Airbnb rooms in the market. Not availability, but built and open in the area. Since supply changes within a month by month or even year by year period, we focus on staying on top of Demand to price as sharply as possible, resulting in the highest level of potential revenue.

General Pricing:
-If you want to adjust prices month to month, look at monthly travel trends, occupancy rates and movement of monthly average daily rates. This is a decent indicator.

For example, check out what Destination BC published for last year's hotel statistics for ADR and Occupancy:

We all know the general trends, Summers are busy...So? We are not here to waste your time. Pay attention to the Details! The details and accuracy in your pricing, percentage changes, difference in $5 increments will make The difference in your bookings.

Before we loose you here..

A few easy takeaways:
-Highest rate months are May, June, July and August.
-May ADR is 27.6% higher than April and June is 11.5% over May!
-High season start in May, with the largest month to month uptick from April.
-September is still active with travellers, however, you have to price a bit lower.
-January is your weakest month of the year, strategize for this.

This is just Part 1 and only meant to get you in the mood and mindset for price setting..

Now, for the more technical parts and details:

Ie. How do I become even MORE efficient and price even CLOSER to the market - to not leave any  more money on the table. How do I price Day to Day, Week to Week or Weekend by Weekend.
 
​Check out Part 2.