I have a one bedroom flat in Notting Hill in London which is well booked throughout the year.
Because the Christmas holidays have not been as booked out these last few years,I decided to raise my price only slightly for the holiday season.
I want to charge £500 per night but the company that manages my flat is insisting that I charge double that and claim that their algorithm knows best.
What do you say?
I say that you should:
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Do a search for similar properties in the area for those dates and see what people are charging. Only properties that aren’t booked will show up. Are there a lot still available?
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After you see all the properties available in your area and the prices, then use a filter to show properties at the £500 price point and see how many are available.
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Then go with what you think is right. I too have noticed that here in Boston, USA, holidays haven’t been booking out at robustly as before the pandemic but I think each area and property is different.
Good luck.
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Thanks…really appreciate your help.
How are you able to book a self contained listing throughout the year when there is a 90 day limit in London @Giovanni
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@Giovanni What exactly is your arrangement with the company that manages your flat? Is it listed under their account, meaning they have control over your listing and receive the reviews instead of you?
What part of the hosting do you look after and what part do they look after? I’m just wondering why the company feels they can argue with you about the pricing you would like to have in place? (Advising you as to what would be appropriate pricing, and “insisting” that it be listed for double are two quite different things)
If they are being paid on a percentage of the booking fees basis, of course they would be pressuring you to price higher, but you might have good reasons for wanting to offer it at less or more than what they suggest at any given time. Algorithms are not the be all and end all of good pricing strategy- in my case, pricing algorithms would tell me that I should be charging less than I do, but which my guests happily pay and tell me is great value. And I would prefer to have fewer guests who are hassle-free, respectful people than full occupancy and pain-in-the-butt guests to deal with. 3 guest bookings over a month that span 20 days and puts $2000 in your pocket is just as good as 30 days worth of bookings that nets $3000 if one of those bookings is a bad guest who causes $1000 worth of damages in materials and labor, or demands a refund that takes up your time with the guests and CS, and CS refunds them $800. That extra $200 you made when all is said and done doesn’t seem worth the stress and aggravation, IMO.
An algorithm can only compare properties on the basis of the size, how many guests it accommodates, what area of the country city, or town it is in, etc., but doesn’t and can’t take into consideration things like whether it’s in a quiet neighborhood, with nice, friendly neighbors, what sort of extras you offer guests, how comfortable and attractive the place is, what sort of furnishings it has, etc. The algorithm doesn’t know if what it considers a comparable listing has a cheap coffeemaker, scratched up pots and pans and a small handful of kitchen utensils, or whether it has a state of the art Juta coffee machine, high quality stainless steel cookware, and all the cooking utensils any guest would need.
Pricing algorithms are just a tool to get an idea of what is being charged in your area and if those prices are leading to bookings. Whether the guests felt it was worth what they paid, or whether that pricing attracted good guests or bad ones is something not taken into account.
Your other post here re the guests who want to leave over various supposed issues seems to indicate that you deal directly with guest communication. Other hosts might be able to give you more on point advice if you made it clear what your managers are being paid to deal with and what type of involvement you yourself have in how the listing is run.
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What did you decide about pricing?
Love it when a host comes on here to ask questions and then refuses to answer questions or clarify points that would enable you to answer his questions 
@muddy
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