How do I turn on Smart Pricing feature?

Everything you need to know about our Smart Pricing tool and how to use it.

Smart Pricing is a dynamic, data-driven pricing engine which automatically sets personalised and up-to-date nightly pricing for your property for the next 365 days, in order to get you the best rate for your vacation rental. This feature can help you to earn up to 60% more in revenue by automatically adjusting prices according to local market trends.  

This guide explains how the tool works, and how to turn on Smart Pricing feature within the Travelnest account. 

How does Smart Pricing decide what price to set for each night?

Once enabled, our Smart Pricing tool will leverage a variety of external data sources to conduct an ongoing analysis of your local market and determine an optimal price for each night. Periods of low demand will lower your price, and periods of high demand will increase your price. To understand the demand for your specific local market, Smart Pricing will consider:

• Local concerts, sporting events, professional conferences, festivals, etc.

• Attendance of events.

• Bank holidays, school holidays and observances.

• Day of the week and time of the year.

• Availability of hotels and short-term rentals.

• Pricing and occupancy of comparable properties.

• ️️️️The booking lead time (how far in the future is the available night).

How often does Smart Pricing update my prices?

Smart Pricing will scan your local market and update your prices every 24-48 hours.

How far in the future will my property be priced with Smart Pricing?

With Smart Pricing, your property will always have pricing for 1 year in the future from the current date.

Can I set up pricing for more than 365 days with Smart Pricing?

Currently, Smart Pricing will only set pricing for the next 365 days and you cannot add more pricing yourself to extend your availability beyond this. Over 99% of all bookings are received within 365 days of arrival so this limitation is very unlikely to impact your bookings.

I don’t want to be available for a year in the future, how can I change this?

If you only wish to be available for a more limited period, e.g. for the next 6 months, we suggest blocking the additional dates from your calendar, either before or after enabling Smart Pricing. For more information on how to manually block dates on your calendar please read our guide here.

How can I guarantee my prices will not drop too low?

You will be asked to provide a minimum price when enabling Smart Pricing, this is a floor price that Smart Pricing will respect and never drop below, regardless of demand.

How do I turn on Smart Pricing feature?

Since the 8th August 2023, we have set Smart Pricing as the default pricing option when onboarding a first property. This ensures that you have the best possible setup to boost bookings. You can turn it off at any point, more information on how to do this can be viewed below.

To enable it on other properties, select the desired property from the homepage, then navigate to the 'Pricing and Discounts' section. You can activate Smart Pricing by clicking the 'Turn On' button at the top of the pricing page. 

When you click the button, you'll need to set your minimum price. This is the lowest price you're willing to accept, and Smart Pricing won't go below it. It also sets rules for check-in days, minimum stays, and discounts for 7 or 28 nights. These settings will cover the entire year once your listing is live.  

Use the plus or minus buttons to adjust the number of days a guest can stay then click next. 

If you can't host guests on certain days, just deselect them. For example, we've deselected Tuesday. Then, click next. 

Use the plus or minus buttons to set discounts for 7 or 28-night stays. Then, click publish prices. 

How can I see my nightly pricing?

To view your nightly pricing, head to the calendar section. Once Smart Pricing is enabled, select your property from the dropdown menu to see the rates for each night. Since your property becomes bookable with these prices within an hour, it's wise to review your upcoming year's rates. Consider adjusting your minimum price or setting different rates for specific nights or seasons if needed. Double-check to ensure you're not overpriced.

For example, if your minimum price is set at £100 and you notice this rate across all dates, it might mean your minimum is too high. Consider lowering it to allow Smart Pricing to generate more competitive rates.

Can I change my default values?

Yes, you can change any of your default values, such as minimum price, allowed check-in days, minimum night stay, and 7/28-night discounts, at any time. Simply go to the 'Pricing and Discounts' section from your homepage. 

Once you click on that section, a new webpage will appear, allowing you to adjust all these settings in one place. After making the necessary changes, click 'Save Changes' at the bottom of the page. If the screenshot is too small, you can enlarge the image by clicking on it. 

Can I deviate from my default values for a period of time?

Currently, Smart Pricing only allows a single value for a minimum price, allowed check-in days, minimum night stay and 7/28 night discounts, which apply throughout the entire 365 days. You cannot change these default values for specific periods, but you can set a custom price for any individual night on the calendar. 

What control do I have over Smart prices?

You can check your Smart prices for each day on the calendar and manually change them by setting a custom price for specific dates. This is handy if you want a particular price for certain times, like during Christmas. 

In order to override smart prices, select the dates you wish to change, change the toggle from “Smart price” to “Custom”, and enter your new nightly price. Both your new price and our suggested Smart price will be displayed on available nights. 

You can revert back to Smart Pricing for selected dates at any time by changing the toggle back to “Smart price”.

What happens if I already have pricing when I enable Smart Pricing?

Enabling Smart Pricing will preserve any existing pricing periods, but existing pricing periods will not be used while Smart Pricing is enabled.

How do I disable Smart Pricing?

You can disable Smart Pricing at any time from the 'Pricing and Discount' section. Simply click to open the webpage and untoggle the switch at the top of the section. This will automatically restore any pricing periods you had set before enabling Smart Pricing. 

What happens if I don't have Smart Pricing available in my area? What other choices do I have?

Our pricing generator tool can assist you in setting up rates for your property. It creates recommended pricing for the next 24 months. For a step-by-step guide, click here.

What happens if I set a high minimum rate?  

When you turn on smart pricing, it's best to avoid setting a very high minimum rate. If you see the same rates across all dates on the calendar, it means your minimum price is too high. To learn more, please read our guide here.