HA "Av per night"

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SPJ
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HA "Av per night"

Post by SPJ »

Before I get on the phone and lose my temper with them yet again, does anyone know how HomeAway's meaningless average price is caculated?

Last week my average price was £102. It's now gone up to £113. And that is only true for my high season rate of July and August. Although it's a totally meaningless number - average of what? - it matters to me because I'm now beginning to look expensive compared with my immediate competitors.

Has anyone had any success in getting HA to change their average?
leon
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Post by leon »

If I guessed that you are on subscription and not commission, would I be right?
SPJ
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Post by SPJ »

leon wrote:If I guessed that you are on subscription and not commission, would I be right?
Yes. Does that make a difference?
jafa
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Re: HA "Av per night"

Post by jafa »

SPJ wrote:Before I get on the phone and lose my temper with them yet again, does anyone know how HomeAway's meaningless average price is caculated?

Last week my average price was £102. It's now gone up to £113. And that is only true for my high season rate of July and August. Although it's a totally meaningless number - average of what? - it matters to me because I'm now beginning to look expensive compared with my immediate competitors.

Has anyone had any success in getting HA to change their average?
Is it anyhting to do with the exchange rate.

Alternatively, could be a set period comparison where maybe your period of high season may be different to others. Cant say Ive ever paid any particular attention to that statistic
Jafa
jafa
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Re: HA "Av per night"

Post by jafa »

SPJ wrote:Before I get on the phone and lose my temper with them yet again, does anyone know how HomeAway's meaningless average price is caculated?

Last week my average price was £102. It's now gone up to £113. And that is only true for my high season rate of July and August. Although it's a totally meaningless number - average of what? - it matters to me because I'm now beginning to look expensive compared with my immediate competitors.

Has anyone had any success in getting HA to change their average?
Is it anyhting to do with the exchange rate.

Alternatively, could be a set period comparison where maybe your period of high season may be different to others. Cant say Ive ever paid any particular attention to that statistic
Jafa
leon
Posts: 91
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2012 4:12 pm
Location: niort

Post by leon »

"Last week my average price was £102. It's now gone up to £113. And that is only true for my high season rate of July and August."

It drives visitors to commission sites where the prices are almost certainly artificially deflated (in comparison to artificially inflated on subscription).

What's going to happen when everyone is on commission? I guess the most expensive will be at the top.
Why wouldn't they be?
SPJ
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Location: Aquitaine
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Post by SPJ »

I have spoken to customer service at HA and I've been sent this "explanation":
As promised, I'm sending this e-mail with further information on the calculation of the average nightly price on the listing. You may follow this for more details:
All brands show an average nightly rate when doing dateless searches. This rate is intended to be used for research purposes and is an approximation of what a traveller might pay.

The average nightly rate displays the average of the average of all possible stays in the next 4 months for the following duration lengths: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 21, 28, 30. Please note that this is a weighted average, so the math is not as simple as finding the average of the rates. It skews more towards common stay durations (3, 4, and 7 nights) and not as much toward the longer stay durations.

Availability is a factor in the average, so an owner's average nightly rate could change if they book or cancel a reservation.

This nightly rate is achievable on the site by entering dates onto the listing, but if the rate structure is complicated, the dates may not be inherently obvious. You should not spend time with an owner attempting the math to find the rate calculated.

Examples:
• An owner/manager sets a single nightly rate of say £250 per night (including taxes and fees) and that’s their only rate... then we’ll display £250 as expected for dateless.
• The average could be lower than the nightly rate if the monthly rate is much lower. For example, a property has an £85/night rate, a £475/week rate, and a £1500/month rate, the weighted average comes out to £65, which is lower than the £85/night rate. Travelers need to put in dates to see the exact price.
• The average could be higher if there are special rate periods where the rate is much higher than normal.


This is just such absolute b******t. As soon as someone starts talking about "weighted average" then don't believe a word of it! There is nothing at all complicated about my rate structure. I sell either 7 nights or 14 nights. I have a low /medium and high season. I NEVER offer discounts or change my prices during a year. So talking about 1,2,3 etc days for all possible stays is meaningless.
My next 4 months are now May 25th - 27th September 2019. A total of 126 days of which 84 are still available. I have 7 nights at £61.4 per night (low season rate £430 for 7 days). 42 nights at £88.6 per night (mid season rate £620 for 7 nights) and 35 at £112.8 per night (high season rate £790 for 7 nights)
I calculate my average to be £96.4. At the moment HA is showing £113. (Nothing to do with exchange rates, I quote in sterling.) The ONLY time my "average" can be as high as £113 is the two months of July and August.
Does it matter? Yes it does. It is in VERY large print on the right hand side top of page 1 and is a lie. Even if it is only for "research purposes", because I am being misrepresented in a comparison against my competitors in this area. Their "averages" look lower than mine and I may get discounted as "expensive".

Those of you who think your average per night looks high might want to check it out.

Oh, this is going to be a "fun" discussion with HA.
newtimber
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Post by newtimber »

If you had an owner in your area with a similar property and exactly the same prices for weekly and fortnightly stays, then that owner should have the same average nightly price as you.

Consider what happens if that owner also allows 3 night stays which would have naturally have a higher price per night. They would feel very aggrieved if they then had a higher average nightly price than you and appeared lower in the searches as a result.

To get round that unfairness, what I imagine HA would do is to create a price per night for short stays if you do not provide one; and this price per night would naturally be higher than your weekly price.
SPJ
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Post by SPJ »

But surely if someone IS charging more per night for short stays then their average price SHOULD be higher than mine. After all, their business model is in fact not the same as mine.

Why should I be penalised by HA creating fictious higher prices for short stays that I will never offer?
newtimber
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Post by newtimber »

SPJ wrote:But surely if someone IS charging more per night for short stays then their average price SHOULD be higher than mine.

If guests want the properties ordered by price, then why should you be shown as cheaper when every stay they can book with you, the other owner is the same price?
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