How stable are your prices ?

[Fil]

I have the impression most LMH members have quite stable price policies.

Noticed some increase or decrease their prices for last minute or when they reach a certain occupation but not much more.
I have the impression however that this kind of offer allows for more imaginative pricing.

Does anyone regularly change their published prices in other situations than special offers, last minute offers, early bird, etc ? For example to adjust to the time of the enquiry as we all know that these concentrate on a 2 - 3 months period ?


Does anyone publish diferent prices in diferent listing sites ?

[Alan Knighting]

Fil,
What is imaginative pricing? Is it a version of creative accountancy?

Alan

[Fil]

Not that imaginative . I was just wondering how and if one can use some of the pricing policies that the travel industry is using to reach the best balance possible between revenue and occupancy.

To give some examples, hotels, flying companies, rent-a-cars, etc manipulate their prices a lot and you end up (without grounds to complain) having very diferent prices for exactly the same product depending on the time of booking and channel you use (internet, phone, etc).


Isn't holiday rentals parte of the travel business sector ? Maybe we could be more sophisticated here.

[Mouse]

I have put prices up when I have been left with say the last week in August or July to fill....and it worked fine I got £200 more for that week.
If you also wanted to encourage early booking by reducing prices I don't see why not (as it might help your cash flow)

The only thing I'm pondering on is whether it is ok to have different prices on different websites. Initailly I felt it was - but there was a thread on LMH (somewhere) where it was discussed and comments were made about it being undesireable and reflecting badly on the rental owner....so I've yet to decide if I'll do that.
Basically I was looking to put an increased price on only one website to see if it would sell, if it didn't - no loss.

Mouse
x

[Sarah]

I've put special offers of French Connections if I've got weeks left. In effect these weeks are cheaper on French Connections than they are on the other sites I use.

[Alan Knighting]

Fil,

We’ve already established the principle by having different prices according to the seasons and discounts for regulars so I don’t see anything wrong in extended it to cater for other variables.

Alan

[Normandy Cow]

I have put prices up when I have been left with say the last week in August or July to fill....and it worked fine I got £200 more for that week.

That's very interesting Mouse.
We had originally blocked off two weeks in August (for us to use), even though we knew that we would only need one of them, but weren't sure which one.
About 2 (maybe 3?) weeks ago, we "released" the last week of August back (the one with the bank holiday in it), at £750 instead of £650, because I've always said that we could let the peak weeks many times over and we were hoping that we could let it at a premium.
But when we hadn't had any enquiries, a couple of days ago I sheepishly put the price back down to £680 as I lost my bottle!

So when I read your post earlier on, I took heart and discussed it with my OH who suggested we put the price back up to £720.

Then, about 10 minutes ago (before we amended the price back up), I took a call from someone who was looking for that week. Eeekkk!!! But they were 4 adults and 7 (!) children so we turned them down as we don't like packing them in like sardines, especially with small messy children, and we are going to risk putting the price back up again to £720.

But I'm not sure whether we're doing the right thing!!! Are we being arrogant in presuming that we will fill that August Bank Holiday week, at a higher price than all the other August guests????!!!!!

(The other factor to consider, is that we let our Holiday-Rentals ad lapse, and switched to Holiday-Lettings, but we're now worried that maybe we made a mistake as we haven't had any enquiries from HL. But then again, we only had that one week available).

Yours,

Confused of Normandy

[Fil]

Not only I don't think it is wrong, I believe it is perfectly legitimate to have diferent prices for diferent sites and change them according to occupancy or other criteria.

I just wanted to know what the others think.

[mon269]

A find this conversation very interesting. I thought that having different prices on different sites was very unethical. I’m surprised so many of you think is not such a bad thing and I would like to know why. What would be the criteria for selecting the sites that would display lower prices?

[Alan Knighting]

A find this conversation very interesting. I thought that having different prices on different sites was very unethical. I’m surprised so many of you think is not such a bad thing and I would like to know why. What would be the criteria for selecting the sites that would display lower prices?

Like you, I'm uncomfortable with this idea.

Alan

[la vache!]

Not only I don't think it is wrong, I believe it is perfectly legitimate to have diferent prices for diferent sites and change them according to occupancy or other criteria.

I just wanted to know what the others think.

If I booked an apartment with you at one price, then found it cheaper on another listing site, I'd expect you to reduce the rent to that advertised on the other site.
I have the same prices, if I don't, it is my fault for not updating and I would charge the prices advertised. I thought it was illegal not to do this.

[Mouse]

NC - I'd go for the higher price. As it's still a bit to go before that week - so you may get some last minute enquiries.

I worked on the basis that last minutes are usually desperate as most decent places have gone in July/Aug. Also - if you feel you have an enquirer that may be wavering you can always 'appear' to do the nice thing of giving a little discount

Mon269 - if i do 2 prices - the most expensive one would be on the new site I choose (as I know I can fill my season through OD...I'd stick with the normal price on that).

If I ever go with HR then I would definately up the price - it seems to attract a more affluent client if my friends experience is anything to go by, plus its much more expensive to advertise on there.

BTW - slight thread creep ... but I've just had an offer through from HR...12mths at £155 + vat. Now that's a lot more manageable

Mouse
x

[Normandy Cow]

Can I just clarify something here - when I have been putting my prices up, I've been doing so across the board, on all websites.

I also believe it is WRONG to have different prices on different websites.

However, in principle I don't think it is wrong to react to supply and demand, that is what all the budget airlines do. But this is something I have never done before, so I am nervous about risking it and ending up with an empty house at the end of August as a result of our greed!

Help!!!!

[Normandy Cow]

BTW - slight thread creep ... but I've just had an offer through from HR...12mths at £155 + vat. Now that's a lot more manageable

That's their normal price isn't it?

Thanks for the vote of confidence Mousie re putting up our prices, but I do think you are treading on shaky ground there having different prices on different websites.

[mon269]

Believe it or not, I’ve been giving it some thought as I find it quite shocking having different prices on different sites. I do respect everyone’s opinion though, don’t get me wrong.

There are more cases where prices are different in different places. As an example, clothing retailers like Mango or Zara that have shops around the world, have different prices in different locations. For us, this may translate to different prices for sites with markets in different locations. As an example, OD market is mostly in UK and UK guests may be willing to pay more than, say Spanish guests. So you could have lower prices on Spanish listing sites.

I still think is not right though.