Analyzing Rental Rates for Special Events

So you have learned the importance of events, now how should you determine your rental rate?

Record the Events

Open the calendar that is attached to your Airbnb email address and mark all of the events there. Start with long-term planning events, then mid, then short. You will have to look up the short-term ones most often.  Make some bookmarks and set weekly calendar reminders to do this!

Do a Competitive Analysis

Go to Airbnb, and see what comparable units in your neighborhood are increasing their rent by on event days, then increase yours accordingly.
Record three things and repeats this for about 5 units.  Use our spreadsheet to calculate the rental rate change.

1. Rate on day of event
2. Rate 1 week prior to event
3. Rate 1 week after event

Keep a historical log of the event’s impact on rental rates for reference for upcoming events.  After a certain point, you will know sporting events go up X%, conventions go up Y% and etc…

Quick Hack:  Call the a few local hotels and ask them to compare today’s rate with their event date rate.

Get your Airbnb Event spreadsheet here.

Pricing Strategy

There are three suggested methods:

1. Set the price and leave it
2. Start high and lower as it gets closer to event
3. Start low and raise prices as it gets closer to event

Test out all of the strategies to see what works best for your market.  I have found the best success with starting low and raising the price up because as events are getting closer, people expect to pay more for a last minute convenience.

Raising price example: If the full rent increase for an event is 25% above average rent, take 10% increase on the event day when you are 10 weeks out and add 1-2% every week closer to the event.

If you do not regularly update your pricing on Airbnb.com, you can be loosing out on extra income.  Also, if you enable Instant Book, you MUST make sure you are updating your calendar.

Note: For big events that get a huge draw, track the changes in rental rates over a few weeks or even months.

Or, Have it Done for You Automatically

DIY pricing is not going to cut it anymore.  There is no way you can stay on top of what all your competitors are doing, what their availability is, what the hotels are pricing, etc….and still be able to focus on hosting.  Let a pro handle your pricing for you. Check out Wheelhouse, their AI driven pricing engine helps you find the best price for your listing, in your market, right now.  They aim to maximize your profits.

Do you have any tips or methods you use for pricing updates?  Share them with us in the comments below!