Seasonal apartment pricing: when to raise, when to come down

A fixed price all year is the most expensive mistake an apartment owner makes. In season you leave money on the table, and out of season you keep the apartment empty because the price puts people off. Good pricing breathes with demand. Let me show when to raise, when to come down and how to arrange it into a simple system.

The principle everything rests on

The price should follow demand. When there are more people interested than free dates, you raise it. When the apartment stands empty, you come down, so as not to lose nights for good. An empty night does not come back; you cannot sell it next month.

It sounds obvious, and yet most owners hold one price all year. The reason is simple: resetting the rate by hand for every weekend and every season is tedious work, so it just does not get done. Yet this is where some of the easiest money in the whole business sits. You need no extra bookings at all to earn more from the ones that were coming anyway.

The rest of this article is that single principle written out for specific situations.

When to raise the price

High season

Summer at the coast, school holidays in the mountains, the long May weekend. Demand is so strong that you will let the place anyway; the only question is at what price. At peak season the rate comfortably goes up 30% to 60% above the base, and higher still in the hottest towns.

Weekends

Friday and Saturday support a higher price than midweek almost everywhere. A supplement of 15% to 25% at the weekend is a standard guests expect.

Local events

A concert, a festival, a match, a large conference, a local fair. Demand jumps on those days regardless of the time of year. Check the events calendar for your area and raise prices in advance, before someone else does it for you.

Long weekends and public holidays

Corpus Christi, the May holidays, New Year's Eve. People plan trips in advance and accept higher rates. It is an opportunity not to be missed.

Minimum stay at peak

Price is not the only control. On busy weekends and long weekends, set a minimum stay of two or three nights. That way you do not block your best dates with a single night that earns less and costs you the chance to sell the whole weekend. It is a quiet price rise: the same dates bring in more because the guest takes more nights at once.

When to come down

Low season

November at the coast, muddy March in the mountains. Holding a high price on principle ends with an empty apartment. A lower rate keeps occupancy up, and every night sold is revenue you would not otherwise have had.

Dates coming up soon

Three days away and the dates are still free? The chance of a full price melts away by the hour. A last-minute discount on such nights rescues revenue that is about to vanish. Better to sell cheaper than not at all.

Gaps between bookings

Two bookings with one or two free nights between them that nobody wants, because they do not fit a longer stay. A lower price or a long-stay discount closes gaps like that in the calendar.

A sample pricing calendar

Take an apartment with a base price of PLN 300 a night. The year might look like this:

How to know when to raise

Do not guess. The demand signals are all around you:

• Booking pace. Dates filling up instantly, months ahead? The price is too low, so raise it next time.
• The neighbours' prices. Check on the portals what similar apartments nearby are charging for those dates. If you are clearly cheaper, you are leaving money on the table.
• The events calendar. City halls and festival sites publish dates well in advance. Put them in your calendar and raise prices before demand arrives.
• Weather and long weekends. The way public holidays fall in a given year can turn an apparently ordinary week into a long weekend. Check the calendar ahead.

The three mistakes that cost the most

• One price all year. The most expensive mistake. You lose in season and in the dead season at the same time.
• Fear of cutting. Holding a high price out of pride in November gives you an empty apartment. An empty night is zero, not a high rate.
• Raising too late. By the time you see the dates filling up it is often too late, you have already sold cheaply. Set seasonal prices in advance rather than reacting at the last moment.

There is a fourth, quiet mistake: setting prices once and not looking at them for a year. The market shifts, competition nearby appears or disappears, new attractions open. Once a season, sit down for half an hour and check that your rates still match reality. It is the cheapest half hour of the year.

How not to go mad setting prices by hand

Changing prices by hand for every weekend, season and event, on every portal separately, is a part-time job. That is why most owners set one price once and forget it, then wonder why so little is left.

The answer is pricing rules that run by themselves. In erphome.pl you set seasonal and weekend prices, a last-minute discount for near dates and a long-stay discount, once, in one panel. The system applies the right rate according to the date and the length of stay. You also get promo codes for campaigns and referrals. All on your own commission-free reservation page, with Przelewy24 payments, where the whole amount goes to you. The calendar linked over iCal to Booking.com and Airbnb makes sure a double booking does not happen.

When up, when down

Raise in season, at weekends, around events and on long weekends. Come down in the dead season, on dates coming up soon and to fill gaps in the calendar. A fixed price all year is income slipping away from you in both directions.

Want prices that change by themselves according to your rules? Open an erphome.pl account and test it free for 14 days. Seasonal prices, last-minute and long-stay discounts, promo codes. No credit card, two apartments included.