Dynamic Pricing

What is Dynamic Pricing?

Dynamic Pricing is a powerful tool designed to help you build and maintain a comprehensive 14-month pricing strategy automatically. Instead of manually creating and adjusting seasons throughout the year, Dynamic Pricing uses real booking data from similar properties in your region to establish competitive rates and keeps them aligned with market demand over time.

This feature eliminates the guesswork from pricing by leveraging actual market data from completed bookings on Holidu, ensuring your property remains competitive while maximizing your revenue potential throughout the year.

How to Set Up Dynamic Pricing

Step 1: Open Dynamic Pricing

Log in to your Holidu Host Account and navigate to the Pricing tab. If you have a new listing or no seasons configured yet, you'll see an empty state. Click "Get started" to launch the guided setup wizard.

Step 2: Choose Your Tier (Category)

Select the pricing category that best represents your property's position in the market:

• Budget: Priced like the cheapest approximately 15% of similar properties in your area
• Comfort: Priced around the average of similar properties
• Premium: Priced like the top approximately 15% of similar properties in your area

If sufficient data is available for your property, Holidu highlights the best-fit category with a "Recommended for you" badge. This recommendation is based on completed, non-cancelled Holidu Homes bookings from properties in your same focus region with identical maximum occupancy. The comparison uses actual booking data rather than listed prices or data from other platforms like Airbnb or Booking.com.

Step 3: Review Your Price Curve

Once you select a category, a suggested 14-month price curve appears based on seasonality and local demand patterns. You can customize this curve using three controls:

• Price Level: Shifts the entire curve up or down to set your overall nightly rate
• Min/Max Limits: Sets your hard floor and ceiling prices—your rates will never exceed these boundaries
• Seasonal Effect (Advanced Settings): Adjusts how dramatically prices move between seasons, ranging from completely flat year-round to a more pronounced seasonal curve

Step 4: Set Your Season Rules

The guided setup organizes your 14 months into season types (Peak, High, Mid, Low) based on local demand patterns. For each season type, you can configure:

• Minimum stay requirements
• Weekend markup percentages
• Check-in and check-out day preferences

These settings apply uniformly to every date within that season type, streamlining your pricing management.

Step 5: Preview and Apply

Before any changes take effect, you'll see a detailed preview comparing your new prices with your current rates. Review this comparison carefully, then click "Apply prices" to implement your new pricing strategy.

Important: Applying the guided setup will overwrite your existing prices and season settings, including any manual changes you've made to individual days. The system displays the new versus current prices before you confirm, and you can still fine-tune any specific date afterwards if needed.

Step 6: Adjust Anytime

Nothing is permanently locked in with Dynamic Pricing. You can reopen the feature whenever you like to:

• Re-adjust your price level
• Modify your seasonal effect settings
• Update your price limits
• Edit specific dates, prices, and minimum-stay rules directly in the calendar

Keeping Your Prices Current

Weekly Data Refresh

Holidu refreshes the underlying booking data weekly, so your comparison group gradually reflects what's actually happening in your market. This ensures your pricing recommendations remain current and competitive.

Price Recommendations

As demand shifts, Holidu surfaces price recommendations you can apply with a single click, making it easy to stay aligned with market conditions.

Automatic Price Optimizations (Optional)

If you prefer a hands-off approach, turn on "Enable automatic price optimizations." Holidu will then adjust your price level automatically within your set limits. Every change remains visible in your price history, so you maintain full transparency.

Flexibility at Any Time

You're never locked into Dynamic Pricing. Return to manual pricing at any time if your circumstances change or if you prefer direct control over your rates.

Data Availability

If the Dynamic Pricing feature is not visible in your account, it may be because there isn't enough booking data yet in your region. As more bookings accumulate, the feature will become available.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will my existing prices be overwritten?

Yes. Applying Dynamic Pricing replaces all your current prices and settings, including any manual adjustments to individual days. You'll see a clear comparison of your new versus old prices before confirming. You can edit individual days manually at any time after applying.

What are the pricing seasons (Peak, High, Mid, Low)?

These are demand-based groupings that organize your year into pricing periods. Peak represents the highest demand periods, while Low represents the quietest periods. You can adjust the settings for each season type before your final prices are applied.

Can I still control my minimum stay requirements?

Yes. Dynamic Pricing suggests minimum stay rules based on demand patterns, but you can edit them manually at any time to match your specific preferences.

Can I adjust my prices after applying Dynamic Pricing?

Yes. You can return to the editing mode at any time to shift your overall price level or change your price limits. You can also manually edit specific dates and price ranges using the calendar interface.

What do Budget, Comfort, and Premium categories mean?

These categories define which group of similar properties you want to compete with. Budget positions your property at the lower end of your local market, Comfort positions it around the average, and Premium positions it at the top end of properties in your area.

Are cleaning fees or taxes included in these prices?

No. The suggested prices represent nightly base rates only. Cleaning fees, taxes, and any other additional charges are managed separately and are not affected by the Dynamic Pricing tool.

What if I want to return to manual pricing?

You can do this at any time. The Price Curve serves as a starting point, not a permanent lock-in. You have complete control over your pricing strategy.

Is the Minimum Price the absolute lowest price I will receive for a booking?

No. The Minimum Price applies to your nightly base rate only. If you have active discounts in place (such as a 10% Weekly Discount or a 15% Last-Minute deal), these are calculated on top of your nightly rate. Consequently, the final price a guest pays could be lower than your Minimum Price setting.

Will Dynamic Pricing change the price of bookings I've already received?

No. Your existing bookings remain completely unaffected. Any reservation that is already confirmed stays at the price it was booked at. Dynamic Pricing only updates rates for nights that are currently available and unbooked.

Why don't the similar properties' prices match what I see on Airbnb or Booking.com?

The price range is based on actual completed bookings within Holidu's own portfolio, not listed or asking prices on other platforms. Some variation is expected because actual booking prices often differ from advertised prices.

Can I adjust the comparison area or radius used for the Price Curve?

No. The comparison area (your focus region) is fixed and cannot be manually adjusted. You fine-tune your pricing level within your selected category using the Price Level slider.

How does Dynamic Pricing handle extra-guest surcharges?

Dynamic Pricing calculates prices for the full number of adults your property accommodates. If you charge a base rate for fewer adults than your total capacity, adjust your price level in the wizard accordingly to reflect this pricing structure.

Key Benefits of Dynamic Pricing

Dynamic Pricing streamlines your revenue management by:

• Eliminating manual season creation and price adjustments
• Using real market data to ensure competitive positioning
• Automatically aligning your rates with demand throughout the year
• Providing clear, actionable price recommendations
• Maintaining full transparency with price history tracking
• Offering complete flexibility to return to manual pricing anytime

By leveraging Dynamic Pricing, you can focus on hospitality while the system ensures your rates remain optimized for maximum bookings and revenue.