Cheapest Room Availability?

Bed & Breakfast / Short Term Rental Host Forum

Help Support Bed & Breakfast / Short Term Rental Host Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Arks

Well-known member
Joined
May 22, 2010
Messages
6,460
Reaction score
579
As it the case with many of you, my cheapest room is the one most booked, while the ones $10 more sit ignored if the cheap one is available.
I have 5 units. I'm thinking about blocking the cheap one so they book the others first, then open the cheap one up when I only have it, and one other, left available.
But of course if the cheap one is unavailable, it may be enough to send shoppers elsewhere.
What's your thinking on the question?
 
$10, so not that much a difference. Try it for a month. This time of year, it shouldn't hurt even you your suspicions prove true. Keeping an eye on your site traffic may be a clue also.
 
Is there a reason other than $ you wan the others booked more, wear and tear? Spread the love around? If so, block it off, and see what happens. I block our detached off if no others are booked, we have a huge heating bill and it is not worth it to fill that room if it is the only room. And in fact, if I were smart I would leave it this way and only open for peak weekends.
 
I've done that. Partly because Gomez hates cleaning that room, partly for the discounted rate. I also block it off to make it look like we have guests when we don't.
 
Mainly for the money. Getting an extra $10/reservation doesn't sound like it makes much difference, but over a year's time it could amount to a couple of thousand more dollars in my pocket.
But I've also considered that the cheap room is getting more use and wear than the others.
But mainly, the money!
 
Mainly for the money. Getting an extra $10/reservation doesn't sound like it makes much difference, but over a year's time it could amount to a couple of thousand more dollars in my pocket.
But I've also considered that the cheap room is getting more use and wear than the others.
But mainly, the money!.
Arks said:
Mainly for the money. Getting an extra $10/reservation doesn't sound like it makes much difference, but over a year's time it could amount to a couple of thousand more dollars in my pocket.
But I've also considered that the cheap room is getting more use and wear than the others.
But mainly, the money!
I know this will sound outlandish, raise the room rate.
cry_smile.gif

 
I wonder why your cheapest room is the one booked most often. Why is it your cheapest room? Does it come with a cold shower or is it because it has a different size bed? My point being, what separates the rooms and is that explained in ten dollars. If I'm booking with you and I see a ten dollar difference and no discernible ten dollar value, then I'm booking the cheap one. If I see a ten dollar difference and the more expensive one has an outdoor space, I'm booking the more expensive one. Before I would block any rooms off, I would address the marketing of the more expensive rooms.
 
Arks, I feel your pain. I, too, have one room ten dollars cheaper. Why is it cheaper? It's the smallest one and I just feel that if people realize that it is the smallest one ( they can easily tell as the see the other rooms if the doors are open) that they feel like the ten dollar difference is justified.
Block it? Never thought of that!!! That is genius. I am going to try this!
 
Or, try what I did - make the price difference bigger. I lowered the low price and raised the next level price so there is now a $20 difference. The cheap room books a lot in the summer when everything around here is running at or above $200, but it books less in the winter even tho the difference is bigger because the benefits of the other rooms outweigh the price.
Essentially, I'm making $16 less on one room and $4 more on 6 rooms.
 
To happykeeper's point -- what are the distinctions in value associated with the different rates one charges?
We have a spreadsheet that scores each cottage based on square footage, number of bedrooms, number of bathrooms, how many it can sleep (comfortably, and max), number of beds of different types (queens, doubles, twins, bunks...), and of course proximity to the water.... it doesn't calculate the rate directly, just a score that we use to identify which cottages should be together in the same rate bands.
 
To happykeeper's point -- what are the distinctions in value associated with the different rates one charges?
We have a spreadsheet that scores each cottage based on square footage, number of bedrooms, number of bathrooms, how many it can sleep (comfortably, and max), number of beds of different types (queens, doubles, twins, bunks...), and of course proximity to the water.... it doesn't calculate the rate directly, just a score that we use to identify which cottages should be together in the same rate bands..
Excellent idea! We wondered here why the PO's charged more for a room that had an unused fireplace. Why was that more than another one of the same size?
"The fireplace is a focal point." Even tho it wasn't in use. Didn't make sense to me.
 
In my case, the cheap room is the smallest, and only has one small window and thus, to me, feels much less open, more closed in, almost claustrophobic, compared with the others. It's just not quite worth what the others are.
At the same time, there have been zero complaints and plenty of nice compliments by people who seemed to love staying in the room, so perhaps JB is right, just raise the rate to match the others.
On the other hand, since it's smaller it's probably a little easier to clean than the others, so pushing people into the others brings a little more cleaning work. But the others bring in a little more money. So many factors!
Needs more thought.
 
I have blocked our lowest priced room in the slow season to ensure that we make enough $ if we only get one or two reservations. Once the more expensive suites book I unblock the smaller suite. In the summer, we are pretty much guaranteed to be full so it does not make sense to block it out.
This has worked great for us even though the larger suites are more work to clean. When you need the $, the extra work is worth it!
 
In my case, the cheap room is the smallest, and only has one small window and thus, to me, feels much less open, more closed in, almost claustrophobic, compared with the others. It's just not quite worth what the others are.
At the same time, there have been zero complaints and plenty of nice compliments by people who seemed to love staying in the room, so perhaps JB is right, just raise the rate to match the others.
On the other hand, since it's smaller it's probably a little easier to clean than the others, so pushing people into the others brings a little more cleaning work. But the others bring in a little more money. So many factors!
Needs more thought..
Arks said:
In my case, the cheap room is the smallest, and only has one small window and thus, to me, feels much less open, more closed in, almost claustrophobic, compared with the others. It's just not quite worth what the others are.
At the same time, there have been zero complaints and plenty of nice compliments by people who seemed to love staying in the room, so perhaps JB is right, just raise the rate to match the others.
On the other hand, since it's smaller it's probably a little easier to clean than the others, so pushing people into the others brings a little more cleaning work. But the others bring in a little more money. So many factors!
Needs more thought.
It could simply be birth order.
You have it listed in a way that people see it and book it. You use a word that is more appealing, a photo that makes it look bigger or anything at all, or it seems about the same and is less, so book it! In person I find that when we have diff rates we spend all of our time explaining why they are diff and I often wondered if we just made them all the same, even with diff amenities and shapes an sizes what would happen.
I know b-com and those just think of the rooms as rooms, we give them all personalities from the artwork to the bed linens.
I looked quickly and saw that the "next one up" in the price range is diff to the others, they all show beds and it shows an entry/foyer as the main image on rezkey.
and then on the rates page you show the less priced room with a beautiful Jacuzzi bath.
and on the comparison chart there are two others with similar sizes and cost $10 more, so I would pick the least priced too. I would raise it and make them the same. That is my thought.
 
In my case, the cheap room is the smallest, and only has one small window and thus, to me, feels much less open, more closed in, almost claustrophobic, compared with the others. It's just not quite worth what the others are.
At the same time, there have been zero complaints and plenty of nice compliments by people who seemed to love staying in the room, so perhaps JB is right, just raise the rate to match the others.
On the other hand, since it's smaller it's probably a little easier to clean than the others, so pushing people into the others brings a little more cleaning work. But the others bring in a little more money. So many factors!
Needs more thought..
Arks said:
In my case, the cheap room is the smallest, and only has one small window and thus, to me, feels much less open, more closed in, almost claustrophobic, compared with the others. It's just not quite worth what the others are.
At the same time, there have been zero complaints and plenty of nice compliments by people who seemed to love staying in the room, so perhaps JB is right, just raise the rate to match the others.
On the other hand, since it's smaller it's probably a little easier to clean than the others, so pushing people into the others brings a little more cleaning work. But the others bring in a little more money. So many factors!
Needs more thought.
It could simply be birth order.
You have it listed in a way that people see it and book it. You use a word that is more appealing, a photo that makes it look bigger or anything at all, or it seems about the same and is less, so book it! In person I find that when we have diff rates we spend all of our time explaining why they are diff and I often wondered if we just made them all the same, even with diff amenities and shapes an sizes what would happen.
I know b-com and those just think of the rooms as rooms, we give them all personalities from the artwork to the bed linens.
I looked quickly and saw that the "next one up" in the price range is diff to the others, they all show beds and it shows an entry/foyer as the main image on rezkey.
and then on the rates page you show the less priced room with a beautiful Jacuzzi bath.
and on the comparison chart there are two others with similar sizes and cost $10 more, so I would pick the least priced too. I would raise it and make them the same. That is my thought.
.
It would be an interesting test. All rooms one price. See what gets booked. I do know that several times I've been told, "just $10 more? Ok, I'll take the king room."
So, we make $10 more for no additional work.
Our rooms break down to bed size and location. King-queen, noisy-quiet, upstairs-downstairs. They're all within the same size range except the really big room.
 
I keep the room I want to rent first $2 cheaper than the others ($137 vs. $139 for example). This steers OTA bookings and price-frenzied guests to the room I want them to go to, and helps me know immediately who might be a potential bottom-feeder (always the worst kind of guest). I mix it up -- sometimes its my one room with the bath across the hall. Other times, it's my room furthest from mine so I don't hear them and they don't hear me at night. Usually try and rotate it to keep the wear and tear on rooms kind of even.
Don't know how competitive your market is, but I have to admit I fiddle with my rates far more than I probably should.
That said, I just got a bottom-feeder on the phone who needed a room for the night, told me if I made him a great deal he'd book right now, and then after I quoted him the rate minus tax, said if I'd give it to him for that rate total, he'd take it (all for a one-night stay). Told him keep calling, and if he'd like to stay with us for the rate I quoted, we'd love to have him.
NEVER apologize for your rates.
 
In my case, the cheap room is the smallest, and only has one small window and thus, to me, feels much less open, more closed in, almost claustrophobic, compared with the others. It's just not quite worth what the others are.
At the same time, there have been zero complaints and plenty of nice compliments by people who seemed to love staying in the room, so perhaps JB is right, just raise the rate to match the others.
On the other hand, since it's smaller it's probably a little easier to clean than the others, so pushing people into the others brings a little more cleaning work. But the others bring in a little more money. So many factors!
Needs more thought..
Arks said:
In my case, the cheap room is the smallest, and only has one small window and thus, to me, feels much less open, more closed in, almost claustrophobic, compared with the others. It's just not quite worth what the others are.
At the same time, there have been zero complaints and plenty of nice compliments by people who seemed to love staying in the room, so perhaps JB is right, just raise the rate to match the others.
On the other hand, since it's smaller it's probably a little easier to clean than the others, so pushing people into the others brings a little more cleaning work. But the others bring in a little more money. So many factors!
Needs more thought.
It could simply be birth order.
You have it listed in a way that people see it and book it. You use a word that is more appealing, a photo that makes it look bigger or anything at all, or it seems about the same and is less, so book it! In person I find that when we have diff rates we spend all of our time explaining why they are diff and I often wondered if we just made them all the same, even with diff amenities and shapes an sizes what would happen.
I know b-com and those just think of the rooms as rooms, we give them all personalities from the artwork to the bed linens.
I looked quickly and saw that the "next one up" in the price range is diff to the others, they all show beds and it shows an entry/foyer as the main image on rezkey.
and then on the rates page you show the less priced room with a beautiful Jacuzzi bath.
and on the comparison chart there are two others with similar sizes and cost $10 more, so I would pick the least priced too. I would raise it and make them the same. That is my thought.
.
JBloggs said:
...on the comparison chart there are two others with similar sizes and cost $10 more, so I would pick the least priced too. I would raise it and make them the same. That is my thought.
One of the $10-more rooms has a Sanijet tub rated for 1 person, but the smaller, cheaper room has a larger Sanijet rated for 2 people. That was part of my plan to make the smaller room a little more attractive. So I think you've convinced me! I'll raise the cheap one to match the other two. It's worth it! The other two will just become slight bargains in comparison!
 
In my case, the cheap room is the smallest, and only has one small window and thus, to me, feels much less open, more closed in, almost claustrophobic, compared with the others. It's just not quite worth what the others are.
At the same time, there have been zero complaints and plenty of nice compliments by people who seemed to love staying in the room, so perhaps JB is right, just raise the rate to match the others.
On the other hand, since it's smaller it's probably a little easier to clean than the others, so pushing people into the others brings a little more cleaning work. But the others bring in a little more money. So many factors!
Needs more thought..
Arks said:
In my case, the cheap room is the smallest, and only has one small window and thus, to me, feels much less open, more closed in, almost claustrophobic, compared with the others. It's just not quite worth what the others are.
At the same time, there have been zero complaints and plenty of nice compliments by people who seemed to love staying in the room, so perhaps JB is right, just raise the rate to match the others.
On the other hand, since it's smaller it's probably a little easier to clean than the others, so pushing people into the others brings a little more cleaning work. But the others bring in a little more money. So many factors!
Needs more thought.
It could simply be birth order.
You have it listed in a way that people see it and book it. You use a word that is more appealing, a photo that makes it look bigger or anything at all, or it seems about the same and is less, so book it! In person I find that when we have diff rates we spend all of our time explaining why they are diff and I often wondered if we just made them all the same, even with diff amenities and shapes an sizes what would happen.
I know b-com and those just think of the rooms as rooms, we give them all personalities from the artwork to the bed linens.
I looked quickly and saw that the "next one up" in the price range is diff to the others, they all show beds and it shows an entry/foyer as the main image on rezkey.
and then on the rates page you show the less priced room with a beautiful Jacuzzi bath.
and on the comparison chart there are two others with similar sizes and cost $10 more, so I would pick the least priced too. I would raise it and make them the same. That is my thought.
.
JBloggs said:
...on the comparison chart there are two others with similar sizes and cost $10 more, so I would pick the least priced too. I would raise it and make them the same. That is my thought.
One of the $10-more rooms has a Sanijet tub rated for 1 person, but the smaller, cheaper room has a larger Sanijet rated for 2 people. That was part of my plan to make the smaller room a little more attractive. So I think you've convinced me! I'll raise the cheap one to match the other two. It's worth it! The other two will just become slight bargains in comparison!
.
I am glad you made it the same...what does $10 matter? Gheez! Now if there were a $50 difference, then I could see it...but make them all the same.
 
In my case, the cheap room is the smallest, and only has one small window and thus, to me, feels much less open, more closed in, almost claustrophobic, compared with the others. It's just not quite worth what the others are.
At the same time, there have been zero complaints and plenty of nice compliments by people who seemed to love staying in the room, so perhaps JB is right, just raise the rate to match the others.
On the other hand, since it's smaller it's probably a little easier to clean than the others, so pushing people into the others brings a little more cleaning work. But the others bring in a little more money. So many factors!
Needs more thought..
Arks said:
In my case, the cheap room is the smallest, and only has one small window and thus, to me, feels much less open, more closed in, almost claustrophobic, compared with the others. It's just not quite worth what the others are.
At the same time, there have been zero complaints and plenty of nice compliments by people who seemed to love staying in the room, so perhaps JB is right, just raise the rate to match the others.
On the other hand, since it's smaller it's probably a little easier to clean than the others, so pushing people into the others brings a little more cleaning work. But the others bring in a little more money. So many factors!
Needs more thought.
It could simply be birth order.
You have it listed in a way that people see it and book it. You use a word that is more appealing, a photo that makes it look bigger or anything at all, or it seems about the same and is less, so book it! In person I find that when we have diff rates we spend all of our time explaining why they are diff and I often wondered if we just made them all the same, even with diff amenities and shapes an sizes what would happen.
I know b-com and those just think of the rooms as rooms, we give them all personalities from the artwork to the bed linens.
I looked quickly and saw that the "next one up" in the price range is diff to the others, they all show beds and it shows an entry/foyer as the main image on rezkey.
and then on the rates page you show the less priced room with a beautiful Jacuzzi bath.
and on the comparison chart there are two others with similar sizes and cost $10 more, so I would pick the least priced too. I would raise it and make them the same. That is my thought.
.
JBloggs said:
...on the comparison chart there are two others with similar sizes and cost $10 more, so I would pick the least priced too. I would raise it and make them the same. That is my thought.
One of the $10-more rooms has a Sanijet tub rated for 1 person, but the smaller, cheaper room has a larger Sanijet rated for 2 people. That was part of my plan to make the smaller room a little more attractive. So I think you've convinced me! I'll raise the cheap one to match the other two. It's worth it! The other two will just become slight bargains in comparison!
.
I am glad you made it the same...what does $10 matter? Gheez! Now if there were a $50 difference, then I could see it...but make them all the same.
.
All our rooms are the same price for us. Only one price to remember for any given room, they all change with the season together. If someone is trying to get a better price we don't feel like we are losing money if we give them the smallest one at a discount. One guest figured it out while he was in the foyer when I checked a guest in so he waited until that guest was in their room and questioned me on it. "Well, figure that out, I'm asking for the best room in the house next time! I didn't ask for that room because I didn't want to pay more." When he came back a couple weeks later in the best room, he gloated at check in to me about the deal he got this time!
 
I also am wondering if it's something more than a $10 difference. Maybe it just needs a new picture or a fresh look on the website?
 
Back
Top