Just Set 2022 Rates - A Few Thoughts

[GoodScout]

Hard to enforce 2-night stays when everyone's passing through. We're a destination, but during the soft seasons in the spring and fall, most of our guests are pass-throughs. We relax our 2-night minimum at those times, except for our larger suites.

We also will relax them if it gets to be Thursday morning and we still have lots of weekend rooms open. But we bump the price on the Saturday night only stays, since that's what everyone seems to want.

 

[Morticia]

Getting me thinking ... I could bump rates a little, but my $175 to $195 seems to match my market and the $195 books at about one-third of the $175 even with the only 2-person tub as an amenity, which is a sort of message. What I really wish I could do is cut back on single night stays but keep overall revenues up. Agin, our market is a lot of travelers and not much destination stays.

This was a problem we had. We were halfway to the destination stays. We turned away quite a few people who needed only one night on the weekend because their cottage didn’t open up until Saturday and they were driving up, or flying in on Friday. Middle of the week was a lot of one-nighters. For guests who did this every year we made exceptions. It did give us open Saturdays, but we could fill that easily.

I started raising the price of the open weekend night because it would always fill in.

We did start to have week-long stays about 6-7 years ago. It was nice. But, it was not something I could market as I could never figure out why they picked us.

This was always an ongoing argument with Gomez who would take any reservation for whatever price the guest offered. Which was why it was my job to answer the phone.

 

[KenW]

We set rates based on the market, not our costs.... I have standard weekday (M-W) and weekend (Th-Su) but when I see the rates from the 5 large hotels within 1.5 mi of me jacking prices to the sky on weekends, I raised weekends more but usually not to the level of the chain hotels. It looks like the large hotels are really filled up already from Easter to Thanksgiving with weddings on the weekends. They got 800 rooms, I have 6, so I need to peel off 6 of their rooms and I'm sold out... Likewise in offseason, I go much lower but some of those hotels are in the gutter , under $100 a night and I dont go anywhere near that either.... It all comes down to knowing your market and target customers.... changing rates in Think is easy....

It was a little work monitoring local rates and we have come to believe we set the rates for our area. Meaning we think that the other simular accommodations keep an eye on us to see what we are charging. We use little hotellier as a management platform, probly much like Rezkey...easy to adjust pricing and covers all channels.you need to charge what you deserve. More for holidays and weekends and makes it easy to lower pricing for last minute unfilled rooms

 

[TheBeachHouse]

Getting me thinking ... I could bump rates a little, but my $175 to $195 seems to match my market and the $195 books at about one-third of the $175 even with the only 2-person tub as an amenity, which is a sort of message. What I really wish I could do is cut back on single night stays but keep overall revenues up. Agin, our market is a lot of travelers and not much destination stays.

We have found that people book the cheaper room anyway, even when we explain why it’s the cheaper room. (By the front door, common room and street, so noisier. Also, on the first floor so very limited view while other rooms have full ocean view.).
Also, consider a premium for one night stays. I’ve considered it, but haven’t implemented it as yet. Many here do it. Cover the extra cost of housekeeping, laundry and amenities.

 

[Generic]

When we started, we didn't have a minimum. We found out... we were the "splurge" for the cheap travellers... so we went to 2 nights and increased our prices.

Before Covid... Since we have open booking, we sometimes end up with single nights. I actually put the rate up and put them on X and BK and they would fill those spots. We would do the same with 3 day openings. But now we just lock them out.

As for why people book certain rooms, our most popular room NOW is the large king with detached bath. Before, it was the medium queen with ensuite. But returning guests almost always took the large king, even when it was shared bath. They knew that I kept that bathroom clean.

 

[Arks]

Also, consider a premium for one night stays. I’ve considered it, but haven’t implemented it as yet. .

I've applied a $9 surcharge for one night says for years. It's enough to make the point, but not high enough to run people off. It adds up to enough over a year's time to make up for the extra trouble of dealing with cleaning a room that has only been used a few hours.

 

[Silverspoon]

I just raised my rates to match the cost of living increase Social Security just applied. I'm also raising what I pay my housekeepers a matching amount.

With the highest inflation in years, it's really a business necessity to have the rates try to keep up. Actually, I didn't raise the rates quite as much as they are raising Social Security, but almost as much.

Making the rate changes on the website and at "Air" took the most time. I'm realizing it's really important to not post rates all over my website. Keep it simple! They're only listed once on each room page, and I have one "Our Rates" page that puts it all in once place. So took a while to visit each room page, do the math, and make the changes.

Raising rates in ResKey was the easy part. Just go to Properties/Rate Plans, visit each Rate Plan, click on the Rate Rules line, Set the new rate for Sunday, then click on "set all same as Sunday" (assuming you don't have different rates for different days) and click Save Changes.

Now I can sit back and feel good that at least I'm not going deeper in the hole every day, I hope!

The Feds have rate of inflation as 7.5% so that’s how much my rates changed. No apologies needed. Everyone is experiencing price increases. I do give my regular returning guests a bit of a break though. They are a lot less work for us so they definitely deserve a break.

 

[FHI2426]

It was a little work monitoring local rates and we have come to believe we set the rates for our area. Meaning we think that the other simular accommodations keep an eye on us to see what we are charging. We use little hotellier as a management platform, probly much like Rezkey...easy to adjust pricing and covers all channels.you need to charge what you deserve. More for holidays and weekends and makes it easy to lower pricing for last minute unfilled rooms

Good for you - Every time I get a reservation I check what the prices were in the area so I can see what the person who booked was likely seeing... And sometimes I increase, usually stay the same, but it gives me intel on what is likely inn the mind of the shopper. I also do this in real time if a caller sounds like a price shopper and I reinforce we include breakfast and parking, our big value proposition. We can change prices easily in Think too..... market based is the way to go for pricing! (we are in small urban location so 800 rooms within 1.5 miles of us, prices range 159-649 during the year).... We would be leaving huge money on the table if we "set it and forget it"

 

[Anon Inn]

My life is much happier when the housekeepers are happy! I did all the cleaning myself when I opened in 2013 (hmmm, next year is 10th year!)

congratulation on your near-decade!

I‘m envious of your cleaners. Not possible to find reliable and meticulous- who understand B&B turnovers - in my corner of the world. I still do the cleaning. In Covid era, I’ve gone back to cleaning the hour-drive-away unit too. Actually a good thing to keep an eye on supplies and repairs, and I prefer doing my shopping in that small city too.

I actually took most of Nov and Dec off after the busiest year ever. I was exhausted. Now evaluating my approach to 2022, and beyond. its time to consider when to taper off, and what the exit plan will look like. Right now I am thoroughly enjoying the quiet.

Happy New Year to you and all.

 

[ChrisandShelley]

My life is much happier when the housekeepers are happy!

This is so true. I gave my housekeepers a raise when I returned to innkeeping, plus they get perks like breakfast left overs, free lunch on occasion, tips, and whatever else I can pass on to them.

 

[ChrisandShelley]

congratulation on your near-decade!

I‘m envious of your cleaners. Not possible to find reliable and meticulous- who understand B&B turnovers - in my corner of the world.

We decided to add an RV pad and hire work campers for short term stints. That has worked out tremendously!