One rate all year is the most expensive mistake on your calendar.
Revenue is nights sold times the rate on each night. Most independent hosts watch one of those numbers and guess at the other. This is the method a management company uses, cut down to what one host with a spreadsheet can actually run.
1. Know the three numbers
ADR is what a sold night earns. Occupancy is how many nights sold. RevPAR is revenue per night offered, and it is the only one that cannot flatter you.
2. Build the floor
Fixed costs divided by the nights you really sell, plus the per-stay costs. Below that line a discount pays the guest to stay.
3. Set the base from the comp set
Five listings a guest would pick instead of yours, on an ordinary week. Where you honestly sit on that list is the base rate.
4. Put multipliers on the calendar
Peak, event weekends, shoulder, low. Four multipliers on the base, with a minimum stay for each, and the year prices itself.
5. Fix orphan nights and gaps
The single night stranded between bookings, the weekend a two-night minimum blocks, the Friday-only check-in that kills midweek.
6. Review for fifteen minutes a week
Pace, pickup, gaps, a glance at the comps, one change written in the log. Next week you find out what it did.
The direct-booking discount you can afford
The platform fee you do not pay on a direct booking is your discount budget. Give part of it to the repeat guest and keep the rest. The free Book Direct tool gives you the page to do it on, paid on your own link.
The files
Revenue Management Playbook
The method above in full, with a worked example, the discount ladder, a rate card, and the weekly review log.
Pricing & Seasonality Worksheet
The spreadsheet that does the arithmetic: floor, base, season multipliers, and the rate that comes out.
Financial Command Center
Where the results land. Monthly gross, fees, expenses and net, so a rate change shows up as money.
Income & Expense Tracker, free
The free version. Enough to build the floor for one property.
Reading
- How to price a vacation rental from your own costs
- Minimum stay rules and the orphan night problem
- A seasonal pricing calendar you can set in an afternoon
- More on money
When the calendar still will not behave
A coaching call with your worksheet open is the fastest fix I know. The AI Audit shows whether ChatGPT and Google's AI answers name you or a competitor when guests ask.