7 nuggets from Airdna to increase your turnover on Airbnb

Do you rent rooms or an apartment on Airbnb & Homeaway and want to launch a revenue management strategy that maximizes your turnover?

In this context, several questions arise:
– how can I get more information about my competitors ?
– how can I ensure that I can increase my prices ?
– better understand the demand in my city and more particularly periods of low or high demand?

To answer all of these questions, the Airdna offers access to city-by-city data which will allow you to have a clearer vision of your market. But how to use them? And concretely how can you use these figures to increase your turnover?

I have had the opportunity on several occasions to suggest the use of this site, to better understand the demand of a city, and establish a more profitable price scale. But the answer I often get is: "I subscribed to the service, and the site is very complete, but I don't know what to do with all these figures."

I will therefore detail here the key points which will allow you to make good use of this tool and maximize the income from your hotel or furnished activity on Airbnb & Homeaway.

In this article we will see together how:
– Evaluate your position on the market according to the volume of existing rooms/apartments.
– Compare your future price to that of competitors of the same size to avoid being priced out of the market
– Evaluate whether your average selling price is higher or lower than that of competitors to adjust in the future
– Identify periods of high or low demand to adjust your prices
– Compare your turnover to that of competitors in your city to improve your performance
– Study reservation times to optimize your cancellation conditions and avoid losing money
– Identify your main competitors to win time in your competition studies

Please note that I have produced a free webinar to allow you to learn in more detail how to make Airdna your best ally to increase your turnover. You can watch the replay right here at the top of the page: free webinar to learn how to use it.

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Preliminary note on percentiles

The concept of percentile is used a lot in Airdna. The percentile is the distribution of data on a scale from 0% to 100%: 0% being the lowest values ​​and 100% being the highest values . For example, an average price of €60 75th percentile corresponds to the average price of the best 25% of sales . In Airdna you can filter the data by percentiles: 25th, 50th, 75th and 90th.

How to use this filter? The concept of percentile allows you to obtain the figures for only part of the type of room/apartment you are studying: those whose performance corresponds to what you do or wish to do .

For example: you have a completely new studio for sale. Your search will focus on studios in your city (“bedrooms” filter) with the possibility of accommodating 1 to 2 people (“accommodates” filter): in this list, however, there are big disparities in quality of service. By filtering on the 75th percentile you ensure that you compare yourself with the best performers.

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1 – Evaluate with Airdna your position on the market according to the volume of existing rooms/apartments

The first use that Airdna is to allow a global vision of the offer available on Airbnb & Homeaway sites by accommodation capacity . This way, you can clearly see whether your offer is rare or buried among a large list of rooms or apartments. Rarity is obviously a source of value and can allow prices to increase (if there is demand for this type of room/apartment).

Where to find this information? This data can be found on the “overview” page in the “rental size” table. Reading is done by number of rooms available in the property to rent: from studio to more than 5 rooms.

2 – Compare your future price to that of competitors of the same size so as not to be out of the market

Comparing your price to that of competitors is obviously essential , but be careful, this should not mean: modeling your prices on competitors . Studying the competition does not replace your work on revenue management strategy, because your competitors may (probably) not be doing the exercise correctly. If they are wrong you lose money too.

On the other hand, having in mind the existing price ranges on the market, by type of room/apartment, allows you to have at least a high ceiling not to exceed, or a minimum below which it is not useful to go.

For example: if you are already the cheapest at €60 per night, there is no need to go lower to hope to sell more. Conversely, if you have a studio and the price of T2 starts at €90/night: it is more relevant not to increase prices above €90/night (except in exceptional cases) because beyond , the price/service ratio that you offer is no longer competitive.

Where to find this information? This data can be found on the “pricing” page in the “future supply and demand” & “demand and booked rates” table. Don't forget to filter at the top of the page on the type of room/apartment you are interested in .
On the first table "future supply and demand" you read day by day:
(1) The current average price of what is available for sale,
(2) And by hovering your cursor over the figures: the average price of what is available for sale has already been reserved.

On the other hand, the “demand and booked rates” table presents a similar vision (average prices sold and available) but in a graphic way, which allows a quick reading of the trend for the next 6 months. 

Please note! Concerning the screen which is displayed by passing your cursor over the figures, the indicator of the occupancy level of the rooms/apartments is the ratio:
– of the number of rooms/apartments sold on the date concerned
– divided by the number of room/apartment for sale (sold + available)

On the other hand, you will observe a demand level indicator at the top of the window: I do not use this indicator to date and therefore do not recommend its use for the moment due to lack of having a clear idea of ​​its accuracy .

3 – Evaluate whether your average selling price is higher or lower than that of competitors to adjust in the future

A posteriori, knowing your level of performance compared to competitors is crucial, why? Your revenue management strategy cannot be described as “good” without putting it into perspective with the market.

For example, selling 100% of your capacity at €40 while competitors were able to fill 100% of their capacity at €60 is not a good performance. Conversely, if competitors fill 100% at €30, a performance of €40 is good. Thus, it is very difficult to evaluate alone whether our performance was good or not. 

Doing this study therefore allows you to learn lessons about the strategy you had and to know how to adapt it for the future. Your vision is clearer on prices and your sales and growth potential.

Where to find this information? To find out what competitors' selling prices have been in the past: refer to the “pricing” page in the “average daily rate” table. The table shows over the past two years: the average sales price and the number of sales. Please note, don't forget to filter at the top of the page on the type of room/apartment you are interested in.

Please note: the table below (ADR range) allows you to find the concept of percentile and therefore compare yourself to the most efficient competitors only. 

4 – Identify periods of high or low demand to adjust your prices

One of the essential keys to maximizing performance is to anticipate the level of demand . Be one step ahead! To do this, you need to know in advance: what the level of demand will be in your city over the coming weeks.

Step number one is to study the calendar and identify impactful events. For this you don't need Airdna . However, in addition, it is wise to also study the level of performance achieved by the market over the past year.

Thanks to this Airdna screen, you know in advance the periods which will be the most difficult to fill (therefore over which the price must be reasonable) and the periods with the highest demand (therefore the periods over which consistent price growth can be achieved). considered).

Where to find this information? revpar per day of the previous year is presented in a calendar manner

The revpar is an indicator which combines the performance in occupancy rate (sales volume) and the performance in average price (sales price) so this allows us to see if the advertisements have sold well in general. This indicator helps you estimate your demand forecasts for the coming year and work on your selling price.

5 – Compare your turnover to that of competitors in your city to improve your performance

In order to know the maximum potential of your apartment, and up to which price level you can go: consult the total turnover generated per month, by apartments in your city, of the same category. And of course compare yourself to them.

If you are well above the market : congratulations, that's a good performance. So try to target a higher percentile to challenge yourself.

If you are below market : research price and occupancy rate to understand the origin of your poor performance and make appropriate decisions.

Where to find this information? On the “revenue” page and in the “rental revenue” table. As with the other tables, don't forget to filter by room/apartment type as well as percentile.

On this screen, you have the turnover per month, over the past two years, and by percentile. If you want to dig deeper to understand the figure, here are the screens to look at:

• for the price: “seasonality” page and the “average daily rate” table
• and for the occupancy rate : “occupancy” page and the “historical occupancy rate” table