Do you know who your competitors are? They might not be who you think. In our new guide for independent hotels, we show you how to identify your competitors, price strategically against them, and capture more revenue and market share. 

Here are a few highlights from the guide. 

Competitive Price Benchmarking: Different Strokes for Different Folks

Traditionally, hotels identify competitors based on the main criteria travelers use to decide where to stay, such as location, property type, facilities, and guest ratings. 

The hotel selects about five properties as its primary competitive set, or comp set. Then it decides how to position its pricing relative to them. 

However, hotels can differ significantly in terms of occupancy patterns, revenue objectives, and revenue expertise. Your pricing strategies should therefore be as unique and individualized as your property.

Navigating an Evolving Competitive Landscape 

Today, hotels compete for bookings with more properties than ever before. Trip-planning platforms like Google, Tripadvisor, and OTAs make it easy for travelers to explore a range of accommodation types and filter results according to their preferences. 

If a hotel only pays attention to a few competitors – or doesn’t pay attention at all – it is likely mispricing its rooms and missing out on revenue opportunities. 

5 Ways to Price More Competitively

To price more effectively, consider the following strategies: 

1. Benchmark against a broad range of competitors.
2. Include both direct competitors and rate leaders in your comp set.
3. Position pricing against the market average rather than specific competitors.
4. Incorporate your occupancy and booking pace into pricing decisions. 
5. Update your pricing frequently in response to changing demand conditions.
   
   

By monitoring a comprehensive set of competitors, hoteliers can better understand market demand and traveler price sensitivity, positioning rates to capture the most valuable bookings. 

So Many Competitors, So Little Time

With so many competitors, how can a busy hotelier “keep them close”? Automated revenue management solution monitors market rates on behalf of the hotel, calculating the hotel’s optimal daily rates and updating them automatically in the PMS.

An advanced solution like RoomPriceGenie monitors a diverse range of properties, factoring occupancy and the hotel’s customized rate parameters into recommendations to ensure the hotel is always competitively priced. 

To learn more about competitive pricing, check out our guide: Keep Your Competitors Close: Know Who They Are and How to Price Against Them.