Outdoorsy Smart Pricing is a new pricing algorithm created by Outdoorsy to recommend optimized base rates for your listings. The focus is on building a model that considers historic data, customer behavior, and seasonality to recommend optimal prices in near real time.
What does the Smart Pricing algorithm consider when making recommendations?
Smart Pricing compares your listing to similar local RVs to ensure your rates stay competitive and aligned with the real-time market. This helps you identify if your RV is underpriced compared to others in your area, ensuring you never miss out on potential earnings.
The pricing recommendations it generates take into account:
- Geography
- Seasonality
- Vehicle attributes
- Additional listing factors
Our system constantly learns from real-world booking patterns. By understanding exactly what travelers are willing to pay for your specific RV type and location, Smart Pricing gets smarter over time to help you capture the best possible price.
What is the goal of Smart Pricing?
The result is a system that uses historic data to identify opportunities where a listing’s price can be raised without negatively impacting its utilization rates (bookings).
How does the algorithm account for the quality of my listing?
Each listing receives a rating based on a composite score. The composite score is derived from factors such as:
- Review count and average rating
- Number of images
- Sleep capacity
- Vehicle year
This ensures that one listing is compared against a similar listing, preventing the algorithm from suggesting a top-tier vehicle charge the same rate as a basic older vehicle.
Will the algorithm recommend a price decrease for my listing?
No. Pricing decreases are not recommended today. If the algorithm calculates that an optimized price would be less than your current Host-set price, your current price is retained. Over time, we may add functionality that suggests lowering your rates if you are overpriced.
Do I still set my own prices?
Yes. Prices are still set by Hosts, and the new system provides recommendations for optimized rates throughout the year.
To ensure these recommendations always align with your goals, you can easily set a minimum and maximum price range for the algorithm to follow once you’ve enabled Smart Pricing. The feature will never suggest or apply a rate that falls outside of the boundaries you’ve established.
Smart Pricing also never adjusts prices on existing, confirmed bookings.
How does Smart Pricing work with my goals?
When you enable Smart Pricing on your listing page, you’ll be asked to choose a strategy. This is how you tell the feature exactly what your goals are. Think of these as your smart presets—you pick a goal, and the feature handles the pricing to help you get there.
Choose the strategy that fits your goals:
- More Bookings: Best for keeping your RV on the road. The system looks for the most competitive price to fill your calendar quickly.
- Balanced: The best of both worlds. This aims for a steady flow of bookings at a solid, reliable price point.
- Higher Earnings: Prioritizes top-dollar nightly rates. You may have fewer bookings, but you’ll earn more for every trip you take.
Pro tip: Regardless of the strategy you choose, you are always in control. The system will never price your RV outside of the Minimum and Maximum range you set. Additionally, Smart Pricing will not recommend a price lower than your current Host-set price today.
Why is Smart Pricing recommending a higher rate for my listing?
Recommendations are based on one or more of the following:
- Your listing is priced below what similar RVs nearby are booking for. Smart Pricing compares your rate against actual booked prices for comparable vehicles in your area — not just listed prices.
- Your listing stands out from the competition. Listings with strong reviews, great photos, higher sleep capacity, and newer vehicles are benchmarked against top-tier booked rates in your area.
- It's a high-demand time of year in your area. Recommendations reflect seasonal patterns based on what Guests pay for similar RVs during this time of year.
- Guests pay more on weekends. Weekday and weekend demand are measured separately, so your recommendation may be higher on weekend nights.
The tool will tell which of these reasons is influencing our recommendation.
Do Smart Pricing recommendations automatically apply to my listing?
No. You have total control over your settings and must manually enable Smart Pricing. Once turned on, recommendations are applied automatically throughout the year. You can disable it at any time, and your rates will revert to exactly what they were before.
Most importantly, you always set your prices — Smart Pricing only works within the rates you've established, to identify opportunities to optimize them.
How often are Smart Pricing recommendations updated?
Smart Pricing recommendations are updated daily to reflect the latest booking trends in your area. Recommendations cover the next 365 days, so your rates stay relevant as demand patterns shift throughout the year.
Does Smart Pricing work with my existing seasonal or custom rates?
Yes. Smart Pricing works alongside your existing pricing settings. If you've set different rates for weekends, those may override the Smart Pricing recommendations. Discounts you've configured — such as a weekly discount for 7-night trips — will also continue to apply as normal. However, we do not support Smart Price floors for different seasons. Smart Pricing is meant to take seasonality into consideration.