Updated : Nov 26, 2024
Customer type: Revenue Manager
Region: Europe
Products: Dynamic Pricing, Portfolio Analytics
Number of units: 50+
PMS: Octorate
Executive Summary
Daniel Polo, a seasoned hospitality professional and co-founder of SocialTur, faced significant challenges in managing pricing for boutique hotels in Spain. Through PriceLabs, Daniel achieved up to a 30% revenue increase, optimized average daily rates (ADR), and filled rooms even during low seasons. Discover how PriceLabs enabled SocialTur to automate revenue management, tailor competitive strategies for room types, and support small, independent hotels in adapting to the digital marketplace.
About SocialTur
Founded by Daniel Polo and his partner David, SocialTur is a digital consultancy specializing in revenue management for boutique hotels across Spain. SocialTur serves unique properties—primarily rural hotels with a distinct charm – providing a comprehensive suite of services, including SEO, SEM, digital advertising, web design, and setup for hotel-specific tools like PriceLabs. Their mission is to help small hotels stay competitive, profitable, and up-to-date with technological advancements.
Challenges Before PriceLabs
Before adopting PriceLabs, SocialTur managed hotel pricing manually, often setting rates seasonally with minimal adjustments. Daniel’s clients, typically small, family-owned hotels with limited staffing, struggled to keep up with the rapid pace of online market changes. Daniel explains, noting that many of his clients lacked both the training and resources to manage modern digital tools effectively.
“There can be a right price today, but it can be a completely wrong price in three days if the market changes, and you can’t adjust all that unless you are a calculator.”
– Daniel Polo, Co-founder at SocialTur Marketing and Tourism
PriceLabs as a Solution
Daniel discovered PriceLabs when searching for a more automated, data-driven approach to pricing management for SocialTur’s boutique hotel clients. Intrigued by the customization options and real-time pricing updates, he began implementing it across several properties. Daniel found key features of PriceLabs particularly valuable for managing the unique needs of independent hotels:
- Automated Pricing Adjustments: PriceLabs eliminated the need for manual price setting by automating adjustments based on demand fluctuations. With daily updates, pricing was always aligned with market conditions, reducing errors and manual effort.
- Custom Comp-Set and Grouping: PriceLabs allowed Daniel to group room types (e.g., apartments and hotel rooms) separately and create unique competitor sets for each group, optimizing rates in response to different market influences. This flexibility was essential for properties with varied room offerings.
- Booking Window Optimization: The Hyper Local Pulse algorithm adapted pricing according to booking windows, allowing SocialTur’s clients to maintain high occupancy, even during low-demand periods. By shortening the booking window, PriceLabs helped the hotels achieve a balance between last-minute bookings and ADR.
- Integration and Usability: PriceLabs seamlessly integrated with the existing property management tools Daniel’s clients used, making the setup process straightforward. This ease of integration ensured that SocialTur could onboard multiple properties quickly, minimizing disruptions to operations.
- In-Depth Reporting with Report Builder: PriceLabs’ Report Builder equipped Daniel with valuable performance data, helping him assess trends and make data-informed adjustments.
“We are starting to make business decisions based on these reports in the Report Builder.”
– Daniel Polo
Implementation and Results
The shift to PriceLabs was seamless, freeing up valuable time for SocialTur while improving pricing accuracy. Using PriceLabs’ Hyper Local Pulse algorithm, Daniel observed improved ADRs even with shorter booking windows. He also added that PriceLabs helped maintain high occupancy in the low season.
“This summer, one of our hotels saw a 30% increase in revenue compared to last year.”
– Daniel Polo
Additionally, the automated competitor tracking and grouping capabilities allowed SocialTur to manage rates efficiently.
“We use this tool [Hotel Data tab] for competitors, and it’s very useful. We set the competitors, and then we don’t – I wouldn’t say we forget about checking the competitors – but we know that if we’ve put the right competitors, the algorithm will give us a good price.”
– Daniel Polo
Advice to Other Hotel Revenue Managers
Daniel’s journey with PriceLabs offers key insights for small hotel owners:
- Adapt to Technology: Staying relevant in today’s market requires a digital mindset and tools like PriceLabs for automated pricing.
- Trust the Data: Rather than relying on past seasonal trends, dynamic pricing helps set real-time, competitive rates.
- Tailor Your Strategies: Create unique pricing strategies for different room types and curate highly relevant competitor sets.
Conclusion
For SocialTur, PriceLabs has proven invaluable, enabling small hotels to navigate the complexities of revenue management.
“[PriceLabs] has been very remarkable, not only for the increased occupancy and profitability – which is, of course, the most important – but also by being able to automate processes such as minimum stay and orphan gaps. So it’s very good for us to set a rule for minimum stay or orphan gaps and forget about it.”
– Daniel Polo
