Pricing your property can often feel like a guessing game. Should you lower rates to attract more bookings, or raise them to match your competitors? The answer might be hiding in plain sight: guest feedback.
In fact, 48% of travelers say that online reviews play a significant role in their decision about where to stay. However, beyond influencing your future guests, these reviews can also provide valuable insights to inform your pricing strategy.
Whether you’re just starting out or already managing multiple properties, utilizing guest feedback effectively can help you set prices that accurately reflect both market demand and guest expectations.
In this guide, we outline key aspects that’ll help you assess guest feedback and use it to enhance guest satisfaction.
Let’s begin with understanding why guest feedback is important.
Guest Feedback: Why is it Crucial for Property Managers to Make Pricing Decisions?
Let’s go through the reasons why analyzing guest feedback is important.
It Helps Understand Value Perception
Different guests have different expectations. Some seek affordable stays, while others are willing to pay more for premium experiences. Reviews that mention things like “A bit pricey, but totally worth it” help you gauge your property’s perceived value and fine-tune your pricing for future guests.
By consistently delivering great service and amenities, you increase the chances of guests writing reviews that justify premium rates. During peak seasons, you can confidently increase prices by showcasing these reviews in your listings to attract guests willing to pay for quality. And travelers are 3.9 times more likely to book a hotel with a higher rating!
Gain a Competitive Edge with Feedback Analysis
Even with premium offerings, guests might mention competitors with lower prices: “This place is great, but I found a similar one cheaper; I might try that next.” These subtle remarks can indicate price sensitivity among your audience.
Even if these reviews aren’t negative, they can lead future guests to find better properties. By identifying these early signs of price sensitivity, you can adjust your pricing or emphasize your unique selling points to remain competitive.
Seasonal Trends and Dynamic Adjustments
Guest reviews often reveal seasonal trends: feedback like “A must-visit in summer” or “Loved the garden in spring” gives you insights into when demand peaks. These patterns can inform when to increase pricing or offer seasonal bundles.
Pro tip: If you’re using a tool like Pricelabs, its algorithm already factors in seasonality, so setting a seasonal base price may cause both the default seasonality factor and the seasonal base price to be applied, leading to incorrect rates (too high or too low). So proceed with caution.
Tips for Property Managers to Analyze Guest Feedback
To optimize pricing strategies, you need to analyze guest feedback. Here’s how:
Categorize Reviews for Pricing Insights
Assessment of reviews or other feedback without proper categorization will be tedious. Rather than finding positive and negative reviews, managers should aim for a systematic organization of categories. For example:
- Pricing satisfaction – analytical parameter should be a question like, Was the rate fair for the services offered?
- Customer service experience – analytical parameter should be: Did the services justify the high rates?
- Amenities and extras- analytical perspective should be, features praised most, and vice versa.
Utilizing Sentiment Analysis Tools
To make sense of large volumes of guest feedback efficiently, you can use AI-based sentiment analysis tools. These tools help you go beyond simply categorizing reviews as “positive” or “negative.” They uncover patterns in how guests feel about specific aspects of your property, providing you with concrete data to adjust your pricing.
Tools like Google Cloud Natural Language API, Lexalytics, etc. can be integrated to get insights on:
- Frequent praise of concierge services allows managers to increase prices or offer combo packs for a personalized experience.
- Frustrating or complaining reviews from guests regarding service fees or hidden costs could help make pricing more transparent.
Use Survey Data
Guests often share feedback at different stages—some during their stay, some after, and some at both times. But post-stay surveys are one of the most effective ways to gather direct input about pricing.
Unlike online reviews, surveys allow you to ask specific questions that reveal what guests truly think about your rates. For example:
- “Did you feel the services you received were worth the price you paid?”
- “What additional services or amenities would you be willing to pay extra for?”
These responses give you clear, actionable data on what guests value and where they’re willing to spend more.
You can use free tools like Google Forms, Typeform, or specialized hospitality survey tools, such as Revinate, to collect this data regularly.
Turning Guest Feedback into Smarter Pricing Strategies
Collecting feedback and analyzing it is fine. However, unless you can utilize it to refine your strategy, it’s meaningless. You need to transform the feedback and develop a more effective pricing model.
Tips to Transform Guest Feedback into Pricing Strategies
Let’s understand ways to transform guest feedback into pricing strategies.
Form Dynamic Pricing Models
Pricing should never remain static. Guest feedback, when combined with market trends, helps property managers adjust pricing in a smarter, data-driven way. Here’s how feedback-driven pricing can be implemented effectively:
- Demand-based adjustments: Keep track of days, weeks, or seasons where feedback is overwhelmingly positive. Guests might mention how they “loved the summer pool experience” or how “the property feels magical in winter.” Use this data to increase prices during high-demand periods to reflect guest demand.
| Pro tip: With PriceLabs’ dynamic pricing engine, you can automatically increase nightly rates during periods when positive feedback peaks, ensuring you’re maximizing revenue without manual effort. |
- Premium placement pricing: Feedback often reveals guest preferences for certain locations: a quiet floor, a balcony view, or proximity to amenities. You can use tiered pricing based on unit desirability. With Pricelabs’ pricing customizations, you could automate minimum-night price differentials for premium units.
Value-based Pricing and Service Building
Analysis of guest comments and feedback helps bundle highly valued amenities into tiered packages. Here’s how:
- Basic package: Includes standard services, no additional services for guests seeking a budget-friendly deal.
- Premium package: Includes benefits like early check-in, pool area, spa access, special concierge, etc.
Additionally, managers can also provide flexibility as per guests’ preferences in services to improve perceived value, and encourage guests to select the premium package for their stay.
Personalized Discounts and Loyalty-based Pricing
Guests who enjoy their stay surely leave feedback after each stay. With the help of insights from such regulars, as a property manager, you can:
- Formulate loyalty-based pricing, specifically for repeated guests
- Offer discounts on premium services once in a while, as it will help you retain guests in the long term
Application of Guest Feedback in Short-Term vs Long-Term Rentals
Guest feedback certainly helps formulate prices across all property types. There are a few variations in short-term and long-term rentals. Below is a detailed ideation of how guest feedback works for both the rental models:
Guest Feedback Role for Short-term Rentals
For property managers in the short-term rental (SRT) market, pricing decisions can’t afford to be static. Guest expectations shift constantly with changing seasons, travel trends, and local events. That’s where guest feedback becomes a powerful resource, helping managers build dynamic pricing strategies that keep their properties competitive and appealing.
Here’s how guest feedback helps shape pricing strategies for SRTs:
Demand-based Pricing
When multiple reviews highlight specific high-demand periods, it signals opportunities to increase rates. Feedback like: “Best place to stay during the festival, amazing vibes!”
reveals event-driven demand you can capitalize on.
With AI-powered sentiment analysis tools, you can even pinpoint precise dates when interest spikes, making your dynamic pricing sharper and more data-driven.
Optimize Prices for Guest-preferred Amenities
Different guests attach themselves to a variety of amenities (rooftop view, seaview, private balcony, etc). Increasing the pricing of units with such amenities will help generate decent revenue.
Loyalty pricing
Regular guests who frequently leave feedback should have a personalized package with adjusted pricing. This will help your business attract more clientele without compromising on prices with other guests. Limited-time promotional pricing is the way to go!
Check this out: Short term vs Long term vs Mid term rental
Guest Feedback Role for Long-term Rentals
Unlike short-term rentals (STRs), long-term rentals (LRTs) benefit more from predictive feedback rather than frequent rate changes. Here, property managers need to understand guest sentiment over extended periods to optimize pricing, renewal incentives, and value-added services.
Here’s how guest feedback helps shape smarter strategies for LRTs:
Adjustment of Prices Based on Tenant Satisfaction
Long-term tenants often evaluate whether the overall lease terms and amenities justify the price. Their feedback frequently highlights:
- Satisfaction with maintenance and services
- Concerns about value for money
- Suggestions for improvement
Incentive-based Renewals
Long-term rental pricing should be refined based on feedback, not only to attract new tenants but also to retain existing ones.
Offering customized pricing models or discounted renewal rates for tenants who leave positive feedback can work wonders for retention.
Example: “Thanks for your feedback! As a valued tenant, we’re offering you a 5% discount on your lease renewal, plus complimentary access to the gym for the next year.”
Distinction of Rental Units
Long-term tenants value consistency, but their feedback can always present different pricing opportunities. For instance, if a comment mentions workspace amenities, pricing can reflect the demand for ergonomic setups and high-speed internet. Likewise, if some guests have praised the on-site gym facility or any other service, specific charges can be put for accessing them.
Conclusion
- Guest feedback should not be neglected, especially when the goal is to improve revenue.
- The application of feedback differs between short-term and long-term rentals, so implement it accordingly.
- Tools like Pricelabs can help you set custom pricing rules and adjustments based on the property type.
- You can take it a notch up by integrating sentiment analysis tools and understanding the nuances of guest feedback.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most immediate way to gather guest feedback for pricing adjustments?
The immediate ways involve post-stay surveys, in-app feedback forms, and real-time review prompts. The distinction of reviews and comparison of pricing perception will help a property manager make adjustments to pricing strategies and drive revenue.
How does guest feedback influence the pricing strategies for property managers? Does it help improve their hospitality services?
A pricing plan might not always align with the guests’ expectations. Guest feedback showcases valuable insights into seasonal demand, perceived value, and competitor comparisons. The feedback makes adjustments simpler. It reveals specifics about service performance, such as operational processes, staff, facility upkeep, etc., which contribute to the improvement of hospitality services.