Wheelhouse Software is a cutting-edge Revenue Management System (RMS) tailored for the accommodation industry. In today’s competitive market, where pricing can make or break a business, Wheelhouse offers a dynamic pricing tool that adapts to market changes in real-time. This relevance is underscored by the growing need for data-driven decision-making in hospitality to maximize revenue and occupancy rates.
By leveraging the power of Wheelhouse Software, users can unlock the full potential of their accommodation businesses, benefiting from increased revenue, optimized operational efficiency, and a strategic edge in a rapidly evolving marketplace. The software’s sophisticated algorithms and user-friendly interface provide a seamless solution for staying ahead in the dynamic world of hospitality revenue management.
Understanding Wheelhouse
What is wheelhouse software
Wheelhouse Software is designed to empower accommodation providers with a suite of Revenue Management products that streamline and optimize their pricing strategies. The core functionalities of Wheelhouse include:
Dynamic Pricing: Adapts to real-time market changes to ensure competitive and optimal pricing for listings.
Comp Sets: Allows users to track and outperform their competition by understanding the competitive landscape.
Booking Insights: Provides a deep understanding of portfolio performance, helping to make informed decisions.
Market Reports: Offers insights into market trends to stay ahead of industry shifts.
These features are backed by a fully-transparent pricing engine, which is the result of over eight years of data science research. This engine analyzes over 20 billion data points daily to inform booking strategies, ensuring that users have a clear understanding of pricing recommendations that can be tailored to achieve their operational and financial goals1.
The Importance of Dynamic pricing
Dynamic pricing, also known as demand pricing or time-based pricing, is a flexible pricing strategy that allows businesses to adjust prices on the fly in response to market demands. In the context of revenue management, particularly within the hospitality and travel industries, dynamic pricing is crucial for several reasons:
Maximizes Revenue: It helps in capitalizing on periods of high demand by increasing prices, thereby maximizing revenue potential.
Improves Occupancy Rates: During slower periods, prices can be lowered to attract more customers, improving occupancy and utilization rates.
Competitive Edge: It provides a competitive advantage by allowing businesses to adjust prices according to competitors’ pricing strategies and market conditions.
Customer Segmentation: Allows for price differentiation based on customer segments, capturing more value from those willing to pay more while still accommodating price-sensitive customers.
Real-time Market Adaptation: Dynamic pricing algorithms can analyze large datasets in real-time, enabling businesses to respond quickly to market changes such as events, weather, and consumer behavior patterns.
In essence, dynamic pricing is a vital tool for businesses looking to optimize their revenue streams, ensuring they are not leaving money on the table during peak times and are still attractive to customers when demand is lower. It’s a balance between profitability and market competitiveness, achieved through strategic pricing adjustments.
Key Features of Wheelhouse
Market Report
Wheelhouse Software provides market insights through a comprehensive set of tools and features that allow users to understand and respond to their market’s dynamics effectively. These features are designed to give users a granular view of their market, enabling them to make faster and more informed decisions regarding their pricing and revenue management strategies. Here’s how Wheelhouse delivers these insights:
Real-time Market Trends: Users can monitor key performance metrics updated in real-time to stay informed about their market’s booking patterns.
Historic Pattern Analysis: The software identifies shifts in historic patterns, revealing new revenue opportunities and helping to mitigate risks by planning and communicating pricing strategies proactively.
Forward-looking Analysis: Wheelhouse offers predictions on performance, occupancy, and available inventory, enabling users to make effective updates to their pricing strategies.
Detailed Historical Metrics: Users can dive deep into multiple views of their current or future markets to inform pricing or investment strategies, analyzing past performance and preparing for future market conditions.
Market Expansion Tools: For operators and investors looking to grow, Wheelhouse’s market reports analyze short- or mid-term rental opportunities, helping to expand with confidence and avoid mistakes by understanding market conditions well before investing.
Data Visualization and Export: The platform allows users to track performance, see all nearby listings, and export data for sharing insights with stakeholders. It also provides visualizations for different listing attributes, stay lengths, and performance comparisons year over year.
Pricing Engine
The algorithm and mechanics behind Wheelhouse’s pricing engine are quite sophisticated, involving several interrelated components that work together to determine the most effective pricing strategies for accommodation providers. Here’s a high-level overview of how it functions:
Base Price Model: This foundational component determines an accurate median nightly price for each unit by analyzing property attributes, location, booking performance, and other factors. It uses a supervised machine learning model that incorporates data from all active units in the market.
Analyzing Bookings: The engine examines every booking, considering the impact of prior bookings and the occupancy rate to adjust future pricing recommendations.
Predictive Demand Model: This model forecasts future demand based on various factors, including historical data, to inform pricing decisions.
Reactive Demand Model: It reacts to real-time market changes, such as sudden spikes or drops in demand, to update prices accordingly.
Blending Demand Models: Wheelhouse blends both predictive and reactive demand models to create a balanced pricing strategy that accounts for both historical trends and current market conditions.
Calendar Controls & Response: The system allows users to set calendar-based controls and responds to vacancy gaps and last-minute booking opportunities with appropriate pricing adjustments.
Dynamic Pacing Model: This model helps in understanding how a listing is pacing in terms of bookings compared to previous periods and adjusts prices to optimize for future revenue.
Integration with Rental Platforms
Wheelhouse Software integrates seamlessly with platforms like Airbnb, streamlining the process of managing and updating pricing across multiple channels. By using Wheelhouse, accommodation providers can ensure their pricing strategies are consistent and competitive across all their listings, saving time and increasing efficiency in their revenue management practices. Here’s how the integration works:
Account Connection: Users start by connecting their Airbnb account to Wheelhouse. This allows Wheelhouse to import pricing and setting configurations into its system.
Strategy Building: Users can then choose from various pricing strategies offered by Wheelhouse or customize their own. Once the strategy is refined, it’s applied to the user’s listings.
Automate & Sync Prices: After configuring the calendar for dynamic and fixed pricing, Wheelhouse automates the pricing process. The prices are then synchronized with the connected Airbnb and VRBO accounts, ensuring that the listings are always priced optimally according to the latest market data.
Property Management Systems (PMS): Wheelhouse also integrates with various PMS, which can push pricing recommendations to numerous channels like Airbnb, TripAdvisor, Booking.com, HomeAway, VRBO, and more. This allows for a centralized management of pricing across different platforms.
Pros and Cons of Using Wheelhouse
Pros of using Wheelhouse
Wheelhouse is a dynamic pricing tool that offers several advantages for short-term rental hosts. These features make Wheelhouse a comprehensive tool for maximizing rental income and efficiently managing short-term rental properties. Here are some of the pros:
Different Pricing Options: Wheelhouse provides various pricing strategies to fit your needs, allowing you to choose from conservative, moderate, or aggressive pricing options.
Integration: It integrates well with platforms like Airbnb and TripAdvisor, making it easier to manage listings across different services.
Cost Efficiency: The cost decreases with more listings, which can be beneficial for hosts with multiple properties.
User Interface: Users have praised Wheelhouse for its great user interface and customer service, making it easier to navigate and use.
Revenue Increase: Hosts using Wheelhouse have reported an increase in rental revenue by about 20%.
Market Data: It uses real-time market data for dynamic pricing, ensuring your rental is priced optimally every night.
Market Reports: In-depth market reports and booking insights help you understand trends and optimize your pricing strategy.
Customer Support: Excellent customer support is available to assist you with any issues or questions you might have.
Cons of using Wheelhouse
While Wheelhouse offers many benefits, there are some drawbacks to consider. These cons highlight the importance of evaluating whether Wheelhouse aligns with your specific needs and operational style as a short-term rental host.
Listing Requirements: To benefit from cost decreases, you need to have at least 10 listings.
Platform Limitations: It’s a web-based platform with no mobile app available, which can be inconvenient for users who manage their properties on the go.
Integration: There is no integration with VRBO or HomeAway, limiting its use for hosts who list their properties on these platforms. Note: There is an option to connect Vrbo, HomeAway and Booking.com via one of their property management management systems such as Escapia and Guesty.
Pricing Accuracy: The accuracy of automatic pricing can vary, which may require manual adjustments to ensure optimal pricing.
Pricing Of Wheelhouse
Wheelhouse offers a flexible pricing structure designed to accommodate the varying needs of accommodation providers. Here’s a breakdown of their pricing plans:
Pro Flex: This plan charges 1% of revenue with a minimum monthly fee of $2.99. Billing occurs at the time of reservation, and cancellations are refunded.
Pro Flat: For a flat rate, this plan costs $19.99 per listing per month. Discounts are available for multiple listings:
- 10–49 listings: $16.99 (15% discount)
- 50–99 listings: $13.99 (30% discount)
- 100+ listings: Contact Wheelhouse for pricing.
Enterprise: This custom plan is tailored for operators with portfolios of 100+ listings. It provides an array of data, software, and services to meet specific business needs.
Additionally, Wheelhouse offers a free plan that allows users to link their accounts, explore market reports, and test out settings to determine the best pricing strategy for their needs.
For all plans, Wheelhouse includes top features such as data-driven settings, 18 months of forward-looking pricing, daily price syncing, and 24/7 support1. It’s important to note that the prices do not include taxes or fees, and specific terms may apply.
Conclusion
Wheelhouse stands out as a premier dynamic pricing tool for short-term rental hosts, offering a suite of features designed to optimize revenue. It provides a user-friendly interface and integrates seamlessly with popular platforms like Airbnb and TripAdvisor. With Wheelhouse, hosts can expect up to a 20% increase in rental income, thanks to its data-driven pricing strategies that reflect real-time market trends.
Key benefits include a variety of pricing options to match your risk appetite, cost efficiency with discounts for multiple listings, and robust market reports that guide informed decision-making. Despite some limitations, such as the lack of a mobile app and integration with certain platforms, the advantages of using Wheelhouse are clear.
Don’t miss out on the opportunity to elevate your rental business. Try Wheelhouse today and experience firsthand how dynamic pricing can transform your earnings. Sign up, link your listings, and let Wheelhouse’s advanced algorithms do the work for you. It’s time to work smarter, not harder, and let Wheelhouse guide you to greater profitability.
