By Roshan L. D’Silva · Guide to Marketing Your Holiday Home
Most owners set a rate by looking at two neighbours and picking a number between them. It is the most expensive ten minutes in the whole operation, because that number then anchors everything for a season.
Research it properly, once
Find eight to ten genuinely comparable properties — same area, same size, same standard, same amenities. Not the best house in the region and not the cheapest apartment; the ones a guest would consider alongside yours.
Then look at what matters more than their asking rates: their calendars. A property with an empty August is telling you its price is wrong. A property booked solid four months out is telling you the opposite. Availability is the honest signal; the advertised rate is only a claim.
Check the same set again in three months. A single snapshot cannot separate a strong market from a strong property.
Price the year, not the night
Almost every holiday market has four periods, and owners routinely price only two of them.
- Peak. Short, and where most of the year's profit sits. The common error is pricing peak too low out of nervousness in January — if your peak weeks sell out six months ahead, you were too cheap.
- Shoulder. The most under-managed period and often the biggest opportunity. Guests here are flexible, frequently older, and stay longer. A well-priced shoulder season with a sensible weekly discount fills weeks that would otherwise sit empty.
- Low. Cover your costs and keep the house occupied and aired. Long stays, monthly rates, remote workers. An empty house in winter costs you money too.
- Events. Local festivals, races, weddings, school holidays in your guests' countries rather than your own. Put them in the calendar now.
Set a minimum stay that varies with the season. Seven nights in peak, three or four in shoulder, flexible in low. A one-night booking in August costs you the whole week.
Dynamic pricing, and its limits
The major platforms and several third-party tools will adjust your rate automatically against demand. Used well this is genuinely valuable, particularly for filling gaps at short notice.
Two cautions. Set a floor, always — automated tools will discount further than you would ever choose in a quiet week, and a very low rate attracts exactly the bookings you decided to avoid. And override it manually for events the algorithm cannot know about; a local festival will not appear in its data until it is too late.
Rate parity, and the honest way around it
Many platforms include a parity clause: broadly, that you will not offer a lower rate elsewhere, including on your own site.
The legal position genuinely varies. Several European jurisdictions have restricted or banned these clauses, others enforce them, and the EU's rules on the largest platforms have shifted the position again. So do not take a blanket answer from anyone, including us — check where your property actually sits.
But there is a distinction that holds everywhere and is more useful than the legal question. A parity clause governs the rate. It does not govern what you include.
So the reliable direct-booking advantage is added value rather than a lower headline price:
- A late checkout, or an early check-in
- The welcome basket, or a case of local wine on arrival
- Pool heating included, where you would otherwise charge for it
- Airport transfer, or a car-hire arrangement
- Free cot, high chair or extra bed
- A more flexible cancellation policy than the platform permits
- Priority on next year's dates for returning guests
Guests understand this immediately, it costs less than the commission you save, and it does not put you in breach of anything. It also builds the direct relationship that matters far more over five years than one booking's margin.
Meals: only if you can do them properly
A meal offer can lift your rate significantly and differentiate a house in a crowded market. It can also be the thing that produces your first bad review.
The determining factor is not the market. It is whether the person on the ground can genuinely cook and deliver consistently, week after week, without you.
- Do nothing if your caretaker is a caretaker rather than a cook. A well-chosen list of local restaurants and a delivery arrangement is a perfectly good answer.
- A cold breakfast — bread, fruit, yoghurt, coffee, eggs in the fridge — is low risk, easy to price into the rate, and reliably appreciated.
- Hot breakfast, or dinner on request, only where you have someone genuinely capable. Then price it separately, keep the menu short, and ask about allergies at booking rather than at the table.
Check the rules before you cook for paying guests: several markets treat prepared food as a licensed activity with hygiene requirements attached, quite separately from your accommodation licence.
Nothing here is legal advice, and parity clauses in particular are a moving target. Read your platform agreement and take local advice.