It does not mean raising prices
When I talk about revenue management, most people think of one thing: raising prices. Sometimes that is right. Other times the right move is lowering them to fill nights that would stay empty, or holding them while everyone else discounts.
The goal is not the highest occupancy, nor the highest average rate. It is the total revenue of each unit over the year.
A simple example, with made-up numbers. An apartment at €100 a night, 60% full, makes €1,800 in a 30-day month. The same apartment at €90, 75% full, makes €2,025.
Lower price, higher revenue. The opposite holds too: if your August calendar is full in May, the price was almost certainly too low.
What a revenue manager actually does
The work repeats every day and every week. In my case it looks like this:
- I read demand. Seasonality, local events, booking pace against last year on the same date.
- I set prices for each unit and each day, not by season.
- I set the rules: minimum stay, booking window, cancellation policy, last-minute and early-booking offers.
- I manage the channels: booking engine, Booking, Airbnb and the other OTAs, with consistent prices and the channel manager in sync.
- I check the numbers every week: occupancy, average daily rate (ADR), revenue per available unit (RevPAR) and bookings on the books.
Why short-term rentals are harder than hotels
A hotel has a few room types, all alike. A property manager has dozens of apartments, all different: area, size, floor, view, owner.
On top of that come the gap nights between stays, OTA commissions that weigh more, and owners who want a monthly account. That is why a seasonal rate sheet, the same for every unit, almost always leaves money on the table.
When it pays off
In my view it is worth bringing in a professional when at least two of these sound familiar:
- you manage more than 10 units and change prices when you have time, not when it matters;
- you have high-value units, such as villas, where one wrong night is worth hundreds of euros;
- your peak-season calendar fills months ahead, or stays empty until the last minute;
- you cannot say whether this year is ahead of last year on the same date;
- owners ask for figures and reports that you put together by hand.
A real example
In August 2026 I managed 12 villas on the Costa Smeralda. Against August 2025, with the same availability, revenue went from €382,813 to €537,493: +40.4%.
Occupancy rose from 54.3% to 68.3% and the average rate from €1,895 to €2,116 a night, both at once. That is the sign of good work: you do not buy occupancy with discounts, you sell better. The full case is on the Results page.
Tools help, I make the calls
Dynamic pricing software is useful. But it only reads the data it has: it does not know an owner wants a week kept free, that a trade fair has moved, or that a group is negotiating ten apartments at once.
I also use artificial intelligence, because it makes me more accurate in reading the data. Pricing decisions are mine, and clients see everything in their own custom dashboard, updated in real time.
Where to start
Before talking about prices, try answering three questions:
- How much did each unit earn last year, month by month?
- Where are you today against last year on the same date?
- How much do commissions cost you, channel by channel?
If any answer is "I don't know", there is room to grow. You can get a first idea with the simulator, or write to me: the first consultation is free.