Dynamic Pricing and Learning PriceLabs

After finally publishing The Cabin on the Canal, I knew I needed to figure out dynamic pricing.

Everyone talked about PriceLabs.

Every YouTube video seemed to recommend PriceLabs.

Airbnb even integrates with it.

So, naturally, I signed up.

And immediately thought:

“Okay… now what?”

There were maps.

Colors.

Percentages.

Recommendations.

Minimum prices.

Maximum prices.

Base prices.

And apparently, everyone else already knew what they were doing.

That was the part nobody seemed to explain.

Meanwhile, I was sitting there wondering:

“What should my base price even be?”

PriceLabs gives you an incredible amount of data, but I quickly realized something:

The software can make recommendations, but I still had to make decisions.

What should our minimum nightly rate be?

What should our maximum be?

Where should we start?

As a Realtor, my brain immediately went to what I already knew.

Comps.

If I were pricing a home for sale, I wouldn’t randomly pick a number and hope for the best. I’d look at comparable properties, analyze the market, make adjustments, and determine where the property fit.

So why would pricing an Airbnb be any different?

I started looking at comparable four-bedroom vacation rentals in Three Rivers and along the Deschutes River.

Some slept eight.

Some slept ten.

Some were directly on the river.

Others were on canals.

Some had amenities we didn’t have, while our property offered features others couldn’t match.

Basically, I performed a CMA.

Only instead of comparing homes for sale, I was comparing vacation rentals.

Suddenly, the process felt a lot more familiar.

Once I gathered the data, I uploaded it into Claude.

I asked it to compare the strengths and weaknesses of each property, analyze the differences, and help identify where The Cabin on the Canal fit within the market.

Interestingly, Claude’s suggested starting price was almost exactly where my Realtor instincts had already landed.

That gave me confidence.

Not because I suddenly knew exactly what I was doing.

I definitely didn’t.

But I trusted the process I had used to get there.

I had gathered data.

I had looked at comparable properties.

I had considered our strengths and weaknesses.

And I had used both my professional experience and AI to help analyze the information.

That felt a lot better than simply picking a number.

Do I know if my minimum and maximum PriceLabs settings are perfect?

Nope.

Honestly, I doubt anyone’s settings stay perfect for very long.

The market changes.

Seasons change.

Demand changes.

Local events change.

Guest behavior changes.

That’s the whole reason dynamic pricing exists.

I’ve learned that pricing isn’t something you configure once and forget about. It’s something you monitor, evaluate, and adjust as you gather more information.

And maybe that’s been my biggest PriceLabs lesson so far.

PriceLabs doesn’t tell you what your property is worth. It gives you data to help you make better pricing decisions.

You still have to understand your property.

You still have to understand your competition.

And you still have to make the final call.

Once I looked at it that way, the entire process felt strangely familiar.

Because that’s exactly what I do every day as a Realtor.

Data.

Comps.

Market trends.

Adjustments.

Strategy.

I wasn’t actually learning an entirely new skill.

I was applying an old skill to a new business.

Apparently, Realtor brains make pretty decent Airbnb hosts.

At least that’s what I’m telling myself.

If you’re staring at PriceLabs wondering what your minimum, maximum, or base price should be, you’re definitely not alone.

I didn’t have some secret formula.

Nobody handed me a manual.

I simply did what I tell my real estate clients to do.

Look at the comps. Understand the market. Start somewhere reasonable. Then adjust as you get more data.

That’s how I approached pricing The Cabin on the Canal.

Will those numbers change?

Absolutely.

But that’s the point.

Dynamic pricing isn’t about finding one perfect number.

It’s about learning the market well enough to keep making better decisions.

And sometimes, when you’re learning something completely new, the best place to start is with what you already know.