AI Tools Are Transforming Short-Term Rental Revenue

Comparing PriceLabs, Beyond, and Wheelhouse — the three leading dynamic pricing platforms powering 300,000+ short-term rentals worldwide.

The Pricing Problem

In short-term rentals, revenue management is everything.

A small price difference can mean hundreds of pounds per month per listing. Yet, most hosts still rely on intuition or competitor copying.

According to AirDNA (2024), only 27% of hosts use professional pricing tools — but those who do earn up to 40% higher annual revenue compared to manual pricing (Source: AirDNA, 2024).

AI-powered dynamic pricing tools like PriceLabs, Beyond, and Wheelhouse are closing that gap by automatically adjusting nightly rates based on demand, seasonality, occupancy, and local events.

How Dynamic Pricing Works

Dynamic pricing systems analyze millions of data points per day, such as:

• Local supply & demand patterns

• Seasonal trends and holidays

• Competitor pricing and availability

• Lead time (how far in advance people book)

• Listing performance and occupancy

The AI learns each property’s “booking elasticity” — how sensitive guests are to price changes — and sets the optimal rate to maximize both occupancy and ADR (average daily rate).

Comparing the Big 3 Tools

Real-World Results

1️⃣ UrbanStay (Lisbon, 45 listings):

After switching from static pricing to PriceLabs, UrbanStay increased revenue by 18.4% in the first 6 months.

The system automatically raised prices during a tech conference week — when competitors sold out early — adding €11,200 in profit (Source: PriceLabs Case Study, 2024).

2️⃣ BlueSky Villas (Florida, 20 properties):

Using Beyond’s AI demand forecast, BlueSky improved annual occupancy from 68% to 81% and ADR by 9%.

Their total revenue rose 27% YoY, with a payback period under two weeks (Source: Beyond, 2024).

3️⃣ Wheelhouse Power Users (Global):

Operators managing 100+ listings use Wheelhouse’s “Portfolio Mode” to simulate multiple pricing strategies.

These users report 2–5% higher ADRs across the portfolio, while reducing time spent on pricing from hours to minutes per week (Source: Wheelhouse, 2024).

Quantitative Impact

(Source: AirDNA, 2024; PriceLabs, 2024)

For a host with 20 listings, that’s £6,000–£8,000 in additional monthly revenue, purely through data-driven pricing.

Implementation Guide

1. Choose a Platform

   PriceLabs for analytical control, Beyond for automation, or Wheelhouse for strategy simulation.

2. Connect Your PMS or Airbnb Account

   Most connect instantly; data syncing begins in minutes.

3. Set a Base Price

   Use last 12 months of booking data or PriceLabs’ “base price helper.”

4. Customize Strategy Rules

   Define min/max prices, occupancy goals, and pacing adjustments.

5. Monitor Weekly Reports

   Review ADR, occupancy, and revenue variance vs. market.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Overriding AI too often: Frequent manual changes disrupt learning models.

• Ignoring events: Keep event data updated — tools can’t optimize what they don’t detect.

• Neglecting data quality: Missing occupancy or booking data limits predictive accuracy.

The Future: Dynamic Everything

In 2025–2026, dynamic pricing will merge with AI-powered marketing and operations.

For example, Wheelhouse is already testing “Dynamic Discounts,” which adjust not just price — but also cleaning fees and minimum stays — based on guest intent and booking patterns (Source: Wheelhouse, 2025).

Similarly, PriceLabs plans to integrate AI-generated pricing suggestions via ChatGPT APIs, enabling conversational rate adjustments.

By 2030, 80% of STR pricing decisions could be automated (Source: AirDNA, 2025).

✅ Recommended Tools:

• PriceLabs – for data transparency & control

• Beyond – for full automation with demand prediction

• Wheelhouse – for portfolio-level strategy optimization

• AirDNA Market Minder – to benchmark performance