Booking Lead Time is getting back to 2019 levels [What to do next]

Welcome to Boostly Podcast Episode 401. This is a recap of my Facebook live where I talked about how booking lead time is getting back to 2019 levels.

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Timestamp

00:00 Start
00:50 What you can do

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Transcript from the Episode

Here's an interesting stat for you, in 2019, the point of booking to arrival, the average over thousands of data being given millions of that have been given with 62 days in 2020, that fell to 18, which is amazing how dramatically that could I mean, if you look at the context around the situation, it makes so much sense because of restrictions, people didn't know, what was happening, what was open, what was closed, etc, etc.

Well, the news is coming out of airDNA, the stats and the surveys that they have produced and shared with the world is that those dates are starting to go back to 2019 levels. So at the moment, it's averaging around about 58 days.

What you can do

So how can you be best prepared moving forward? Well, number one, the point of booking to arrival is getting back to what it normally is, it's not as close as what it has been. So what you need to be doing is, where, six months ago, eight months ago, 10 months ago, we were really dramatically focusing on 18 to 20 days before arrival. Now what you need to be doing is looking two months, nearly three months out.

And what you need to do is you need to take advantage of dynamic pricing software tools, such as wheelhouse, such as beyond, such as price labs, and to really help them dictate your pricing. Now, whichever one you use depends on what's available in your country. My number one recommendation is Wheelhouse, but I know but it still isn't everywhere. So it may be price labs, they may be beyond or whoever it may be, but take advantage of their technology, take advantage of their software, take advantage of what the data that they have, and try and look a little bit further out, don't think so short term, because the average booking time from the point of booking to the point of arrival is getting back to 2019 levels. Again, look at the context behind it.

Number one, the restrictions are starting to lower, there is a bit more certainty in the market with a bit more certainty in the process, the more vaccinations is becoming a thing, then the world is starting to reopen. So it may be that international borders may not be open. But domestically, there's a lot of confidence in there.

So how can you adjust best for the market? Look at what is ahead for the next two months and adjust accordingly. Your rates are so important moving forward. The new world of hospitality is that you can't just set and forget your rates anymore. I've said since January, that there's the most important thing that you can do for your business this year is to get a dynamic pricing software tool. And I have loved seeing so many posts in the hospitality community with hosts coming in and reporting how much extra money they have made this year.

Now, if you are still not yet got dynamic pricing software tools, I've named and listed the best ones go and check each one out, see if it integrates with your PMS and see if it can help you automatically. This is one that you do not want to skimp on the cost you want to pay for a membership cost, because it's a very, very small cost for the return of investment which is humongous.

So that's what I recommend everybody go and do go check it out. The data is there. The stats are there and the bookings of it. So here's where I pass the conversation to you. Who are you using for your property management software? Real Time dynamic pricing? Leave a comment below.

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