How to set up your base price?

Setting your base price

What is the base price?

  1. Base price is the average rate you would charge across the year.
  2. We use the base price as a starting price and apply all market factors, demand patterns, and customizations on top of this.
  3. The base price includes the quality of your listing. So, a two-bedroom with high-end luxury décor will have a higher base price than a basic two-bedroom.

Base Price Help

Using market data, the Base Price Help tool helps determine a good starting point for your listing's base price. This tool analyzes a few hundred listings nearest to yours, and the number of bedrooms can filter the results to match your competition.

To start using the Base Price Help tool, click "Help me choose a base price" from the Review Prices page of your Pricing Dashboard.


Pro-tip: You can now access the Base Price Help tool from the Multi Calendar under the More Actions column!

Picking up your base price

  1. If the listing has been synchronizing prices in PriceLabs for at least 13 days, we'll recommend a base price based on the performance of the listing concerning its market, the listing's occupancy, and its past base prices. 
    2. Note: In some rare cases, we do not show a Recommended Base Price even though the listing has been synchronizing prices for 13 days or longer. This currently happens for a few booking patterns, which will be covered in an upcoming update.


  1. Seasonal Base Price: If the listing uses a seasonal base price, we recommend a percentage change to the base price instead of giving an absolute value. The percentage change will be shown in the blue card below, with the reasons for this recommendation.

How was this price calculated?

In the blue card below, we give reasons and show how these reasons impact the price (on a scale of 1 to 3). For example – if we suggest increasing the price for any given reason, we show it by green upwards pyramids (1 to 3 pyramids, depending on how much we grow it). For a decrease, we use red downward pyramids.


2. Imported base price:

  1. If the listing is newly imported, we do not recommend a base price at first. Instead, to keep your prices at a constant pricing level while you transition to PriceLabs, we show an 'Imported' option. This is an estimation of your base price so that PriceLab's recommended rates are, on average similar to your imported prices over the next two months.
    Note: "Imported" means the prices sent to PriceLabs at the time of connection with your OTA/PMS.

  2. When choosing to use this 'Imported Base Price,' it's important to consider how well the listing has been performing with this price. For example, if this listing has been in the market for a significant period using these prices and has performed reasonably well, it's safe to adopt the 'Imported Base Price' as the first base price. On the other hand, if this is a new listing, and it's uncertain whether the imported base prices are competitive, it's recommended to use the 'Market Based Price' instead.


  3. New listing, but own prices are inconsistent: If the listing's previous prices do not make sense, we do not show the “Imported” option for the base price.

3. Market Based:

Set your base price based on the market data:
  1. Market Level: Select the price level you want your listing to be positioned in, either Economy, Midscale, or Upscale, which correspond to 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile prices, respectively.
    2. The "Midscale level" is often a good starting point, but other factors might justify a higher or lower price. For example, if your listing is new and has no reviews yet, it might make sense to set your price below the median to attract more guests. On the other hand, if your listing is very high-end, it could be safely priced above the median.
  1. Bedroom Categories: Select the bedroom categories to fine-tune the market data used to calculate the market-based price. Select the size of the listings that you consider your competitors. In some cases, even though a listing has 2 bedrooms, it might still compete with 1-3 bedroom listings in its area.
Selecting a set of bedroom categories with a good number of listings (at least 30) is recommended. Otherwise, there isn't enough data to draw a reasonable conclusion about the market trends. Experiment with different bedroom categories to understand how the price distribution changes!

Market Map

The map shows the listings considered for the market-based base-price and the percentile calculator. The square shows your listing. Hovering over a listing will show the average price, the bedroom count, and the listing ID. The listings are colored based on the price. 


Fine-tuning the market area

You can fine-tune the market area considered to calculate the market-based values and percentile calculator by selecting an area on the map.


4. Custom base price:

Select the 'Custom' button to input a base price manually.


Market percentile calculator

This indicator shows in what percentile of the selected market the newly selected base price will be. The market is affected by both bedroom category selection and map selection. For market-based, this will always be 25th, 50th, and 75th, but recommended and custom will show what percentile it will lie in.


Seasonality Graph

The last step is reviewing your selected base price before confirming it. To help confirm the impact of the base price selection, you can review what will be the average monthly prices across the year. Note that these averages are there as a reference only - the final recommended prices during high and low seasons might differ substantially from these due to customizations (such as Far-out Premium) and market effects (such as Demand Factor).

Base price Override:

To place a date-specific override on the base price for a particular duration, we have an option in Date specific override section. Once you apply this setting, it overrides the default base price set for the duration you select on your calendar. 
It appears under Price settings under Date specific override.


Note: To access this setting, please get in touch with support@pricelabs.co to enable this for your account.

Other things to consider:

  1. Do not overthink the decision as you start. Instead, use something and refine it over time. Several factors in our algorithm auto-adjust rates up or down based on your listings' performance.
  2. Revisit the base price every couple of weeks and then every few months to ensure you are considered within the market.
  3.  If you've been using a base price for more than a few weeks and want to make an adjustment, opt for small incremental changes (5-10%) from your current base price over time rather than a significant one-time change. This helps to determine the impact on your revenue safely.
  4. Before confirming the base price, also consider your listing's occupancy. In general, if your occupancy is low, increasing from the current base price is not a good idea. Conversely, if your occupancy is already very high, decreasing your base price is probably unnecessary.
  5. Once you have set up your base price, click “Save & Refresh,” then head to the neighborhood data tab, filter for your bedroom size, and see how your prices compare to other listings in your neighborhood. Adjust the base price up or down to fluctuate within the 25-75th percentile, depending on the desirability of the listing.
  6. If you are not setting any additional markup, Airbnb Host fee, or OTA service fees, the base price includes the service fee. So keep in mind that your net payout would be a little lower.
  7. Also, when thinking about base price, do not include taxes. Those are usually charged above your nightly rate.
  8. Do consider entering minimum and maximum prices for your listing(s). While all the calculations to determine your daily rates are based on your base price, the min and max prices act as stopping points. Setting minimum and maximum prices ensure your rates don't drop too low or spike too high. 

Frequently Asked Questions  

Q: Base Price Help suggests that my base price is already slightly below the median market price, but I am not getting any bookings. Should I increase my base price?
A: In general, no. Base Price Help is only considering market prices, which is a good starting point, but what matters, in the end, is maximizing your listing's revenue. So, for example, during very low-demand periods, it might make sense to market your listing below the market median.

Video Tutorial




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