The Revenue Formula Builder is a powerful tool that ensures your revenue reporting in PriceLabs precisely matches your internal accounting definitions, eliminating discrepancies and manual reconciliation. This is custom feature which is still in beta and not active for all customers. If your PMS is supported, you can raise a request to support@pricelabs.co to get access to the revenue formula builder.

I. Understanding Revenue Formula Builder

A. What It Does

This feature allows you to define custom mathematical formulas for both Rental Revenue and Total Revenue. Since every Property Management System (PMS) and internal accounting department defines revenue differently, this tool makes PriceLabs a single source of truth for your financial metrics.

B. Default Revenue Calculations

This tool is necessary when your internal definitions deviate from the PriceLabs standard:

C. Supported Property Management Systems (PMS)

The Custom Formula Builder is currently available for the following PMS integrations:

• Guesty
  

• Hospitable

• Airbnb

• Hostaway

• Smoobu

• Hostfully

• Ownerrez

• Lodgify
  

• Track
  

• Stays
  

Additional PMS integrations will be available soon. If your PMS is not supported, you can raise a request to support@pricelabs.co. Please note that it will take 3-4 weeks to begin supporting a new PMS.

Transparency for Other PMSs: For most of the other PMSs where custom formulas are not yet supported, you will still be able to view the default revenue definition that PriceLabs is currently using for your account. This provides necessary transparency even if the definition is not editable.

II. Using Revenue Formula Builder

A. Access and Creation

• Access: Navigate to your Account Settings in PriceLabs and locate the "Revenue Formula" section.
  

• Select Scope: You can customize both Rental Revenue and Total Revenue in this section. By default, only the account-level definition is supported. To enable the Listing-level formula builder, please submit a request to support@pricelabs.co.

• Build Formula: Use the interface to select data fields (see Appendix below), mathematical operators (plus: $+$, minus: $-$, multiply: $*$, divide: $/$), and static numerical values.
  

• Preview and Save: Use the preview function to verify the calculated output for your latest reservation before applying it.

B. Validation Rules and Troubleshooting

To ensure your data remains accurate, the system performs several checks. If your formula fails, you may see one of the following errors:

1. Content Requirements

• Include a Required Metric: Every formula must contain at least one of these core metrics: 

• Total Cost

• Adjusted Rental Revenue

• Gross Rental Income

• Net Rental Income

• Owner Rental Income

• Host Payout

• Sub Total Price

• Length Limit: Formulas must be shorter than 1000 characters.

2. Syntax and Logic

• Mathematical Syntax: Ensure all parentheses are matched, and operators are placed correctly. Division by zero is not allowed.

• Non-Negative Results: Revenue formulas must produce a positive number or zero. If your formula results in a negative number, it will be rejected.

• Numeric Output: The result of the formula must be a number, not text or other data types.

3. Data Availability

• Unknown Fields: Ensure you only use fields available in your specific PMS mapping.

• Missing Reservation Data: Validation requires at least one existing reservation. If no bookings exist for the account, the formula cannot be tested.

• Incomplete PMS Data: If your PMS does not send a full "Revenue Breakup," PriceLabs cannot calculate custom formulas.

C. Use Case Examples: Building Your Formulas

These examples illustrate how common accounting needs can be translated into custom formulas using the data fields available to you.

D. Formula Hierarchy (Precedence)

When a listing has conflicting formulas, the system follows this rule:

• Listing Level: A formula set at the individual listing level always takes precedence over the Account-level formula.

• Account Level: Applies to all listings under that PMS.

• Default Fallback: If no custom formula is set at either level, the PriceLabs default calculation is used.

III. Impact of Custom Definitions

Once applied, your custom formulas consistently redefine how revenue is displayed across PriceLabs metrics.

• Impacted by Custom Rental Revenue (Only): 

• Review Prices Calendar

• Review Prices Bookings Insights

• Safety Minimum Price.

• Portfolio Analytics KPIs and Historical Reports, 

• Portfolio Analytics Pacing Reports

• Impacted by Both Custom Rental Revenue and Total Revenue: 

• Bookings Report

• Report Builder

• Owner Analytics (Beta)
  

Important Note: Your custom definitions do not impact the calculation of Market Rental Revenue metrics, as these are based on scraped market data.

IV. Impact on Safety Minimum Price

It is critical to understand how your custom Rental Revenue formula affects your Safety Minimum Price.

By default, PriceLabs calculates your Safety Minimum as 10% higher than your last year's Average Daily Rate (ADR).

Because Average Daily Rate is derived directly from your Rental Revenue, changing your revenue formula will automatically shift your Safety Minimum:

• If your custom formula increases your reported Rental Revenue, your calculated Average Daily Rate will rise, which in turn increases your Safety Minimum.

• If your custom formula decreases your reported Rental Revenue (for example, by subtracting fees), your calculated Average Daily Rate will fall, lowering your Safety Minimum.

Appendix: Data Field Dictionary 📚

The specific fields available for your formulas are determined by what data your connected Property Management System sends to PriceLabs. This list represents all unique fields available across all integrations.