Category: Owner Information

How to set up your pricing tariffs

There are many marketing tools available to holiday cottage owners to help us increase enquiries and bookings from holiday makers. From taking good photos, engaging in social media campaigns and offering incentives such as discounts and facilities such as hot tubs and log burners, there is a long list of ways we can ensure we attract as many prospective guests as possible. However, often overlooked, but perhaps the simplest and most important of all, is to ensure your advert contains accurate and up to date pricing.

70% of holiday makers we surveyed said that they would not make an enquiry if there was no accurate pricing on the advert. When browsing adverts for holidays, people are used to seeing the price on an agency or OTA site, and they expect the same when booking direct. Not only does having accurate pricing mean that prospective guests are more likely to make an enquiry or booking then and there, but it also ensures your listing stands out in search results and allows holiday makers to calculate any potential savings by booking direct. It also cuts down on enquiries from potential guests that do not have the budget to stay at your property.

This article aims to provide detailed steps on setting up and updating your pricing tariffs on the Independent Cottages website. Whilst at first it might seem a daunting task, it is easy to break the process down into manageable bite size chunks.

Different pricing tariffs

Holiday cottage owners manage their pricing tariffs in many different ways, and what works for one owner may not work for another. We have therefore ensured that our pricing tariffs are as flexible as possible in order to accommodate everyone’s needs.

We have three different pricing tariffs. It is possible to use the same tariff throughout the year if you wish, or have different tariffs for different seasons. For example, during peak season you may offer week only rates, but during low season you might prefer to offer short breaks as well as weekly rates. Alternatively, you may have a flexible flat rate that can vary depending on what day of the week the holiday starts on. For example, three nights starting on a Monday is cheaper than three nights starting on a Friday. It is worth noting that it is possible to have a combination of all three rates at different times of the year if this suits you best.

How to add a new tariff

When you are ready to add a new tariff click on Manage Pricing Tariff under Options after you have logged into the Owner’s Area.

Close to the bottom of the page there is a section (3) called ‘Add a New Tariff’.

Add in a tariff name (such as low season, peak season, summer holidays, tariff 1) and choose the relevant start and end dates (pls note that a tariff cannot start and end on the same date – for example, if you start the tariff on a Saturday, end it on a Friday so you can start the next tariff on the Saturday) . You then have a choice of three different pricing tariffs:

Standard Weekly Rate

Setting a standard weekly rate is the simplest pricing structure. Add in your preferred arrival day and the price for the week. The specific terms and conditions box at the bottom can be used to highlight what the price includes, or any additional costs such as for dogs or hiring a hot tub. You can also add any special offers here, or promotions such as free access to the local gym or spa. 

Flexible Nightly Rate

If you would like to set a nightly rate with the flexibility to arrive any day of the week, and to charge a different rate for different days of the week, then the Flexible Nightly Rate will work for you. This is a pricing structure that a lot of the OTAs use. In the example below there is a minimum three nights stay, with a nightly rate of £100 Sunday to Thursday, and £120 for Friday and Saturday.

Weekly and short breaks  

This is the most common pricing tariff as it offers weekly rates as well as short breaks. Owner’s also have the flexibility to charge different rates for different arrival days and length of stay.

Firstly, add the minimum number of nights, preferred arrival day and the price per week.

A table similar to the one below will then appear. Your weekly price will already be added (this can be changed). If you have a minimum of a two night stay then the first row will be for two nights, but if your minimum stay is for three nights then the table will start from three nights. Please note that you will need to fill in the information above before the table will appear.   

You can then fill in exactly how much a three night stay is (enter the total price, no £ sign and whole pounds only), starting on any day of the week that suits. If you charge slightly more for a weekend stay this can be reflected in the Friday/Saturday/Sunday boxes, or if it is the same rate all week then the price in each box along the three night line will be the same. This is then repeated for four nights etc.

Please note that you only need to provide prices for the relevant boxes. For example, if you do not offer a three night stay starting on a Wednesday, or a four night stay starting on a Tuesday, then leave these boxes blank.

If you charge a full weekly rate for a five or six night break we recommend you enter your weekly rate into these boxes. For example, the table below shows a nightly price of £100 and a weekly price of £550, where a six night break also costs £550.

Frequently Asked Questions

We hope that by following these step by step instructions it will be simple to set up your tariffs on your adverts. Here are a few FAQs that we hope will also be helpful.

  1. Can I just fill in Section 1 with a low season and high season price?

Just entering prices in section 1 is not enough! This section is used as a guide only and appears at the top of your advert. It does not give accurate pricing for specific times of the year in the search results so it is important you also set up specific pricing tariffs in Section 3.

  • I am struggling to input Saturday to Saturday pricing tariffs. What am I doing wrong?

You cannot have two tariffs running over the same date, so if your changeover day is a Saturday, you need to start your tariff on a Saturday and end it on the following Friday.

  • I am unsure how many tariffs to have. What do you recommend?

Different pricing structures suit different holiday home owners. If you are looking to start with something simple, a flatter pricing structure with fewer tariffs will be less complicated.

  • Once I have set up one pricing tariff is there a way of copying the information over to the next one?

Yes. Once you have your first tariff set up, there is copy facility on the right hand side which will speed up inputting further tariffs. If you have multiple properties there will also be an option to copy one properties tariffs to another.

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