A Guide to Syncing and Updating Prices on Airbnb and Vrbo

Many professional vacation rental hosts list properties on multiple platforms to gain more traffic and visibility. However, this also means they face an increased workload, especially regarding updating prices.

Traditional manual price adjustments are time-consuming and prone to errors when switching between platforms. In this article, we will explore how to accomplish this task effortlessly.

If you’re interested in the pros and cons of Airbnb and Vrbo, please check our previous articles for a detailed analysis.

Why Sync and Update Prices on Airbnb and Vrbo?

When you list properties on multiple OTA platforms, you need to ensure synchronization across them. This includes syncing your calendars to avoid double bookings. Additionally, unifying your inbox helps you respond quickly to all guests. Also, centralize cleaning schedules to ensure every room is cleaned on time.

Of course, synchronizing prices on Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, Expedia, and any other OTAs you use is equally important.

1. Optimize Profitability

Having consistent pricing can help you analyze the performance of different channels. By using the same pricing strategy across various OTAs, you can identify which platform generates more bookings. Consequently, you can adjust your operational strategy to maximize overall revenue.

2. Maintain Competitive Edge

By synchronizing property pricing across OTAs, you ensure that potential guests find competitive rates regardless of the platform. This helps you stay competitive with other vacation rentals in your area or market.

3. Reduce Cancellations and Rescheduling

Many travelers search across platforms to find the best deals for their desired vacation rentals. If a guest books on one platform and later finds a lower price elsewhere, they are likely to cancel or request a change. This situation can negatively impact your reputation on the platform and complicate your booking management.

4. Ensure Consistency Across Channels

If prices differ across platforms, it may confuse and frustrate some guests. By synchronizing prices, you ensure consistency, which increases guest trust. They will see you as transparent and fair across all platforms.

It is important to note that while maintaining consistent pricing is beneficial, it may not be that simple in actual property management. You should also consider market demand and competition, making appropriate adjustments to price differences between platforms.

How to Sync and Update Prices on Airbnb and Vrbo?

Hostex is a professional short-term rental property management tool. It supports syncing listings with major OTA platforms like Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, Agoda, Expedia, and Trip.com. It offers various pricing options to make property management more efficient.

1. Direct Price Adjustment

Hosts can select specific dates on the calendar for a listing and directly modify the price.

This method is straightforward and ideal for quick adjustments to individual listings.

2. One-Click Pricing

Hostex allows you to set pricing ratios for different channels or listings.

After setting the ratio, you only need to enter one price. The system will automatically apply the adjusted prices across all channels.

This feature eliminates the need for manual calculations, significantly boosting efficiency.

3. Bulk Pricing

For hosts managing multiple properties, bulk pricing is a quicker method.

You can select multiple listings and dates at once, and then apply a one-click price change.

This bulk management approach makes price adjustments easy and hassle-free.

4. Difference Pricing

While using the bulk pricing feature, Hostex also supports adjusting prices by a fixed amount or percentage.

For example, you can increase all listings by $30 or by 10%.

This flexibility allows hosts to respond quickly to market changes.

5. Price Copying

Hostex bietet eine one-click price copying Besonderheit.

This allows you to copy prices from Airbnb to Vrbo or Booking.com easily, avoiding complex manual setups.

6. Smart Pricing Tools

If you use dynamic pricing tools like Preislabs oder Rategenie, you can integrate them with Hostex. This integration simplifies the process of syncing and updating prices across channels.

These tools analyze real-time local market data, competitor pricing, occupancy rates, and historical booking patterns to suggest competitive prices.

Once connected, dynamic pricing will automatically sync across Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, and Expedia, eliminating the need for manual updates.

7. Last-Minute Automatic Pricing

In real operations, hosts often face situations where a room hasn’t sold by the afternoon. In such cases, lowering the price can enhance its appeal and encourage a quick sale.

Hostex's automatic pricing feature helps hosts adjust prices daily on a schedule.

In addition to managing prices, Hostex also supports unified management of reservations, availability, messages, reviews, and cleaning tasks across multiple platforms.

By centralizing management, hosts no longer need to switch back and forth between different platforms. This saves time and manpower, effectively lowering operational costs.