In this review, we’ll be taking a closer look at Wheelhouse. A software that features a number of tools designed to help short-term rental owners maximize their revenue.
This software enables Airbnb & Vrbo hosts to integrate their listing to optimize their pricing strategy by using their dynamic pricing. The dynamic pricing is data-driven and is designed to maximize revenue for each and every booking.
First of all, if you’re a vacation rental host or property manager and you’re not currently using a dynamic pricing tool, you’re almost certainly leaving money on the table.
The next question is; how much money?
Wheelhouse says their customers see an increase in revenue of anywhere between 10-40%. They also add that the average listing using their software saw a 22.6% increase in 2020.
Even at the lowest rate of 10% that’s more than enough of an increase in revenue to take a closer look at this software as it can now pay for itself.
Read on for the pros, cons, benefits, pricing, and everything else you need to know to make an informed decision on whether or not Wheelhouse is right for your business.
Wheelhouse Basics
If your answer to either of the 3 questions below is no, then you should read on and consider a dynamic pricing tool:-
- Do you increase your rental rates on weekends?
- Do you alter your pricing when a big event is in town?
- Do you change your pricing based on the season?
What is Wheelhouse?
The Wheelhouse is software that includes a suite of tools that helps short-term rental hosts earn more money from their properties.
The core of how it does this is by providing dynamic pricing. Dynamic pricing, if this term is new to you, is AI-generated nightly pricing for your properties.
To generate optimal pricing, Wheelhouse collects and analyzes more than 10,000,000,000 (that’s a lot of zeros) data points from each unique market every single night.
Obviously, crunching this volume of data wouldn’t be possible manually. So, by using Wheelhouse you’re getting incredibly detailed insights into what the optimal pricing for your properties is.
This enables you to quickly and efficiently list your properties at the price that is going to maximize both occupancy and revenue. Giving you an edge over your competition, and putting more money in your pocket.
It’s a win-win on the revenue front. So even if you have a listing in Inverness, Wheelhouse has data on pricing for your area.
Why Use a Dynamic Pricing Tool?
If you’re an Airbnb host it’s important to understand just how valuable dynamic pricing is. Because dynamic pricing will have a huge impact on how much revenue you’re making.
In short; dynamic pricing allows you to optimize your rental property’s performance by analyzing market data that has an impact on what you should be pricing your property for.
This includes things like seasonality trends, competitor pricing, supply and demand, and loads more factors. More factors than you, I, or even a team of market analytics could analyze.
Prices are then calculated using algorithms that leverage machine learning and continually updated to keep giving you a moving optimal price to rent your property for.
No longer do you need to worry about missing out on bookings because you’re overcharging. Or, questioning if you could be charging more for the guests that are staying in your property.
Another benefit is that you can see prices forecast for months in advance. Giving you the ability to budget for the future and work out long-term ROIs.
Wheelhouse Review
First of all, Wheelhouse is not the only dynamic pricing tool on the market. In fact, there are many dynamic pricing tools on the market.
What stands out about Wheelhouse, however, is that they analyze the largest number of data points of any tool, as far as we know.
Wheelhouse says they analyze 10,000,000,000+ data points from each unique market they’re tracking – every single night! Hard to prove but let’s take their word for it.
With data being the driving force behind dynamic pricing, this should fill you with confidence.
Secondly, Wheelhouse integrates with all the major booking platforms and Property Management Systems.
This means, wherever you’re listing your properties, such as Airbnb, TripAdvisor, etc., you can simply connect and synchronize all of your property details with Wheelhouse.
You can then manage all of your properties through a central dashboard and calendar. The Wheelhouse UI is very intuitive to use, and it’s set up to give you an overview of your important metrics at a glance.
For those who like to dig deep into the data powering the front-end figures, you can also do this. You can look at how seasonal trends and some of the other factors affecting prices are being calculated.
Wheelhouse also gives you the option to set your own base price or make any manual changes to your pricing you want to. Or, you can simply set the AI to work and take a hands-off approach.
In a nutshell, Wheelhouse does exactly what it promises, and it does it in a user-friendly and fluid way. If you’re looking for a dynamic pricing tool that is going to make you more revenue, you’ve found it.
Pros of Wheelhouse
- Highly customizable; you can make micro-adjustments to your pricing and tweak any aspect of how Wheelhouse is calculating your pricing
- Flexible pricing options give you the opportunity to use a plan that works out best for your business model
- Pricing is calculated off of one of – if not the – largest data sets of any dynamic pricing tool
- Connects with all the major booking platforms for a single source of truth
- Knowledgeable support on hand to help and plenty of video tutorials if you get stuck
Cons of Wheelhouse
- Lacking some booking platform integrations at the time of publishing, always check the software is compatible with your existing booking platforms before committing
- Data coverage is better in some areas than others, again, check out well-covered areas where you have properties are before committing
Key Features and Benefits of Wheelhouse
Here is an overview of the key features and tools Wheelhouse has to offer:
Dynamic Pricing – This is the core of the software and how you’re going to see the largest improvement in revenue. You can be as involved, or as hands-off as you like when it comes to setting your prices. The historical data it collects is useful for fine-tuning your pricing over time, too.
Market Intel – You can make use of Wheelhouse’s data and take a look at how markets are performing around the world for yourself. This is particularly useful if you’re thinking about buying a new rental property. Allowing you to do some market research can calculate estimated ROIs on your investment.
Competitive Set Intelligence – Wheelhouse also uses the data they collect to create competitive sets. This enables you to better understand how you’re doing against the mark, and do something about it if needed.
Automated Pricing for 18 Months – You can create, customize, and automate pricing up to 18 months into the future. This is great if you want to work out some long-term ROIs and potential profits or get a feel for the potential of a new market.
How Wheelhouse’s Pricing Works
One of the big advantages Wheelhouse has over some of its competitors is its flexible pricing plans.
Flexible pricing and more pricing options are always welcome because it gives everyone the opportunity to pick a plan where they’ll pay less – who doesn’t want that?
As at the time of publishing this, Wheelhouse offered the following pricing plans:
Flexible pricing – With this plan, you pay 1% of revenue booked through their platform. There is a minimum monthly fee of $2.99, and a discounted rate is available if you manage 100+ listings.
Flat pricing – This option is a flat pricing plan based on the number of listings you have. It’s broken down into the following tiers:
- 10-49 listings – $16.99
- 50-100 listings – $13.99
- 100+ listing – Call for a custom quote
If you’re wondering what your margins are going to be after paying for Wheelhouse, according to them, on average you’re going to see a net increase.
This is because Wheelhouse says that the average listing on their platform earned 22.6% more revenue in 2020.
You’d have to crunch the numbers on your own property. But, if you get close to this average, then this increase is going to more than cover the cost of using Wheelhouse – meaning you almost can’t afford not to at least try it out!
Alternatives to Wheelhouse
If you want to check out some alternative dynamic pricing software, you should take a look at:
Mashvisor
Mashvisor is dynamic pricing and real estate investing too. Admittedly, this software doesn’t go into the kind of granular detail on pricing as Wheelhouse does. It does have some additional tools and resources for property investors though.
Beyond Pricing
Beyond Pricing is an all-in-one software for property managers and short-term vacation rental hosts. This includes a suite of tools that includes; dynamic pricing, market insights, revenue management, and more. It has a different pricing model and some different features to Wheelhouse and is worth considering as an alternative.
Conclusion
If you’re a vacation rental host or property manager – as we’re sure you are if you’re reading this – then Wheelhouse is going to change how you manage your business.
Integrating with booking platforms, automating processes, calculating nighty prices, are all huge time-savers. Not to mention you’re going to be making more revenue through optimizing your pricing.
With a live demo and a free trial on offer, you’ve nothing to lose and a lot to gain!
