16 Replies Latest reply: Jul 30, 2019 4:15 PM by ohst8er

Marketplace feed.. your competitor.. how's that possible? (average rate)

u0999 Mar 31, 2019 7:44 PM

rarely do I look at marketplace feed. But this caught my eye. Notice my "competition with supposedly AVERAGE rate of $137. So naturally I do look.

and here are their rates.

I paged through the end of year and I have not found ONE night with the rate $137, let alone below (to make up for $137 "average"). Moreover, their Christmas rates are $200 per night higher than mine. So how come my average rate is $170 (which sound plausible) but theirs is $137?

I am no math genius but with rates ranging from $195 (lowest I could find) to $539 how come average rate is $137. Is this some sor of alternative math?

No wonder my property gets no bookings.. coz everyone is probably looking at properties with unbelievably low "average rates"... no the realistic ones

Re: Marketplace feed.. your competitor.. how's that possible? (average rate)

moosebigd Mar 31, 2019 7:50 PM (in response to u0999)

And to make this even more confusing... The average cost per night that you see in the Market Maker can also differ from the average cost per night that you see on your listing!
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Re: Marketplace feed.. your competitor.. how's that possible? (average rate)

homeaway_community_manager Apr 2, 2019 1:35 PM (in response to u0999)

Hi u0999,

Thanks for your feedback, we're aware that this isn't the ideal experience and we're working to make improvements to ensure that all comparison feed cards are helpful and accurate. Thank you!

Erinn
HomeAway Community Manager
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- Re: Marketplace feed.. your competitor.. how's that possible? (average rate)
  
  bonesxxx Jul 26, 2019 9:22 AM (in response to homeaway_community_manager)
  
  I think the concern is not about the card itself but the average rate displayed in searches to the traveler. I've noticed that my top competitor shows up with an average rate $50 less than me but when I look at his actual calendar (as shown above) his nightly rates are much closer to my own.
  
  Does vrbo adjust what is shown to travelers or is it a direct function of averaging the published rates over 6 months? Or some variant of that (say average of open/unbooked nights over the next 6 months)?
  
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  - Re: Marketplace feed.. your competitor.. how's that possible? (average rate)
    
    margaret Jul 26, 2019 9:33 AM (in response to bonesxxx)
    
    I believe it is an average of open nights over the next 3 (?) months.
    
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    - Re: Marketplace feed.. your competitor.. how's that possible? (average rate)
      
      susaninrehoboth Jul 27, 2019 1:41 PM (in response to margaret)
      
      Nope, that's not it. I'm book weekly until 9/23. Rates drop about 1/3 after Labor Day and to about half starting 1st full week in October.
      
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Re: Marketplace feed.. your competitor.. how's that possible? (average rate)

susaninrehoboth Jul 26, 2019 8:45 AM (in response to u0999)

Rarely check marketplace feed because, well, when I do, I get exasperated at the suggested rate. For July 27, it states my daily rate is $460. Suggests rate of $380. I only rent weekly in summer, the average daily rate is almost $443, not $460. Here's the kicker: My condo is rented weekly through the summer at $443 nightly rate.

What is the rationale for suggesting a lower rate for booked dates? Actually, what is the rationale for suggesting any rate for booked dates?
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Re: Marketplace feed.. your competitor.. how's that possible? (average rate)

ohst8er Jul 26, 2019 9:05 AM (in response to u0999)

I generally keep marketplace feed on ignore. Last week when I logged in I was greeted with one of those, you just lost a booking to a competitor things. Well Guess what? I also got three bookings last week, which means at least three people got the same thing with my listing attached. Last week my kids debated between Dominos pizza and Papa John’s. We ended up ordering from Papa John’s. This sort of conversation happens on a daily basis in households throughout the US, and yet both Domino’s and Papa John’s are still in business. I just can’t get worked up about this stuff.
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- Re: Marketplace feed.. your competitor.. how's that possible? (average rate)
  
  twomoreyears Jul 28, 2019 7:45 AM (in response to ohst8er)
  
  I just got the "You lost a booking" notice. I'm thrilled we lost this booking! It was for 14 people and we only sleep six.
  
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  - Re: Marketplace feed.. your competitor.. how's that possible? (average rate)
    
    koko Jul 29, 2019 4:44 PM (in response to twomoreyears)
    
    Soso and you did not even see the the family I lost including their dog, which I do not allow to begin with.
    These messages are in my opinion Grade School encouragement - how can it even be an option to win a booking with the wrong amount of people or pets when your own property does not handle that?
    I lost bookings hundreds of miles away......they hurt my feelings
    
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    - Re: Marketplace feed.. your competitor.. how's that possible? (average rate)
      
      margaret Jul 30, 2019 7:37 AM (in response to koko)
      
      The won/lost verbiage is ridiculous at best.
      
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    - Re: Marketplace feed.. your competitor.. how's that possible? (average rate)
      
      twomoreyears Jul 29, 2019 9:07 PM (in response to koko)
      
      I actually would appreciate knowing where people booked that INQUIRED with us (ha-moderator-christi and others - perhaps you can feed this back to the programmers). I suspect many of them booked a different Caribbean island (the airfare to ours is fairly high - government lack of negotiation skills, presumably), but I'd like to know that.
      I find the trend helpful - if we continually lose bookings to a competitor and don't end up booking those dates, I take a look and see what they have that we don't. But the "you lose a booking" for 14 people when we only sleep six - that's not even close. I can argue that pets or no pets could be helpful to some people - it would give you some idea of how many bookings you are losing because you don't accept pets.
      
      I'd like to see the option where we decide the parameters of what is considered a loss/win: for instance, we have four queen beds and COULD sleep 8, although I'm reluctant to go there for fear of unhappy guests or people sleeping on the (non-pull-out) sofas or the chaise lounges (happened already). So I'd like to know 8 or less that booked somewhere else within my market and anyone that inquired no matter where they booked. Others might want to know only for inquiries, and so on.
      
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- Re: Marketplace feed.. your competitor.. how's that possible? (average rate)
  
  scottr Jul 29, 2019 4:10 PM (in response to ohst8er)
  
  I was going to "like" your post, and then I remembered that the local Domino's shut down about two months ago, but Papa Johns is still in business. I always went to Papa Johns anyway.
  
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- Re: Marketplace feed.. your competitor.. how's that possible? (average rate)
  
  u0999 Jul 30, 2019 8:34 AM (in response to ohst8er)
  
  The post was not about win/lose so much as about strange MATH that determines "average rate" of a competitor as $137 when their LOWEST posted rate is $190 and goes up from there. By the way that question/issue was never answered in any satisfactory manner. Common core math?
  
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  - Re: Marketplace feed.. your competitor.. how's that possible? (average rate)
    
    juniperus Jul 30, 2019 1:04 PM (in response to u0999)
    
    Might be longer term rental discounts involved. See if you can get an estimate for a 28 night stretch on that property during slower time if that calcs to lower than nightly rate shown on availability calendar.
    
    I am not certain it is true now... but in the past... some listing services posted average nightly rates that factored in the winter monthly rental rates.
    
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    - Re: Marketplace feed.. your competitor.. how's that possible? (average rate)
      
      u0999 Jul 30, 2019 2:53 PM (in response to juniperus)
      
      No, I doubt that. Our rentals in our market are 2 to 14 nights, most being 3-4 nights. It is not a snow bird destination. Smoky Mountains.
      
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  - Re: Marketplace feed.. your competitor.. how's that possible? (average rate)
    
    ohst8er Jul 30, 2019 4:15 PM (in response to u0999)
    
    I get it. It's not worth it, IMHO, to waste time trying to decipher. Just one more pointless thing we are being told we should care to focus on.
    
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