Competition?

[Luke609]

Perhaps a controversial topic but do you guys care about competition, and if so, how do you monitor it?

I was speaking to a friend who is a host in a completely different area to me and we got to speaking about competition. He is in a comparatively smaller area and has noticed more listings coming up lately and has been spending time paying attention to other competing listings and a few of these newer hosts had been undercutting his listings recently. It got me thinking about how I’d not really paid too much attention. Perhaps because hosting isn’t my sole income. I’m curious, does anyone here actively monitor their competition? I can see things like listing numbers, average prices, competition reports, new competitor notifications,  competitor booking numbers, etc maybe being useful to see what other hosts are up to. If so, are there any useful tools for these things? Any thoughts?

[Bob297]

@Luke609 
Yes< I compare competitors every year.
I investigate about ten.
Take away the lowest and highest and find a price point in the middle.

Write down the links so you don't have to look them up yearly.

[Joelle43 · Accepted solution]

Hello @Luke609 

I have created a wishlist of places that are comparable to my place in terms of what they offer and location.  I have to go into guest mode to do this and by entering dates in the calendar window I can see if they are booked or not, their prices etc

However, I have noticed a big increase this year of new places on offer in my town and a huge decrease in the number of views for my listing.  

This time last year, if I compare the stats as of 13th June 2022 and one year later of  people looking to stay for the month of July,  I had clocked 986 views with 8472 times my listing had appeared on the first page.  This year, I am at a measly 183 views and have appeared only 1027 times on the first page!!  Quite a nosedive I'm sure you'll agree!!

The fact that this algorithm also offers up properties +20miles outside of the town baffles me and why it will throw up properties with a 3* rating and not show my 5* rating at all is all rather discouraging.

Joëlle

[Helen3]

Yes always a good idea to have any awareness of your competitors, what they offer pricing, availability etc @Luke609 

rather confused by your post though as you don't have a listing .