Does dynamic pricing work?

[Lisa Loesel]

Curious about others experience with pricing algorithms. I started Pricelabs in September & I've had some odd experiences & it's been hard to evaluate its efficacy. 

I have been short term renting in an urban market for 10 years & have always relied on my market knowledge to set pricing. I recently tried Pricelabs as I am always willing to try something that could improve my revenue. This market is definitely changing making it hard to determine if certain results are due to market shift or the dynamic pricing. I know people are waiting longer to book, making for more last minute bookings than in the past. I also understand that is a basic concept behind the algorithm, i.e if you are fully booked 6 months out, your pricing is too low. But my experience since September has been that people that book at the last minute aren't great guests. No that's not always true, but I've had an abnormally high amount of issues since starting with Pricelabs. In 10 years & hosting thousands of stays, I had to call the police & have guests physically removed from the property for the first time in October. I've had to deal with guest issues I just haven't seen in the past. So, is that the market changing or is that the Pricelabs methodology attracting a different kind of guest?

During our shoulder season, bookings dwindled down to very low occupancy...in all but one of my properties. This one property had a pretty decent November & the best December I've ever had with that property. It is 6 blocks from my other properties, similar amenities, similar decor, the only difference is it's my first property so a lot more reviews than the others & it has a city view that the others don't have. So, does the algorithm work that much better for properties that have more reviews? If so, shouldn't the pricing adjust to reflect that to make sure the other properties are still getting bookings? 

I pay close attention to my local market & consistently run searches to check my competition and their calendars. I don't feel like the vacancy I experienced was reflective of the market.  

After such a slow October, November, December & staring down the barrel of a completely dead calendar for the next 3 months, I finally gave up on Pricelabs about a week ago & started manually adjusting my prices again & was able to book several stays over the next few weeks. I loosely used the Beyond pricing method (pricing up or down 5% daily based on current occupancy). Because that worked so well, I would consider trying Beyond, but not excited about spending more time, money & energy on this. I like the idea of pricing being automated & not leaving money on the table, but Pricelabs just didn't do what I expected/wanted it to. 

Has anyone used both Pricelabs & Beyond and think one works better than the other? Also, anyone else in an urban market have a similar experience with Pricelabs? I have heard many hosts say it's amazing so I'm wondering if it doesn't work as well in an urban market vs a true vacation rental area?

Any feedback from other STR owners is appreciated!