Revenue management, answered

Should I filter my comp set by amenities like a pool, hot tub or pet-friendly?

Filter by amenities only when that amenity is the primary demand driver for your market segment. For most properties, over-filtering shrinks your comp set to the point where the pricing signal becomes unreliable and you end up chasing a handful of outliers instead of real market demand.

By Jack Murphy, Head of Revenue Management at UpRev. Running pricing for US vacation rental managers since 2017. Last updated September 1, 2026.

When Amenity Filtering Actually Helps

In markets where a pool or hot tub commands a distinct traveler segment, such as desert destinations or mountain cabin markets, filtering can reveal a meaningful rate premium worth tracking separately. The test is simple: if removing that filter changes your comp set by fewer than five or six properties, the filter is hurting your data quality more than it is helping. Use amenity filtering as a diagnostic check, not a permanent comp set boundary.

The Smarter Approach for Portfolio Managers

Rather than locking amenity filters into your comp set, track amenity premiums manually by pulling occasional side-by-side comparisons of similar properties with and without the feature. This tells you the market premium without distorting your baseline pricing signal. For pet-friendly properties specifically, the premium tends to be demand-driven and seasonal, so it is better captured through minimum-stay and gap-night strategy than through a filtered comp set.