Revenue management, answered

Should my comp set include listings with more or fewer bedrooms than mine, and should I match on bedrooms or on guest capacity?

Match primarily on guest capacity, not bedroom count, because that is what drives booking decisions and pricing ceilings. Include listings one bedroom above and below only when your market is thin, and always weight your closest capacity matches most heavily.

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

Why Capacity Outranks Bedroom Count

Guests search by how many people they need to sleep, so a 3-bedroom that sleeps 6 competes directly with a 2-bedroom that also sleeps 6. Bedroom count matters for search filters, but willingness to pay is anchored to group size. Build your comp set around capacity first, then use bedroom count as a secondary filter to eliminate obvious outliers like studios inflating a mid-size property set.

When to Expand the Bedroom Range

In smaller or seasonal markets you may have fewer than a dozen true capacity matches, which makes your rate signal noisy and unreliable. In those cases, pull in listings one bedroom above and below your target, but apply a manual adjustment to account for the perceived value difference travelers assign to extra rooms. Never let a thin comp set push you into comparing a 2-bedroom against a 5-bedroom without that correction in place.

Practical Comp Set Construction for Portfolio Managers

For each property you manage, define a primary comp set of four to eight listings that match within one guest of the subject property and share the same general location tier and quality band. Review that set quarterly because new inventory enters and exits, and a comp set that made sense last season can quietly drift out of relevance. Document your rationale for each inclusion and exclusion so your team applies consistent logic across the full portfolio.