Revenue management, answered

When the market softens for several weeks, should I lower my minimum nightly prices temporarily or hold them higher to protect my average rate?

Lower your minimums selectively, not across the board. In a soft market, protecting occupancy on mid-week and shoulder dates matters more than defending your average rate. Rigid minimums during slow periods produce empty nights, which hurt owners far more than a modest rate reduction.

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

Triage Your Calendar Before Touching Minimums

Identify which specific date bands are actually soft before making any floor adjustments. Weekend demand often holds while mid-week collapses, so blanket minimum cuts punish your strongest inventory unnecessarily. Lower floors only on the date ranges showing booking pace problems, and leave high-demand windows untouched. This protects your blended average rate better than a portfolio-wide rollback.

Use Last-Minute Windows as Your Pressure Valve

Rather than dropping minimums weeks out, compress your adjustment to the final booking window, typically inside fourteen days. Guests shopping late in a soft market are price-sensitive and present-focused, so lower floors in that window capture demand without training your broader market to expect cheaper rates earlier. Once pace recovers, restore the original floors immediately so you do not carry the discount into the next demand cycle.

Communicate the Strategy to Your Owners

Professional managers lose owner trust when revenue dips without explanation. Brief your owners on the market conditions driving the adjustment and frame the temporary floor reduction as an occupancy defense move, not a concession. Show them the tradeoff between a vacant night at full minimum versus a booked night at a slightly lower rate. Owners who understand the reasoning rarely push back on sound revenue decisions.