The main question for those preparing to open a Local Accommodation is what price to charge. What is the right and fair price for a Local Accommodation? How do you calculate it? And how do you ensure that this value guarantees an adequate commercial income?

In fact, there are several strategies for defining the value per night to be charged in a Local Accommodation. And everything starts with what you want for your property. For example, remember that more expensive accommodation will lead to more demanding clients, which implies greater dedication on your part. On the other hand, cheaper accommodation will generate more guests, which means more cleaning and more time spent.

Basically, there are two strategies to follow, which are linked to the commercial success of any company or service. Either you opt for more expensive Local Accommodation, which you will necessarily rent out less often; or you opt for cheaper Local Accommodation, which you will inevitably rent out more often.

Regardless of the strategy you follow, there are 5 steps to take to define the price per night of your property. These are:

• Step 1:
  Start by analyzing the competition. Do your homework and look for other short-term rental properties in the same area as your Local Accommodation. Analyze and compare the prices of houses that are roughly similar to yours, particularly in terms of gross floor area and type of property. This will give you an idea of the average price in your area, and you can then play with this price: if you want a higher final price, you'll have to compensate with extra services; if you want a lower price, you'll probably lose some money initially, but it will pay off in the number of bookings.

• Step 2:
  The second step is to define minimum and maximum stays, i.e. to ensure the profitability of your Local Accommodation it almost always pays to guarantee a minimum stay. For example, in certain properties it doesn't pay to rent for less than a week. However, there is a lot of demand for short stays in smaller tourist destinations. So find out what the trend is in your area and play with these figures. Also remember that short stays require more regular maintenance of your property.
• Step 3:
  For the third step you'll need to calculate the total costs of your Local Accommodation at the end of the month. Take a sheet of paper and add up all the bills you have every month: water, electricity, internet, if you have condominium fees, etc. This total value will be the one you have to reach at the end of the month in order to have commercial profitability, i.e. the daily value you set for your Local Accommodation when multiplied by the 30 days of the month can never be less than this number.
• Step 4
  From here you can then create special values for different seasons. It's well known that there are high and low seasons, such as Easter or Summer, but there are other events that you can also take into consideration. For example, if there is a festival or parties in your area that attracts a lot of people, you know from the outset that it will be a period of high demand, where you can raise your prices. So play around with the calendar, not least because it can allow you to offset weaker months with stronger ones. Medium and long-term planning is very important.
• Step 5:
  Last but not least, consider changing the daily rates at the weekend. As you know, weekends are the most popular days for guests. So you could give them an extra 5 euros, for example, as you're guaranteed to get a higher income from this. This can be a good strategy to help balance out the initial investment, which is often very high.