Welcome to Wheelhouse! If you're new to Wheelhouse or not familiar with some of Wheelhouse's capabilities, please follow the onboarding checklist below!
Wheelhouse Checklist
☐ Creating your Wheelhouse Account
☐ Adding your listings
☐ Reviewing your dashboard
☐ Turning on your listing's pricing
☐ Updating your strategy
☐ Base Price
☐ Day of Week
☐ Far Future Premium
☐ Max / Min Price
☐ Minimum Stays
☐ Long-Term Discounts
☐ Understanding your listing's calendar
☐ Customizing your prices
☐ Reviewing your listing's performance
Creating Your Wheelhouse Account
To create an account, go to www.usewheelhouse.com/register.
Fill out the form, including your name, email, desired password, and promo code if you have one.
Adding your Listings
Once you’ve created your Wheelhouse account, you will then need to connect your listings account to Wheelhouse.
To connect your Airbnb account:
Log in to the Airbnb account on the Airbnb website. If you are connecting another Airbnb account to Wheelhouse, make sure that you're currently logged in to that account on Airbnb.
Log in to Wheelhouse and click Add Account on the upper right of your dashboard page. Click the Airbnb Tile or go to the Airbnb connection page.
On the Airbnb connection page, check the boxes for each Airbnb limitation to confirm your understanding and click the "Connect your Airbnb account" button:
You will be redirected to the Airbnb page. Check the I agree to the Airbnb Additional Terms and Conditions and click the Allow button.
Then you will be redirected back to your dashboard page where you will see your listing/s:
Note:
You will not be able to use both Wheelhouse and and another third-party channel manager or PMS that is not currently integrated to Wheelhouse, as Airbnb will only allow for one third-party tool to be connected to their API. You can manage which application has access to Airbnb here and find a list of supported Wheelhouse integrations here.
To connect your TripAdvisor account:
On the connection page, click on the TripAdvisor logo.
Click “Connect your TripAdvisor account”, and you will be sent to rentals.tripadvisor.com to create the connection.
You will be directed back to your Wheelhouse dashboard where you should see your TripAdvisor/Flipkey listings.
To connect your PMS or channel manager, please follow the steps on the connection page.
Note: You can add as many accounts as you like to your Wheelhouse account. Click here for a list of PMS / channel managers we currently integrate.
Your Wheelhouse Dashboard
Whenever you log into your Wheelhouse account, you will be taken to your dashboard where you can see a snapshot of all your listings:
There are 6 categories for listings on the dashboard:
Active - All listings that are publicly viewable and within the available market.
Inactive - Listings that are not live or active on their native channel.
Hypothetical - All hypothetical listings created
Out of Market - Live listings that are currently out of market on Wheelhouse. If you have listings that are out of the market, send us a note to create a market request!
Hidden - Listings that you want to hide from the facade of your Wheelhouse Dashboard.
Needs Data - when a new listing gets added to Wheelhouse, it will be loaded under the Needs Data while waiting for the listing's details and calendar information from the channel/PMS, then the listing will be moved automatically to the Active tab.
Here are the features that you will find on your dashboard:
Search Bar - If you have a list of properties, you can type in the listing name to find the exact listing. You can also filter your listings by:
Channel - Where your properties are listed
Market - Where your listings are located
Bedrooms - Number of bedrooms in your listings
Pricing - If Wheelhouse Pricing is Enabled/Disabled
Tier - Current Pricing Plan of the listings
Sort By - Similar to the search bar, you have the ability to sort your listings by: Listing’s Address, Base Price, Auto Pricing (if Wheelhouse Pricing is turned On or Off), Comp Set (Number of listings in Recommended Comp Set) and Performance (Revenue Score).
Base Price - This is the foundation of your Wheelhouse Pricing. It refers to the ideal price for your listing before we adjust for seasonality and daily demand.
Auto Pricing - Status of the listing if it is using Wheelhouse Pricing Automation
Comp Set - Shows the default Comp Set of a listing
Performance - Every listing has an expected revenue and we compare that expected revenue with your listing’s actual revenue. A revenue score of 80 is considered average or meeting our expectations. Anything above 80 is exceeding!
Turning on Pricing
Once you have connected your listings to Wheelhouse, you'll have to turn on Pricing so that Wheelhouse can sync your prices to your listing(s).
Note:
You can only turn on Wheelhouse Pricing once you upgrade to either the Pro Flat plan or the Pro Flex plan. Click here to learn more about Wheelhouse Pricing plans.
Here’s how to turn on pricing:
If you haven’t set up pricing for your listing before, start by clicking the Edit Strategy button from your Dashboard:
You will be taken to your listing's base price page:
Set up your Base Price
You can set up your base price based on the following:
Data-Driven - based on the data of our pricing algorithm
Click the Base Price on the left side panel to go to your listing’s Base Price page.
Set up your pricing strategy by selecting one of the data-driven options.
Don’t forget to save your base price by clicking the “Save” button on the lower left of the page.
Click the "Auto Pricing" radio button on the upper right of the page to enable the pricing automation.
Rule-based - based on your custom base price or your ideal base price
Select the Rule-based option.
Enter your ideal base price.
Click the "Save" button on the lower left of the page.
Click the "Auto Pricing" radio button on the upper right of the page to enable the pricing automation. Then click "Turn on Wheelhouse Pricing" on the pop up message that will appear.
Once you've turned on Wheelhouse Pricing for your listing, Wheelhouse will begin pushing prices to your channel's calendar in a matter of minutes so that guests can book at your new prices.
Note:
If you use Airbnb Smart Pricing, it is suggested to turn that feature off to avoid any potential pricing confusion. You can find more information on how to turn it off here.
Updating your Settings
Wheelhouse gives you the ability to make adjustments based on your specific settings. You can make changes to your base price, far future premium pricing, last minute discounts, long-term discounts, minimum/maximum prices, minimum stays, day of the week prices, or adjust your prices on different seasons. Your pricing strategy plays a big factor in our pricing recommendations so please make sure to set it up!
Here are the available settings in Wheelhouse:
Base Price
This is the foundation of your Wheelhouse Pricing. It refers to the ideal price for your listing before we adjust for seasonality, daily demand, day of the week, holidays and events, and other factors. To come up with the base price, we look at all the factors within your listing such as bedrooms, beds, baths, neighborhood, guest details, amenities and fees, and historical bookings. You have the ability to select from your Data-driven options:
Conservative - this setting is more optimized for occupancy. Wheelhouse will lower your prices so you can get higher numbers of reservations. This could potentially come at the cost of slightly lower revenue.
Recommended - our recommended prices go right in between aggressive and conservative. We want you to maximize both revenue and occupancy, and the recommended price is the setting that you can optimize your listing for both.
Aggressive - this setting tends to be optimized for revenue. Wheelhouse will raise your prices so that you tend to get higher revenue, although it might come at the cost of occupancy.
Note:
The above 3 options are not available for all settings.
You can also see how Wheelhouse came up with your listing’s base price by looking at the Recommended Breakdown section below your selected base price.
You can also create a custom base price (Rule-based) to align your prices with your expectations. If you recently remodeled your property, you could increase the base price to account for the upgrades. If this is a brand new listing not fully furnished, you can set a lower custom base price. This customization lets you use your expertise on your listing combined with the data we use to automate your overall pricing.
Seasonality Adjustments
Seasonality is a large component of your pricing. Your high-season rates should not look the same as your low-season rates. With the Seasonality Adjustments setting, you're able to fine-tune your pricing on a month-by-month basis, without impacting other months. Think of this setting as adjusting the base price for one month, as opposed to adjusting your global base price.
For example, November tends to be the slowest month for your property. You have the ability to lower the rates for all of November without impacting the other 11 months. To adjust the monthly rate, click on any month and move the slider left or right.
Day of Week
We understand and monitor how weekends are priced for every market. Some markets are relatively flat on weekends, whereas in other markets, hosts heavily rely on weekends for their revenue. Control your prices for your listing’s weekdays and weekends (Friday and Saturday). Adjust the percentage using the 3 default options or set up your custom adjustment by moving the slider left or right.
Last Minute Discounts
Lower your nightly prices as the check-in date gets closer. The goal is to earn you the most revenue without increasing your risk of losing a booking. You can choose between the 3 default options or set up your custom Last minute discount. (e.g. 10% for 14 days out, 15% for 7 days out, 25% for 3 days out.)
Far Future Premium
This setting can help increase the pricing for future dates. By default, Wheelhouse increases prices more than a year out slightly.
Selecting More Conservative increases prices more than a year out significantly. The goal is to decrease the likelihood of you booking too early or missing an event before it can be priced accurately.
Selecting More Aggressive will not increase prices in the far future. The goal is to utilize the raw pricing information without any cautious premiums.
Setting a Custom Far Future Premium pricing:
Select the specific listing you'd like to set a custom far future premium pricing.
On the Strategy page, click the Far Future Premium on the left panel.
Click on the Custom box to the right of the page.
Enter the number of days from the current date and the percentage of increase.
Once added, make sure to save your changes by clicking Save Changes on the upper right.
Maximum and Minimum Price
Wheelhouse will never price a night below your minimum price or above your maximum price.
You can set a maximum price for your listing and Wheelhouse will not go above that rate. Some Wheelhouse users enforce a maximum price to ensure that they maintain a high rating on their listing’s OTAs.
Setting a minimum price is always good practice to make sure you’re not losing revenue.
Global minimum price - default requirement for any minimum price not specified in other minimum price rules.
Day of week minimum - custom minimum price requirement for each day of the week.
Add Monthly Rule +
This feature will allow you to set Day of Week Minimum Price for certain month/s. This will override the generic Day of week minimum price that you set for your listing.
Time-based minimum - Create rules to automatically adjust the minimum price for stay dates within and beyond a specific number of days from the booking date. (e.g. $100 for last-minute bookings within 7 days. $200 for stay dates more than 270 days away).
Monthly
This feature will allow you to set a Time-based Minimum Price for certain month/s.
Day of Week
This feature will allow you to set a Time-based Minimum Price for certain day/s of the week.
Date-specific minimum - Create custom minimum prices for specific date ranges, such as holidays or events. If you want to Date-Specific Minimum Price to be a recurring rule, you can check the Yearly box.
Note:
The hierarchy for the various minimum price rules from highest to lowest priority:
Date-specific has the highest priority and will override all other minimum price rules.
Time-based will override the Day of week and Global minimum price rules.
The Day of week will override the Global minimum price rule.
Minimum Stays
This setting gives you full control over the minimum nights you require as well as the ability to better optimize yield and, ultimately, total revenue.
Note:
The hierarchy for the various minimum stay rules from highest to lowest priority:
Date-specific has the highest priority and will override all other minimum stay rules.
Time-based will override the Day of week and Global minimum stay rules.
The Day of week will override the Global minimum stay rule.
Global minimum stay is the default requirement.
Gap nights will impact all the rules except for the Date-specific rule.
Global minimum stay - default requirement for any stay dates not specified in other minimum stay rules.
Gap nights - Automatically lower minimum night stays for gap periods smaller than the current minimum night requirement. (e.g. global is set to 3 nights, but there was a Tuesday and Wednesday available. Wheelhouse will automatically drop the 3 nights to 2 nights to ensure guests can book those days.) The smallest allowed gap option is also available. You can also set a Min. Lead Time if you only want the gap nights to be applicable beyond a certain number of day/s from the current date.
Day of week minimum - custom minimum stay requirement for each day of the week. If a reservation includes any of these days, the minimum required length of stay will be the greatest value of the days selected. (e.g. 2-night min during the weekday / 3-night min on the weekends)
Add Monthly Rule +
This feature will allow you to set Day of Week Minimum Stays for certain month/s. This will override the generic Day of Week minimum stays that you set for your listing.
Note:
This feature on Airbnb is based on the minimum stay on the check-in date
Time-based minimum - Create rules to automatically adjust the minimum night stay for stay dates within and beyond a specific number of days from the booking date. (e.g. 1-night min for last-minute bookings within 7 days. 7-night min for stay dates more than 270 days away)
+ Monthly
This feature will allow you to set Time-based Minimum Stays for certain month/s.
+ Day of Week
This feature will allow you to set Time-based Minimum Stays for certain day/s of the week.
Date-specific minimum - Create custom minimum stays for specific date ranges, such as holidays or events. If you want to Date-Specific Minimum Stay to be a recurring rule, you can check the Yearly box for each rule.
Long-Term Discounts
Set a weekly or monthly discount to encourage guests to book longer reservations.
Note:
If a guest book for a month-long reservation, the weekly will not apply on top of the monthly discount. Only the monthly discount will apply.
Wheelhouse does not override Long Term Discount Settings for TripAdvisor.
If you have discounts other than 7+ and 30+ days, you may see multiple discounts applied. Please check your listing’s channel’s settings.
Understanding the Calendar
Your calendar shows your nightly prices, gives you insight into how we were able to come up with your nightly prices, and allows you to customize prices for specific dates.
Wheelhouse Pricing Summary - This gives you an overview of your base price, available nights, and the range of your prices for the entire year.
How Wheelhouse determines a recommended price - Click on a date on your calendar to gain more insight into our pricing recommendations.
Wheelhouse Pricing - This is your listing's price for a specific day based on the below attributes.
Base Price - The foundation of your Wheelhouse Pricing. It refers to the ideal price for your listing before we make daily adjustments.
Seasonality Impact - Depending on the time of year, the season could play a factor.
Local Demand Impact - Takes into account local events, holidays, occupancy, and any other local demand-related factors affecting prices in your area.
Listing Availability Impact - Adjust your pricing to help you fill short periods of availability (1-3 nights). These short openings are harder to fill so we discount these nights slightly to give you the best chance of booking them.
Time Factor - This correlates with the Last Minute Discount and Far Future Premium settings.
Min / Max Restrictions - Your pricing will adjust if our recommendation goes above your max or below your min.
Custom Pricing Adjustments - Pricing change based on your change to the day of the week.
Personal Adjustment - Accounts for any custom percentage or fixed rates.
Note:
The Local Events section is purely vanity. We implemented this section to give hosts an idea of what events may be happening in their market. The events that appear for a specific date don't actually cause the local demand impact to go up. The local demand actually consists of a few factors like occupancy rates, availability (listings and hotels nearby), competitor pricing, etc.
Legends
Blocked dates are in gray boxes with a lock icon.
Booked dates are in green boxes with a person icon.
Custom Rates are in yellow boxes and the rates are in bold black font. The upward purple arrow means the Wheelhouse Pricing recommendation is higher than the custom rate while the downward purple arrow means the Wheelhouse Pricing is lower than the custom rate.
$$$ Wheelhouse Pricing is in purple font.
Missing Data are represented by exclamation points inside a gray box. This means that Information from the Channel/PMS has not synced to Wheelhouse yet. This usually appears on new listings and may update within 24 hours or when the Channel/PMS has synced back the details of the listing.
* Min Price means the pricing is adjusted to what the minimum price for that date is.
**Max Price means the pricing is adjusted to what the minimum price is.
View
You can now choose to make the events and minimum stays for each date appear in the listing's calendar.
Min Stay for each date is represented by the grey crescent-shaped icon. The number refers to the minimum stay required for each date.
Customize your prices
There may be times when you want to make pricing adjustments to a specific date. With Wheelhouse, you have the option to do so!
Automated price - Use this tool if you’d like the price to be higher or lower by a certain percentage. An automated price update every day based on market demand.
Fixed Price - Use this tool if you want to set your fixed rate
To create an automated price
Click on the specific date on your Wheelhouse calendar. You can select multiple days by dragging the box left or right (as shown above).
On the left side panel in the Automated box, enter in the desired percentage. If you need to decrease the pricing by a certain percentage, just add a negative symbol (-) before the value, i.e. -20%.
Click Save. Then click Save Custom rates. Your prices will update within a few minutes on the listing's channel or PMS.
To create a fixed price
Click on the specific date on your Wheelhouse calendar. You can select multiple days by dragging the box left or right (as shown above).
On the left side panel, click on Custom and enter the new price.
To set different fixed rates for each day of the week within the selected date range, just make sure the Date of the week overrides is checked.
Then enter the custom fixed rate for each respective day.
Click Save. Then click Save Custom rates. Your prices will update within a few minutes on the listing's channel or PMS.
To delete automated and fixed prices
Select the specific custom or automated price from your listing's calendar.
On the right side panel, click the Delete button. The custom pricing will be deleted and will automatically save and sync the changes to your listing.
Review your listing’s performance
Wheelhouse gives you the ability to track each of your listings’ performance on the Performance page.
Occupancy - This chart provides you with the average rate for each month, so you can see how filled up your listing is for the past year. Wheelhouse calculates occupancy rate as the number of booked days divided by the number of bookable days in a month. Therefore, blocked days are ignored.
Revenue - This chart shows the total amount of revenue your listing earned for each month.
Average Stay Length - This chart gives you the ability to see how long your guests are staying in your property for a given month. In conjunction with the other performance charts available in Wheelhouse, having longer stays could lead to more revenue and fewer cleaning fees.
Average Daily Rate - This shows the average daily rate of booked days in a given month. (monthly revenue / booked days). While the average daily rate metric is commonly used for revenue management within the hotel industry, short-term rental hosts have actionable insights by tracking the performance of their listing month by month.
Revenue Per Available Night - This chart gives you a snapshot of how well your listing is booking and for how much by incorporating your revenue and occupancy for a given month.
To calculate the Revenue Per Available Night, you would take the total amount of revenue including the cleaning fee, and divide that by the number of bookable nights for each month.
Example: Your listing earned $3,000 last month and you only had 25 days available.
$3000 / 25 days = $120 per day is your RevPAR.
Average Booking Lead Time - This chart lets you know how far your guests are booking in advance. Knowing your average booking lead time can help you fine-tune your prices. Long lead time can mean your prices are on the lower end and guests are booking up your place quickly. A short lead time could mean your prices are too high and guests are waiting for the prices to drop.