Understanding Smart Flags: Automated Listing Classification
What Are Smart Flags?
Flags are automated labels that our system applies to your listings to help you quickly spot potential issues, compliance concerns, or performance trends. They’re designed to make managing your listings easier by automatically flagging properties that might need your attention.
Example of a few flags that might be visible in your portfolio:
How Smart Flags Work
Our platform continuously monitors your listings and applies relevant flags based on predefined criteria. These flags help you:
Quickly identify listings that may need attention
Ensure compliance with platform policies
Monitor performance trends
Maintain listing quality standards
How to view Smart Flags
To view what Flags may be associated with your listings, go to any Portfolio page (Settings, Calendar, or Metrics), click the Show / Hide Columns button, and then check the Flags option.
A new column with the Smart Flags will then appear.
NOTE:
You can adjust the columns by clicking and dragging the headers of any column to expand or shrink its width to your preferred size.
Configuration Flags
Flag | Definition | Resolution |
No Last Minute Setup | No last minute settings configured. | Configure Global Last Minute Settings |
No Gap Night Setup | No gap night settings configured. | Configure Global Gap Night Settings |
No Segments | Listing is not included in any segments. | Configure your first Segment |
New Listing | Listing has been active in Wheelhouse for 90 days or less. | No Action Necessary - to be used to help with filtering reports and quickly identifying new listings to check configuration is complete |
No Global Minimum Setup | No global minimum price configured. | Configure Global Minimums to ensure that there are no future dates that do not have minimums setup yet. Check your your individual listings price chart by exposing ONLY the min price in the chart legend. |
Best Practices Flags
Flag | Definition | Resolution |
Fixed Price % | More than 20% of nightly rates are fixed prices in the next 12 months. | Review notes and reminders re: Why fixed prices were set for this specific property. Has the use case expired or reasoning changed? Review performance of the property versus dynamically priced units. The goal is to remove fixed prices. |
Min Rate Conflict | Global minimum price is higher than the base price. | Reduce the global minimum to at least 20% less than your base price to ensure a relevant market pricing curve throughout the year. Minimums that are higher than a base price means that rates will be stagnant in off season and shoulders until the pricing engine finds enough demand in peak season to price above the minimum. This will result in lost revenue during shoulder season and potentially even a lower LOS during peak season if mid-week rates are flat. |
Max Rate Conflict | Nightly maximum price is lower than nightly minimum price. | Increase or remove the nightly max rate. Failure to remove this conflict means prices will be flat for dates that are impacted. |
Low Historical Anchoring | Historical anchoring set to less than 80% within 180 days. | Increase historical anchoring to above 80% to optimize this feature. Historical anchoring acts as a “soft minimum”. Leveraging time-based settings will allow you to reduce the “soft min” or have it drop off in a timely manner. Anything below 80% tends to conflict with actual minimum settings. |
High Historical Anchoring | Historical anchoring set to more than 120% after 181+ days. | Reduce historical anchoring to below 120% for far future dates. High historical anchoring is likely |
High Far Future | Far Future set to more than 20%. | Reduce Far Future premium to avoid losing future bookings as consumers start to “look” but not “book”. >20% impacts conversion for repeat guests and consumers that have a long “research” window before they make a booking decision. |
Historical Anchoring/Far Future Conflict | >100% Historical anchoring AND far future setup, potentially causing double far future premiums. | Reduce Historical Anchoring to 100% or below or reduce far future premiums. Having both configured for future dates is duplicating your far future pricing strategy. |
Last Minute Doubling | Both last-minute discounts and occupancy pacing with discounts are set up, causing excessive discounts. | Remove last minute discounts or occupancy pacing discounts to avoid excessive discounting. We recommend using one setting or the other with most clients benefiting from last minute discounts versus occupancy pacing setup. |
Last Minute Conflict | Both last-minute discounts and occupancy pacing with premiums are set up, canceling out increases in the nightly price. | Remove the last minute discount or the occupancy pacing premium based on the pricing strategy goal. If the goal is to increase rates based on an occupancy pacing goal, then remove the last minute discount. If the goal was to reduce rates based on occupancy pacing, then remove the occupancy pacing premium. |
Base Price - High Historical Impact | The Data Driven Recommended Base Price is being reduced by 20% or more due to historical reservations and pricing strategies. | We recommend that you double-check your base price settings and both near-term and far-future pricing outputs to ensure that they align with your go-forward revenue strategy. Your base rate is the most critical setting, as it reflects the annualized average ADR for your unit and is the foundation of the pricing algorithm. If you feel that your property was not properly priced in the past, we would recommend setting a custom base price closer to our recommended target without the deduction for past bookings. |
Performance Monitoring Flags
Flag | Definition | Resolution |
YOY Revenue Pacing | Revenue is pacing more than 20% behind last year in the next 60 days.
Note: Same Time Last Year will be used when comparing the two periods. | Review pricing strategy versus similar high performing units. Work to remove owner restrictions (if any) and collaborate with marketing to increase listing visibility after revenue strategy adjustments. |
YOY Occupancy Pacing | Adjusted occupancy is pacing more than 20% behind last year in the next 60 days.
Note: Same Time Last Year will be used when comparing the two periods. | Review pricing strategy versus similar high performing units. Work to remove owner restrictions (if any) and collaborate with marketing to increase listing visibility after revenue strategy adjustments. |
High Booking Frequency | Revenue is pacing more than 20% ahead of last year in the next 60 days.
Note: Same Time Last Year will be used when comparing the two periods. | Reviewing pricing strategy to ensure that you are not missing an opportunity to increase rates or mLOS. Compare to market averages. No action may be necessary but it is good to experiment with increasing the base rate or minimums to potentially drive higher revenue. |
High Occupancy Pacing | Adjusted occupancy is pacing more than 20% ahead of last year in the next 60 days.
Note: Same Time Last Year will be used when comparing the two periods. | Reviewing pricing strategy to ensure that you are not missing an opportunity to increase rates or mLOS. Compare to market averages. No action may be necessary but it is good to experiment with increasing the base rate or minimums to potentially drive higher revenue. |
High Availability | >75% of the next 60 bookable days are available. | Review pricing strategy versus similar high performing units. Work to remove owner restrictions (if any) and collaborate with marketing to increase listing visibility after revenue strategy adjustments.Launch |
Stagnation | Listing has not had a booking in the last 30 days. | Review market performance metrics and compare the listings to similar properties that are obtaining bookings. Work with marketing team to adjust visibility on marketing channels. |
Taking Action on Smart Flags
When you see Smart Flags on your listings:
Review the specific flag details to understand the issue or opportunity
Prioritize flags based on their impact on your listing performance and revenue goals
Address configuration issues before publishing or updating listings
Monitor performance flags regularly to maintain optimal booking results
Use compliance flags to ensure adherence to platform policies and guest experience standards
Need Help?
Smart Flags are designed to make listing management more efficient and effective. If you need help understanding specific flags or resolving flagged issues, our support team is here to guide you through optimizing your short-term rental portfolio.