Tiny Timbers
How Lodgify Dynamic Pricing drove revenue growth of 70% for Tiny Timbers

Background
Hector and his wife Tina never set out to open a vacation rental. Rather, they simply wanted to purchase a little bit of property for themselves to enjoy on the weekends. Having grown up on a farm and a ranch, they loved the idea of having some land of their own.
So, they drove around the Houston area looking for the perfect plot. Luckily, they soon found it: 4.5 beautiful acres in Livingston, Texas.
Hector and Tina decided to build a tiny house on the property for their weekend getaways, and soon found themselves researching building options and designing a custom shipping container. The result was a beautifully crafted tiny home with a large covered patio, from which they could take in the allure of their surrounding land.
Challenge
Hector and Tina loved their new property and tiny home. There was only one problem: They weren’t able to visit it as much as they’d like.
So, to make sure the property wasn’t sitting vacant between their visits and generate some additional income, they decided to put it on Airbnb.
As a graphic designer and floral designer, Hector and Tina were excited about the more creative aspects of this process. Tina is great with color and interior design, enabling her to decorate and get the tiny home guest-ready. Likewise, Hector was able to use his photography skills to photograph the tiny home’s interior and exterior, and even created the artwork for their website’s homepage.
Unfortunately, they were less excited about some of the logistical aspects of running a vacation rental business. What’s more, both Hector and Tina had separate jobs, so they had limited time to dedicate to their rental.
What they needed was a tool to help them with the running of the business.
Solution
Property management system
Hector started looking into his options and soon realized that they needed a property management system (PMS). “I did a little bit of research, and Lodgify seemed to be the best option out there,” he recounted.
So, Hector and Tina decided to sign up for Lodgify. They used Lodgify’s website builder to create their own site, and their channel manager to list on Airbnb, Vrbo, and Glamping Hub. “It was very easy to set up and didn’t take much time,” Hector explained.
“We went into this kind of blind,” he went on. “It wasn’t our goal to build this and rent it out—it was for us. So there wasn’t too much thought put into it other than just researching and seeing what seemed to be the best option to manage and list and process payments. Having all of those things in one place was fantastic because we were pretty clueless.”
Dynamic pricing
Not knowing exactly what to expect, Hector and Tina were happy with the initial results that Tiny Timbers saw. It wasn’t until they received an email announcing Lodgify Dynamic Pricing that they questioned whether they might be able to do even better.
Up to this point, Hector had priced their rental at a consistent $125 per night—regardless of the day of the week, the season, or holidays. He had based this price on the nightly rate of hotels in the area, but he didn’t have a lot to go on. And, having a separate job, he simply didn’t have the capacity to do regular research and updates.
“I didn’t have the time to go in there and update the prices and pay attention to holidays and what have you,” he explained. So when he heard about Lodgify Dynamic Pricing, which uses an algorithm that factors in 40+ attributes, market conditions, and local trends to automatically optimize nightly rates, he figured, why not?
Results
As Hector himself put it, he was “shocked and amazed at some of the prices” they got with Lodgify Dynamic Pricing: “We were just taking in $125 a night and now we’re getting up to $240, so that’s almost a 100% increase in revenue.
“I’d say we’re getting at least a 70% increase on average, which is a huge number,” he went on. “I never would have thought that we could ask for this much and that people would actually pay it.” But they did—the increase in rates had no impact on the number of bookings Tiny Timbers received.
I was clueless as to how much we could actually generate.”
“However you guys come up with the rate, it’s been fantastic,” Hector shared. “I’ve just been so happy that we decided to use the tool. I tell my wife all the time.”
But the benefits of using Lodgify Dynamic Pricing have gone beyond the revenue increase alone: “It freed up a lot of my time because it’s automatic and I don’t have to think about it,” Hector explained. “Once I set it up, it was out of my mind.”
The stress relief of not having to worry about calculating or updating rates—that to me is priceless.”
Advice for other hosts
With this extra revenue in their pockets and the stress of managing a vacation rental under control, Hector and Tina have purchased another property in Livingston. They’re currently fixing it up and are planning on using Lodgify to rent it out once it’s ready.
That’s not bad for a couple that didn’t set out to open a vacation rental in the first place.
And having learned a thing or two about running a vacation rental business since he got started, Hector can now share his tips for other new hosts in a similar position:
“I would definitely recommend Lodgify Dynamic Pricing to anyone using Lodgify. I was clueless as to how much we could actually generate. And it’s one less thing we need to worry about, which is great because we both have jobs, so the more time we can free up, the better. And this really helps. We’re very, very pleased with the results.”
You can learn more about Tiny Timbers by visiting their website.