Hotel vs Airbnb Revenue Management: Why STR Pricing Is Harder

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What happens when a hotel revenue director who once managed 10,000 rooms steps into the Short-Term Rental world… and discovers that pricing Airbnbs is far harder than pricing massive resorts?

In this episode of Get Paid For Your Pad, Jasper Ribbers sits down with Adriaan Sonneveld, former Director of Revenue for Riu Hotels & Resorts across Aruba, Jamaica, Bahamas, and Punta Cana. After years overseeing one of the largest all-inclusive portfolios in the world, Adriaan entered the STR space, and immediately realized how unpredictable, volatile, and operationally constrained STR revenue management really is.

Whether you manage 5 listings or 500, this episode gives you a deep understanding of why hotel playbooks don’t translate into the STR category, why every listing behaves like its own micro-hotel, and how booking windows, guest behavior, and operational realities create a completely different pricing landscape.

Adriaan breaks down the core differences he never saw coming, from product uniqueness to hyper-fragmented demand curves, and explains why STR managers must think differently if they want to win in today’s market.

You will discover:

• Why STR pricing is dramatically harder than hotel pricing

• How product uniqueness turns every listing into its own “mini hotel”

• Why hotels can rely on last-minute demand but STRs cannot

• How booking windows shape revenue strategy in ways hotels never deal with

• Why STR rate drops must be deeper near arrival

• How operational constraints (cleaning, check-ins, minimum stays) influence pricing

• Why cancellations are low-risk for hotels but extremely costly for STRs

• How hotel brands enjoy loyalty advantages STRs rarely have

• Why forecasting breaks down when STR listings lose “momentum”

• How distribution channels differ and why Airbnb dominance changes strategy

Adriaan and Jasper also explore why STR volatility makes forecasting harder, how competition behaves differently on Airbnb maps than in hotel markets, and why STR operators must stay tightly connected to operations if they want accurate pricing. They discuss rate parity, overbooking, last-minute sell-through, and why hotel data systems create stability that STRs simply don’t have.

💡 Topics Covered:

• Hotel vs STR revenue management

• Product uniqueness and pricing complexity

• Booking windows and pacing strategies

• Distribution differences: Airbnb vs OTAs vs direct

• Cancellation policies and revenue risk

• Forecasting volatility and market unpredictability

• Operational constraints and pricing decisions

• Brand loyalty, guest expectations, and conversion behavior

🔗 Relevant Links:

Learn more about Freewyld Foundry → https://www.freewyldfoundry.com

Follow Jasper Ribbers → https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasperribbers

Follow Freewyld Foundry → https://www.linkedin.com/company/freewyldfoundry

Keywords:

airbnb, revenue management, short term rentals, hotel vs STR, pricing strategy, booking windows, pacing, ADR optimization, vacation rentals, distribution strategy, operational constraints, forecasting, cancellations, STR profitability, Airbnb pricing, hotel revenue director, Freewyld, Freewyld Foundry, Jasper Ribbers, Adriaan Sonneveld, revenue optimization, portfolio performance

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