Residence Sole

Tell us about your property

Residence Sole is located in the center of Trieste, just a few minutes' walk from both the train station and Piazza Unità d’Italia. We’ve been open for ten years and are the only “hybrid” property in Trieste, offering seven rooms as well as eight apartments. So, we’re part B&B, part residence, with a capacity to host around forty guests.

It took several years to flip the percentages, but today we’ve finally managed to reach 60% direct bookings. More and more customers check us out on Booking.com first, but then contact us directly.

Our property wasn’t struggling, and even after COVID, we experienced a good recovery. During the high season, I was already reaching 100% occupancy, so my goal was to maintain this performance while increasing prices. With Smartpricing, I achieved it.

How did you manage rates before Smartpricing?

I didn’t use any program before; I was the human algorithm. I handled everything manually, adjusting prices based on competitors, events, my occupancy, and the weather. I managed to do it daily, but always within the short term—for example, on Monday, I’d gather all the elements to adjust prices for the weekend.

I was doing well, and we weren’t in bad shape, but it took a lot of time.

What convinced you to try and adopt Smartpricing?

I never worried before because our property is small, with only a few rooms, and we don’t have a large variety of products or services. So manual management wasn’t impossible—it just required more attention and time.

But your demo intrigued me because it offered me the possibility of having a tool that could assist me.

Maybe you’re too young to remember, but for me, it was like when fax machines first came out: we all tried them thinking, “This could be useful; let’s see if it works.” That’s how it was for me with Smartpricing.

How has Smartpricing impacted your work?

The main difference is that, with Smartpricing, I no longer have to constantly monitor prices. Of course, I still check them, but I feel more at ease because I know I can forget about it, and the algorithm will continue to follow the set strategy.

Previously, I worked on prices: I analyzed the month, double-checked that I hadn’t overlooked holidays, events, or special occasions. Now my work is about supervising Smartpricing.

To quantify: if I used to dedicate 100% of my time to pricing, the portion spent on supervision has now dropped to 30%. I’ve saved about three hours a day, which I can now dedicate to everything else. Before COVID, seven of us managed the property; now we’re only four, but I can still accomplish tasks that used to fall by the wayside.

What results have you achieved with Smartpricing?

As I mentioned, our property wasn’t in difficulty, and we experienced a good recovery after COVID. During the high season, I was already achieving 100% occupancy, so my goal was to maintain this while increasing prices.

With Smartpricing, I succeeded: we experienced a revenue increase thanks to its ability to accurately account for competition, events, and all the other variables I used to consider, but with much greater responsiveness.

For example, Smartpricing was able to immediately identify the date of the Måneskin concert, which was announced unexpectedly, and it instantly adjusted prices.

Would you go back to managing rates as you did before Smartpricing?

No, Smartpricing has provided me with tremendous support and is incredibly useful for managing the property effectively. It’s an excellent tool for optimizing sales, and I would only go back to the old method if I had no other option.