How Air Venice Replaced Last-Minute Discounting with Data-Driven Pricing and Reclaimed 2+ Hours a Week

REVENUE MANAGEMENT

Air Venice is a historic, ocean-facing hotel on the Venice Beach boardwalk in Los Angeles, with 51–100 rooms and a lean team. Pricing used to run on instinct and a single monthly occupancy target of about 85%, which led to high early rates, steep last-minute discounts, and 20–30 minutes of manual rate updates every day. After a difficult experience with an external revenue manager in 2018, the team wanted a simpler, more reliable approach.

Why it matters: Chasing an occupancy target with last-minute discounts can quietly erode a property’s rate integrity. Air Venice shows how a small team can move to market-based pricing without hiring a revenue manager.

Manual daily rate updates were replaced by automated pricing, saving the team at least two hours every week.

Top 3 Core Objectives: Air Venice set out to replace instinct-based, occupancy-driven pricing with a data-led approach that was simple for a small team to run.

Time Efficiency: Eliminate time-consuming manual daily rate updates
Predictability: Reduce reliance on steep last-minute discounting and protect rate integrity
Reduces workload: Gain reliable revenue management support without hiring an external revenue manager

Innovators Mentioned

RoomPriceGenie

Paul Hetzel

General Manager of Air Venice

Air Venice On the Beach

"“RoomPriceGenie’s Calendar view has become a very comfortable default that I check first thing every morning and throughout the day.”"

Paul Hetzel

General Manager of Air Venice

👍 General Manager of Air Venice Paul Hetzel said that On how RoomPriceGenie fits into the team’s daily routine::

"“RoomPriceGenie’s Calendar view has become a very comfortable default that I check first thing every morning and throughout the day.”"

⚖️ The selection process: During their research process, Paul Hetzel evaluated RoomPriceGenie's product differentiators, customer support, and holistic value as a strategic partner and ultimately decided that RoomPriceGenie was the best fit solution:

General Manager of Air Venice Paul Hetzel said, about their decision: "“We’d tried an external revenue manager before, and it didn’t go well. RoomPriceGenie was easy to set up, the support team answered quickly, and we stayed in control of our own pricing.”"

📈 The results: Air Venice now prices from market data rather than an occupancy target, with less reactive discounting and more time for strategic work.

At least two hours of manual pricing work reclaimed every week
Reactive month-end discounting eased, replaced by a more consistent, defensible pricing approach
Built-in price-change alerts flagged a major planned rate change before it went live, protecting rate integrity