Your Rate Is a Promise. What Is It Promising?
Your discount is telling a story. Make sure it's the right one.
This week, pull up the rate you’ve set for your slowest upcoming week. Not to change it. To read it.
Because the number you set is telling the guest what kind of stay to expect. And when that number says “discount” while your listing still says peak season, you’ve built the same gap the Tuesday Test finds. Only now it’s baked into the price before the guest even arrives.
Off-peak isn’t cheaper peak. It’s a different product. And most operators never read the number back to see which one they’re selling.
This isn’t about holding rate. It’s about whether the story matches the number.
This week, do this: Pull your last five off-peak reviews. Scan for expectation language:
“expected”
“thought it would be”
“quieter than anticipated”
“wasn’t what we pictured”
“not what the photos showed”
Count how many of those are about something that went wrong versus something that didn’t match what the listing implied. That number tells you whether you have a service problem or a pricing-and-framing problem.
It takes ten minutes and a coffee.
What’s happening
Rates are barely moving. Costs aren’t. You already know this from your bank account.
The instinct is understandable. Occupancy is soft. Drop the rate. Fill the room.
But here’s what happens. They fill more rooms. And make less money. Discounting filled rooms. It didn’t fill the gap.
And the guests who book on a discount aren’t booking the same stay at a lower price. They’re booking a different expectation.
Your rate sets the expectation before the guest reads a word. When the number says “deal” but the listing says “peak season,” the guest adjusts the story in their head before they ever arrive.
The cost isn’t the lower revenue per night.
It’s the review.
A guest who paid a considered rate for a stay that was described with care leaves a different review than one who paid a discount rate and got something they weren’t expecting.
The first one was choosing. The second one was comparing.
That review is now negotiating against you every time you raise your rate. When your review scores go up, your pricing power goes up with them. Guests will pay more to stay somewhere other guests were happy.
There’s a second problem. The longer you hold a discounted rate, the more your guest starts to believe that’s what your property is worth. The discounted number becomes the “real” number in their head. And once that number sets, you’re competing against your own past price.
Most independent operators don’t have someone dedicated to pricing.
It falls on you, at 10pm, between the bookkeeping and the anxiety. Nobody walks you through how the rate you set tonight shapes the review you get next month and the booking you lose next season.
What reframing sounds like
Everyone says “reframe the experience.” Nobody shows you the words.
Here’s what it can look like in practice:
A coastal property in a cold-weather market:
Before: “Enjoy our vibrant seaside village and lively restaurant scene.”
After: “February means the beach path is yours, the café tables are open, and you won’t need a reservation.”
An island guesthouse heading into green season:
Before: “Experience our island paradise at its best.”
After: “September is for the guests who want the locals’ version. Smaller crowds, slower pace, and the reef to yourself.”
Same property. Same room. One promises peak and delivers off-peak. The other promises exactly what the guest will find.
You don’t need to rewrite your entire listing. Start with the first sentence a guest reads after they see your rate. If that sentence was written for your busiest week, it’s working against your slowest one.
How to respond
If you have more time (30 minutes):
Go back to those five off-peak reviews from the fast action. For each one that flagged an expectation mismatch, look at what your listing said at the time. Was it still describing peak season? Were the photos showing a version of the property the guest couldn’t have experienced that week?
Now write one sentence that gives someone a reason to choose that version of the stay on purpose.
If your listings on different platforms say different things, that’s worth knowing too. Your Booking.com description and your Airbnb listing may be promising two different stays at the same price. Start with whichever platform gets you the most off-peak bookings.
AI prompt (copy and paste this):
Paste whichever listing gets you the most bookings, then add:
My peak-season rate is [rate]. My off-peak rate is [rate]. Read this listing as a guest who just saw the off-peak price. Tell me:
1. What experience does this listing promise at this price point?
2. Where does the description imply energy, activity, or conditions that an off-peak guest probably won’t find?
3. Suggest three small edits that would frame the off-peak season as something a guest would choose on purpose. Not as the same experience at a discount.
Warm, direct tone. No marketing language.
If you ran the Tuesday Test this week, you already found where your listing doesn’t match Tuesday. Now look at the rate sitting next to it. That number is making a promise too. Make sure it’s the right one.
Monday’s article has the full Tuesday Test framework and two AI prompts you can run in ten minutes. If you haven’t done it yet, start there.