Dynamic pricing: setting your holiday let's rates without losing your evenings

In short: dynamic pricing sets a different price for each night, based on demand: the season, the day of the week, local events, how far ahead guests book and how busy nearby properties are. On the French Riviera, where summer, the Cannes Film Festival and the Nice Carnival send demand soaring, a fixed price is too high in the quiet weeks and too low at the peaks.

What is dynamic pricing?

A nightly price, recalculated regularly from several signals:

• the season and the day of the week;
• local events;
• how far ahead guests book (well in advance or last minute);
• prices and availability at comparable properties;
• how full your own calendar is.

Why does a fixed price cost you money?

• In busy weeks, the property books up fast at a price guests would happily have paid more for.
• In quiet weeks, it sits empty at a price nobody will pay.

If you are 100% full all summer, your price is probably too low.

On the other hand, a slightly lower price can earn you more. Across our 27 properties let in both summer 2025 and summer 2026, the average nightly rate fell from €201 to €191, yet June to August turnover rose by 7% because we sold more nights. What matters is income, not occupancy: see Airbnb occupancy rates on the French Riviera.

Which events push prices up on the Riviera?

Check each year's exact dates before you set up your calendar. For Cannes, see also Letting your apartment in Cannes during the Film Festival.

Which tools should you use?

• Airbnb's own pricing tool: free, it suggests prices, but you still set the limits.
• Specialist tools (PriceLabs, Beyond, Wheelhouse…): they plug into your channel manager's calendar and push a nightly price out to every platform.
• A spreadsheet: fine for a single property, as long as you update it every week.

Which settings keep you safe?

To give you a sense of the range: on 23/09/2026, the base prices of our 57 properties listed on Lodgify ran from €42 to €225 a night, and their maximum prices from €120 to €650.

1. A floor price you will never let below.
2. A ceiling price, so event dates do not go out at a silly rate.
3. A minimum stay: longer in high season, shorter in winter.
4. A rule for orphan nights between two bookings (a lower price or a one-night minimum).
5. A last-minute rule: prices come down gradually over the final days if the dates are still free.
6. A monthly review of the results.

Example (made-up figures): a property priced at a flat €120 all year. With dynamic pricing: a €90 floor in winter, €150 at weekends in May, €200 for Film Festival week and €170 in August, with a 4-night minimum stay in July and August. The income will depend on actual demand, so try it for one season and compare.

How does Airbnb's 15.5% fee affect your prices?

By 13 October 2026 at the latest, Airbnb will charge hosts in the European Economic Area a single 15.5% fee, cleaning included, replacing the old model of around 3% for the host plus a separate guest service fee. The price guests see becomes the total they pay. Airbnb brought in 79% of our turnover in summer 2026, so this is where the change bites hardest. To keep your income where it is, revisit your floor and ceiling prices: on a €100 listed price, the host receives €84.50 (example published by Meilleurtaux).

How do you make it work without giving up your evenings?

• Set things up once, then review them every month.
• Put the year's events in your calendar in January.
• Hand it over if you do not have the time: it comes as standard with our end-to-end management in Nice, Cannes and Antibes: Airbnb management in Nice, in Cannes, in Antibes.

To see what your property could earn, try our income simulator and read How much does a holiday let earn?

Sources

• Meilleurtaux: Airbnb, single fee from 13 October 2026

Find out more about our prices adjusted every day and our pricing built around the Cannes conference calendar.