How to Increase Airbnb Revenue by Beating the Algorithm and Optimizing STR Pricing

Emile Sakhel (00:00)
it’s the idea and the methodology behind how to think one or two steps ahead of objective data and really almost all of your competition. And and the caveat and and the benefit to also playing the psychological principles and putting it into action is the algorithm. You know, there’s algorithms all around us. So it’s super important that we’re factoring in how our property is positioned. are we on page one? Are we on page 20? You know, understanding not all of us have a full grasp of the algorithm, but we’ve had enough experience to to gauge what actually moves the needle in the right direction. So playing the game of the algorithm while incorporating psychological principles almost always trumps just interpreting objective data.

Michelle Kesil (02:17)
Hey everyone, welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I’m your host, Michelle Kesil. Today I’m super excited to chat with Emile Sakhel who is an industry leader in revenue management with his company Pricing by Mira. So really excited to have you here today, Emile.

Emile Sakhel (02:39)
Thanks, Michelle. It’s a pleasure to be here and thanks for having me.

Michelle Kesil (02:41)
Yeah, of course. Let’s dive in. So first off, for those new to your world, can you share what your main focus is?

Emile Sakhel (02:48)
Yeah, no, absolutely. So absolute pleasure. So Emile Sakhel here, a founder and CEO of Pricing by Mira and Mira Hospitality Group. My journey wasn’t necessarily a traditional one. I started my career in healthcare as an anesthesia provider, but after battling, you know, the life nuances and battling cancer, you know, really having to regain that perspective of life, that fundamentally changed how I viewed life itself, how I viewed business and how I viewed success. It taught me that time is finite.

And from that point forward, I became obsessed with creating freedom, not just financially, but freedom of time, freedom of choice, and the ability to make an impact on my own terms. So that really pursued me into the real estate investing, entrepreneurialship, and hospitality component, and ultimately revenue management for short-term rentals. Today, through Pricing by Mira, we help investors and property management companies maximize revenue.

And performance across hundreds of short-term rental assets throughout North America. But what I’ve realized over the years is that revenue management isn’t necessarily about pricing. It’s about psychology. It’s about understanding human behavior, opportunity, risk, and decision making. Those same principles that create better revenue outcomes also create better business outcomes and ultimately better life outcomes.

So today we’re building far more than a revenue management company. We’re building, you know, the technology, the AI systematic approach, the education angle, advisory services, and leadership frameworks that are designed to help operators make better decisions, scale more effectively, and create those that lasting level of freedom through their businesses. And at the end of the day, my mission is simple. It’s

It’s to help people create more opportunity than they thought was possible and build a life by design rather than by default.

Michelle Kesil (04:46)
Yeah, absolutely. And how did you get to this place in your business? Like what led you to wanting to create this company and this system? I know you mentioned a little bit, but why specifically like real estate?

Emile Sakhel (05:53)
Yeah. So, you know, like a lot of folks out there, we all start with W2s and, you know, the nine to five job. Well, actually for me, it was a 24 hour role where I was on the clock all day and all night. And ⁓ really going through the course of COVID times and and having my second of third daughter at the time, you know, really acknowledged and recognized all the opportunities and possibilities that were out there with real estate. There’s so many different sectors in the art of real estate that any

Any individual can really adapt and and and to adapt and not only adapt but succeed and excel ⁓ in whichever sector they choose. And for us, you know, hospitality is really just ingrained in my roots. ⁓ with the Middle Eastern background, you know, everything I do, you know, from cooking to music to to you know, all the kit togetherness and the hosting, it really carries over into the short term rental space. ⁓ so we I definitely have a a passion.

for the luxury fully loaded amenity five star service angle from the hospitality component. So we dove in. We dove into short term rentals and just really started to evolve and and master the art of the systems that came along with it.

Michelle Kesil (07:02)
And what do you feel have been some of the main keys that have allowed your business to be able to grow and run successfully?

Emile Sakhel (07:09)
That’s a great question. You know, a lot of individual entrepreneurs, you know, we there’s a lot of wisdom, there’s a lot of effort, there’s a lot of sweat and tears that goes into building a business. but I would say, you know, it’s super, super important, you know, going into any sector in the realm of real estate is important for any investor to think about what the means is, what what is their why? Understanding the why, understanding the vision, what outcome are they trying to achieve.

is going to be super, super important on the front end because that will then allow you to create more effective systems and processes at scale. So I would say one of the things that really worked super well for me was identifying where my distinctive advantage is. I think all of us have a distinctive advantage, not necessarily something that we’ve created, but something that we are naturally great at.

And something that others naturally bring to you and look to you for. And once you identify that distinctive advantage, you know, take it in. accept your strengths, accept your weaknesses, and then build a team, build that platform around your distinctive advantage to whatever scale you want your company to go. And that’s really where I started to build a super robust team with individuals that possess.

expertise and distinct advantages in different areas and together is what really created the dream team.

Michelle Kesil (08:33)
And what do you feel have been some of the biggest obstacles or challenges that you’ve overcome in this role?

Emile Sakhel (08:40)
Yeah, that’s a good question. You know, it one of the common lines that I like to stick to is finished, you know, all of us like to start something, all of us like to dive in. But before doing so, we have to have all the pictures, all the pieces of the puzzle in place. We want perfection, but better done than perfect. And, you know, as I launched, the company did not have all the, you know, pieces of the pie, you know, figured out as we continue to grow and

As we continue to scale, that it required continued new assistance, continued new efficiencies and processes. ⁓ so I would say, you know, over the course of time, it’s really allowed me to have a bigger and broader perspective that growth doesn’t come as a linear curve. There’s there’s going to be ebbs and flows and waves along the way. and I would say every entrepreneur at some point.

And their endeavor has a bottleneck. And and and once I reached my first bottleneck in the business, short two years after we went launched and live is when the art of the AI infrastructures, the art of that automated fundamental foundation really became important to allow us, you know, humans on the back end to really become the most effective we can be within the realm of each of those sectors of what we do.

Michelle Kesil (10:37)
Sure. And what would you say you are most focused on solving or scaling to next?

Emile Sakhel (10:45)
Yeah, that’s a good question. I think, you know, the evolution of what AI systems are bringing, there’s massive opportunity on the table. not necessarily opportunity to take jobs away, but to really, really enhance ⁓ the tools, to enhance our efficiencies, to really allow for more one-on-one connection, more one-on-one, you know, relationship building, but also strategic process development for for large companies, mid-scale, and small individual investors.

so I’m super excited to really supplement what the AI capabilities have with our intellect, with our, you know, qualitative component of of revenue management, with analyzing properties. So we can extrapolate the maximum amount of value. And the maximum of value hits everybody. It’s the owner, it’s the operator, it’s the manager, and it’s the guest. So really it’s it’s it’s going to be a win-win. It’s hard to just look at the positive.

behind, you know, something so robust that’s evolving, you know, in front of us, but definitely something that’s super applicable, super relative, and something that we all have to embrace at this point in time to continue to evolve, you know, into into a a larger company for maximum benefit.

Michelle Kesil (11:59)
Yeah, absolutely. And one thing that you touched on earlier on is exploring like the psychological aspects of your field. Can you expand what that means and looks like for you?

Emile Sakhel (12:15)
No, absolutely. And I think ⁓ that’s probably single-handedly one of my favorite components behind the foundation of the industry is a psychological component. So what I like to do is really, you know, have a different level of interpretation aside from data. You know, we all we all know how to interpret data. We know how to analyze graphs, we know how to, you know, learn and evolve with Excel sheets and spreadsheets, but it’s really understanding how to hedge the competition.

How to be one or two steps ahead of the competition. You know, if we think about if we think about the source of data, data, you know, arrives off of what’s established or produced in a market. So if we have supply and demand in a market, the result of that supply and demand then carries over into objective data. From there, investors then interpret that objective data or underwrite how to purchase or acquire properties through different third-party platforms.

Where I like to come in is really look from a big picture. Yes, we understand supply, we understand demand, we understand objective data, but what is happening before the data moves? How is the consumer thinking? How soon are they thinking? When do they want to buy the product? When do they want to rent the property? And understanding that, you know, a lot of restrictions that investors put into place, particularly for short-term rentals, we’ll just say length of stay minimum. Those that have a length of stay minimum of seven night minimum.

or six night minimum are really missing the the bigger picture and opportunity on the table to accept a much higher premium and rate at a much lower length of stay. So

it’s the idea and the methodology behind how to think one or two steps ahead of objective data and really almost all of your competition. And and the caveat and and the benefit to also playing the psychological principles and putting it into action is the algorithm.

You know, there’s algorithms all around us. So it’s super important that we’re factoring in how our property is positioned. are we on page one? Are we on page 20? You know, understanding not all of us have a full grasp of the algorithm, but we’ve had enough experience to to gauge what actually moves the needle in the right direction. So playing the game of the algorithm while incorporating psychological principles almost always trumps.

just interpreting objective data.

And that’s where I think the biggest differential is and how we’re able to drive properties that we’re once doing three hundred thousand a year to five hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year. And or, you know, from being standard in a market to number one in a market. So it’s been a it’s been a great endeavor and just to see the success really kind of unf unfold.

Michelle Kesil (15:41)
Yeah, absolutely. And what is some advice that you often give to the clients that work with you?

Emile Sakhel (15:49)
Yeah, I think it’s important, you know, it it’s it’s very it’s in our it’s in our nature nature intuitively, you know, if if we acquire, you know, an expensive property, you know, and and the more expensive the property, the more effort, you know, sweat and tears we put into a property, we have a tendency to have much higher individual expectations, which is fine.

Right. We all we all want to know how to stretch the ceiling. We want to know how to grow. We want to know how to optimize and maximize. But it’s also important not to restrict yourself. You know, when when you play the game of revenue management or when you play the game in hospitality, you don’t you don’t want to add to the fire. And what I mean by that is anything that could affect you negatively in in the eyes of positioning or the algorithm.

A lot of a lot of restrictions that are put into place for short-term rental operators, managers, owners are almost all self-ins restricted. When you think about the hotel industry, there’s not often a a time where you want to go book a hotel and they’re restricting you to you know, a certain l minimum length of stay. You it’s wide open, there’s potential across the board that’s going to suit your individual needs. So it’s important.

You know, for us objectively to to look at the top, look at true potential, look at that strategy, how can we maximize, but at the same time understand we are in the hospitality space. And and it is very much about the guest experience. So making sure that that’s looped into the objective standpoint is going to be a good blend of success.

Michelle Kesil (17:26)
Yeah, absolutely. And when you’re focused on the guest experience, what kind of value adds does that usually mean?

Emile Sakhel (17:36)
Yeah, that’s another good question. And and I always like to think of each individualized property as its own potential, you know, depending on the lot size, depending on the bedroom, bath count, depending on the space to add amenities. But really the, you know, the biggest most important thing I would recommend is to identify your property and understand who competitors are with similar property counts or similar bedroom counts or similar amenity counts. And then just, you know, ask yourselves how can you add value?

Whether it’s turning into turning a a regular property into super designer friendly and and adding adding a hot tub or adding a pool heater to the pool, you know, or little things that can really accommodate. And what I’ve found from a hospitality angle is we’re very, very family friendly, not just offering, you know, twin bunks or an arcade or two, but thinking a little bit deeper about what’s functional and important.

To your everyday common guest or to mom that’s booking the property. You know, if if someone comes in with an infant or toddler, having a comfortable foldable crib in place, or having, you know, some utensils in the kitchen, some spoons, some forks, some plates, some some dinnerware that that’s tailored just for the child, or or if you’re one that, you know, loves pets and you’re promoting pets, having pet-friendly treats, pet-friendly beds, just taking that little extra step of hospitality.

that ultimately will showcase through marketing as value adds. And in return on the back end, we can now adjust revenue and revenue targets aligned with that increased value to ultimately increase your ROI.

Michelle Kesil (19:13)
Yeah, absolutely. Well, thank you so much for sharing all of that.

Emile Sakhel (19:16)
Absolutely.

Michelle Kesil (19:17)
Before we begin to wrap up here, if someone wants to reach out, connect, and learn more, where can people find you and connect with you?

Emile Sakhel (19:25)
Yep, no, absolutely. on social media, you know, you can find me on Facebook. I have a community group, short-term rental revenue management by Emile Sakhel. you can find me on Instagram, LinkedIn, more importantly, our website. We have pricingbymira.com. You can get connected with myself or my team. and if you have any interest in really the realm of property management or really learning the academy, we have mirahospitality.com as well. You can connect with us and I

have a tendency to make myself pretty available to you know, to connect with those that that have those deeper needs or or questions and always available to help.

Michelle Kesil (19:58)
Perfect. Well, I appreciate your time and your story. Thank you so much for being here.

Emile Sakhel (20:03)
Thanks, Michelle. I appreciate it. It’s been a pleasure.

Michelle Kesil (20:06)
course. And for those of you tuning into the show, if you got a value, make sure you’ve subscribed. We have more conversations with operators like Emile, who are building real businesses. And we’ll see you on the next episode.