Shannon Leyh thought PriceLabs did not understand her rural ski market. Then she gave it another chance and changed the way she priced her Snowshoe condo.
Shannon Leyh has been hosting in Snowshoe, West Virginia for several years, but her business looks very different now than it did when she started.
She lives in Ohio. Her property is five to six hours away. And for the first two and a half years, the condo was managed through the resort’s rental program.
At first, that felt like the easier choice.
But over time, Shannon realized she was giving up more control than she was comfortable with.
When a guest had an issue, she might not hear about it until the following month. If money was refunded, she found out after the fact. If something broke, she might only learn about it if her cleaner noticed.
Then the resort announced a policy change that would require owners to use the resort housekeeping program.
That was the final push.
Shannon liked her cleaner. She trusted her. She knew the property. And Shannon did not want a rotating housekeeping team in her condo with no direct communication.
So in fall 2023, Shannon left the resort program and started self-managing.
Self-Management Is Doable, But It Is Not Passive
Shannon is clear about one thing: self-management can work, but it is not passive.
Her property is in a highly seasonal ski market. Peak season runs roughly from mid-December through St. Patrick’s Day, and that is when she is paying close attention to pricing, availability, guest experience, and operations.
During slower summers, she has used the property as a midterm rental. For two summers, a group of mountain bikers rented the condo for the season. They were low-maintenance, took care of the property, and created a simpler stretch of income.
But the trade-off was revenue.
The midterm rental made the summer easier, but it did not maximize income.
The Numbers Told the Story
Shannon has always tracked her numbers closely, which made her pricing story especially revealing.
In January 2023, under resort management, she booked 21 nights at an average nightly rate of $495.
In January 2024, her first winter self-managing, she booked 25 nights, but her ADR dropped to $402.
In January 2025, she booked 22 nights at an ADR of $508, with a booking window of 120 days.
Then in January 2026, everything changed.
She booked 20 nights at an ADR of $944, with a booking window of 42 days.
The biggest difference?
She had started using PriceLabs.
Why She Finally Trusted PriceLabs
Shannon had tried PriceLabs before and did not believe it understood her market.
Snowshoe is rural, seasonal, and specific. At first, she felt like the tool was not capturing the nuance of the destination.
So she walked away from it.
But later, after hearing that a booking window over 60 days can signal underpricing, something clicked.
Shannon knew her booking window had been around 120 days.
That meant guests were booking peak ski dates months in advance, and she was likely priced too low.
So she gave PriceLabs another chance.
This time, her mindset was different. She understood her numbers better, had more education behind her, and was ready to use the tool instead of simply react to it.
Higher Rates Did Not Hurt the Guest Experience
One of Shannon’s fears was that guests paying higher rates would be more disappointed.
Her property is not positioned as a luxury stay, so charging premium ski-season rates felt uncomfortable at first.
But the opposite happened.
Her reviews were better when she charged more.
The lower-rate guests had often been the ones nitpicking. The guests paying higher rates seemed to arrive with a different mindset and a clearer understanding of the value of the stay.
That does not mean every property can raise rates without improving the experience.
But it does show why hosts cannot price only on what they personally would pay.
Revenue Management Is Bigger Than Pricing
A major lesson from Shannon’s story is that revenue management is not just raising or lowering nightly rates.
It is looking at the whole business.
After property values increased, Shannon contacted her lender about dropping private mortgage insurance. For a $150 appraisal, she removed PMI and saved about $85 a month.
That is not pricing management.
That is revenue strategy.
She also talks with her CPA about bigger-picture planning, including capital gains, cost segregation, and whether selling or reinvesting in another property makes sense for her family.
The nightly rate matters, but it is only one part of the financial picture.
Testing Parent-Child Listings
Shannon is also testing a parent-child listing strategy.
Her condo is a four-bedroom, but summer can be extremely slow when major events are not happening. Instead of assuming the four-bedroom is the only option, she is testing a two-bedroom, three-bath version of the property.
The goal is to see whether a smaller configuration can fill gaps during slower demand periods or closer to arrival.
She also plans to test it during winter. If the four-bedroom is not booked within a certain window, she may release the two-bedroom version to capture smaller groups planning last-minute ski trips.
It is an experiment.
And that is the point.
The Bigger Lesson
Shannon’s story is not just about PriceLabs.
It is about control, mindset, and knowing your numbers.
She left resort management because she wanted better visibility into the guest experience. She learned that self-management is doable, but not passive. She challenged her own assumptions about pricing. She revisited a tool she had written off. She looked at her booking window and realized a full calendar too far in advance was not always a win.
And when she finally trusted the data, her January ADR nearly doubled.
Your market may be unique, but that does not mean your numbers are unknowable.
Track them. Learn from them. Revisit your assumptions. And make sure your revenue strategy looks at the whole business, not just the nightly rate.
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