Lighthouse FAQs

How often is the data updated?

Right Revenue is sent data from Lighthouse every morning between 08:00 and 09:00. We pull the data from Lighthouse and then store it in our database, in the same way as we do with the data from your PMS. This way we can make comparisons with the rates from yesterday. The rates that we get each morning will have been sourced from the internet by Lighthouse during the previous night.

How do Lighthouse get the information?

Lighthouse will get data from multiple sources on the internet in order to get the rates that they provide. For the rate information, the data that we get from them comes from the Brand websites, Booking.com or Expedia. For the Parity information they will get rates from all over the internet to make the comparisons that they provide.

Where do the rates come from? 

The rate information that we receive from Lighthouse is normally from the Brand website, for two adults sharing a standard room, on a room-only basis. This is the standard, or base-line which they use to determine pricing. If they cannot get a rate using these parameters they continue to check alternatives in order to still provide a rate for that competitor on that night. This means that a rate may have come from an OTA instead of a Brand website, or it may be for a different room category, or include additional add-ons like breakfast. Extra information on which rate we are displaying can be found on the Competitor Pricing graph on our Overview. Hovering over the graph on the day in question will show more information about the room rate being displayed.

Please note that Right Revenue cannot control which channel Lighthouse uses to obtain pricing, which means that OTA pricing is regularly used rather than Brand website.

If a  rate cannot be found (using the perimeters above) no rate will be displayed for that date. Your own hotel's rate is sourced in the same way by Lighthouse, so it may be different from what you expect, or the rate you have set in Right Revenue, if Lighthouse haven’t been able to get a rate for base-line pricing as mentioned.   

How are the Comp Set Alerts created?

When we get rates each day, we compare them to the rates for each competitor that were received on the previous  day. This means that you can see where your competitors have changed their rates the previous day. This comparison is visible in the Comp Set Alerts widget on the Dashboard:

 In the Competitor Pricing tab in the Rate Calendar 

And finally in the Daily Snapshot. 

What does the OTA Parity information show? 

The Parity information that is provided is designed to show where your Brand website rates are being undercut online. Lighthouse provides the Brand website rate for each day for your property, along with the rates from multiple OTA channels. This will show where the internet rates from OTAs are lower than your Brand.com rate. This information is available in the Dashboard, which shows each day across the next three months where an issue has been found. 

This widget also links to the Parity report, which can be found in the left navigation under Reports then OTA. If you click on the rows in the widget, it will take you to the report. Information from the report can be downloaded to allow you to chase these issues independently. 

How many competitors can I have? 

You can have a maximum of 10 competitors, which will be displayed alongside your own rate for each day. The rate for your own property is received from Lighthouse in the same way as those of the competitors, rather than being the rate set in Right Revenue. For details of why there may be a difference between these rates, see the Rates section above. 

What type of Lighthouse account do I have, and what difference does that make? 

Although the information displayed in Right Revenue will be the same, there are slight differences depending on whether you have your own Lighthouse account, or you have your account through Right Revenue. 

The main difference for us is how your competitors are managed. If you have your own account then you will update your competitors through the Lighthouse Portal. This includes the setting of Primary and Secondary comp sets. If you have your account through Right Revenue then this work will need to be done by our Support Team. Simply contact us with details of what you would like to change and we can update things. If you have your account through us, you will not have access to the Lighthouse Portal. 

If you are unsure of which you have, you can check with us or confirm whether a charge for Lighthouse is included in your invoice from Right Revenue. If we are getting data from your direct Lighthouse account then there won’t be any charge. 

What is the Lighthouse Market Demand? 

The Market Demand figure is created by Lighthouse themselves, based on online searches for accommodation in a particular area.  The methodology is unique to Lighthouse but in short, they can estimate how many rooms have been sold in a particular area by percentage.  If you think that a Market Demand of 40% is low, so hotels are probably not pushing pricing but a demand of 90% means that the area is busy and prices will probably be increasing.

How do I change my Competitor Set? 

If you want to change your competitors, the process is different depending on how your Lighthouse account is managed. 

If you have your own Lighthouse account and we are permitted to access the data: 

Make your changes in the normal way on Lighthouse’s own portal. Then let us know what changes you have made and we can update our system to reflect these changes.

If your Lighthouse feed is managed by Right Revenue and is part of your contract with us: 

Contact our Support Team and let us know the changes that you would like to make. We can update the list on the Lighthouse portal and then make the necessary changes to Right Revenue. 

In either case these changes may take 24hrs to come into effect.

Where in Right Revenue can I see Lighthouse/Competitor data? 

Lighthouse/Competitor Pricing information is available in a number of different places in Right Revenue to allow you to reference this information as you are making your decisions. 

These locations are: 

• The Competitor Pricing widget on the Overview. 

  • This has the most comprehensive information about competitor rates and where they came from.

• Dashboard

  • OTA Parity information showing any dates across the next 90 days where your Brand.com price is being undercut elsewhere online.  

  • Comp Set Alerts which displays any date in the next 90 days where your competitor set changed their rate between yesterday morning, and this morning. These are colour-coded depending on the percentage change. 

• Daily Snapshot

  • This displays the competitor pricing for the date that you are looking at, as well as the day before and the day after. It will also include any changes made to those rates between yesterday and today. 

• Recommendations Report

  • If you are viewing current recommendations in the report, then you will be able to view the Competitor Pricing tab at the top of the Recommendations Popup in the same way as you would if viewing it from the Rate Calendar.

• Rate Calendar

  • As you view the Recommendations Popup for each date, you will see a Competitor Pricing tab at the top of the popup. This displays the competitor pricing for the date that you are looking at, as well as the day before and the day after. It will also include any changes made to those rates between yesterday and today. We have included the Lighthouse Market Demand for that date too, as well as the percentage change from the Comp Set Alerts (if applicable). 

• Parity Report

  • This is a searchable report displaying the Lighthouse Parity information. It will show details of Brand.com, Booking.com and Expedia prices for each date, as well as any other site where a lower price than the Brand website has been found. This information can be exported to allow for easier use.   

Is the Competitor Pricing information taken into account when recommendations are made in Right Revenue? 

We don’t use the competitor pricing when making our recommendations, as we don’t feel that following these is the best practice when updating rates. We look in detail at the current performance of your own property, and make our recommendations based on this within the Hurdle and Rack boundaries that you have set.  We then present the Competitor pricing as a guide so you can make your own decision on whether or not to change your pricing strategy.

How many days of competitor data does Lighthouse send to Right Revenue? 

Every morning we will receive new information for the next 90 days. This affects the competitor rates, parity data and the market demand. Any rates that are shown for dates beyond 90 are updated on an irregular basis and so should not be taken as fully accurate. If you have your own Lighthouse account then you can perform a live shop on the Portal and updated rates for days beyond the 90 day limit will be sent to us the following morning.