Abstract:

Based on the industry characteristics of customer heterogeneity， seasonal demand， pricing， and the long-term impact of leasing models on revenue in long-term rental apartment enterprises， three dynamic planning models for multi period and multi-level rooms under the condition of customer discrete selection are established based on revenue management research methods. It explores the impact of seasonal dynamic pricing and long-term rental combined leasing models on the operating revenue of long-term rental apartments， and conducts numerical analysis through real-life cases of well-known long-term rental apartment enterprises in China. It is found that for pricing strategies： （1） Throughout the entire business cycle， in the presence of inventory surplus， higher-level rooms always have pricing power； （2） For the traditional long-term rental model， the pricing of low-level rooms should remain stable， while the price of higher-level rooms can fluctuate appropriately according to customer arrival rates； （3） When implementing seasonal dynamic pricing， price changes must comply with market supply and demand laws， but price adjustments for lower level rooms should be based on the sales profit of higher-level rooms； （4） In the combination of long-term and short-term rental models， the marginal revenue of long-term/short-term rental is the key factor determining pricing. When the ratio of marginal revenue between short-term and long-term rental is high， pricing should generally increase， and when it is low， the opposite is true. In addition， long-term rental discounts should be accompanied by short-term rental price increases， and a pricing strategy of “high price， high discount” during peak seasons and “low price， low discount” during off-season can be adopted. However， the average discount intensity during the operating period should not be too large. For the selection of leasing models， launching short-term rental services can effectively stimulate market vitality and alleviate the negative impact of insufficient demand during the off-season. Under the reasonable control of the proportion of short-term rental customers and long-term rental discount coefficients by long-term rental apartment enterprises， the revenue of the combination of long-term and short-term rental models is significantly higher than that of the long-term rental model. The results indicate that seasonal dynamic pricing and the combination of long-term and short-term leasing models can significantly improve the total revenue of long-term rental apartment enterprises， providing favorable references for the systematic， standardized pricing and diversified operation of the industry.

Key words: customer heterogeneity, long-term rental apartments, dynamic pricing, leasing model, revenue management