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Good advice. Forget the Smart Pricing thing. Itās a very bad idea, for us anyway. True, you can set the lower limit, which should only be a couple of dollars lower than what you feel your place is worth. So just donāt use it. I ignore their price suggestions now and have settled on a fixed rate that I do not change regardless of the season, demand, etc. The rate is just fine for me and itās very cheap for guests who, like me, appreciate the set rate. Iām booked most days.
What your rate? And what is your location? Would you care to share your listing url? Iāve also got a fixed rate, at least for now. Varying the price gets complicated, and I also donāt trust Airbnb to use the right price. At least once I think they used the wrong price. But hey, itās hard (impossible?) to prove, because all the relevant information is on Airbnbās own web site.
You hit the nail on the head. Itās a great system for some hosts but not for others.
That would never work for me. There is a distinct tourist season when hotel prices double. For certain events, they go even higher and I see no reason why I should leave money on the table so I charge the market price.
There are at least two members here, for example, who have listings near to Formula One circuits - theyād be crazy to leave their prices the same during a race weekend. I have a friend with a listing which is an hour away from Monaco. She charges $40 for an apartment that sleeps four. When Formula One is at Monte Carlo some of the local hotels charge up to $9000 per night. It would be crazy of her to charge $10 per person in view of that.
Every host is different and smart pricing wonāt go below your minimum price.
Your place is beautiful! I wish you could host a family as weāre taking a road trip this coming spring and Lookout Mountain is one of our planned stops. Though as thatās at the beginning of our trip, weāll probably be camping.
Sorry to go off-topic.
As someone who was new to AirBNB, Iām glad I had enough common sense to know a realistic value of my space, because I would have either 1) decided it was not financially worth it or 2) devalued my place and my market to go by the suggested minimums.
And I get it. I have 4 kids and trying to find an affordable place to stay is hard. But people still have to recoup costs, make their time worth it, make a little money. āSmart-pricingā is I think intended to make new hosts devalue their place to bring the market down.
Hello Faheem. Thereās my listing. Since my place is so cheap anyway, the fluctuations in pricing they suggest arenāt that drastic. But I have seen my āprice suggestionsā go down to $25/night, which is ridiculous. Iāve settled on a price thatās doable for me, and when I look at what others in my area are offering at a similar rate I think guests are getting a good deal.
Of course you have to adjust your pricing with your type of listing. Your situation is quite different. While I am in a fairly heavily travelled tourist areaālots of students, convention attendees, etc.āI only offer a spot for one guest so I get a different demographic. However I do have a listing in Palm Desert thatās very near the Coachella and Stagecoach music events. For those I go with pricing according to what the market will bear, as they say Most of April '17 is already booked.
What I meant is that Iām booked well into the future, mostly by Snow Birds (Canadians) that I get by simply putting a sign in the window and not through Airbnb. The April dates and some others previous are from Air, though. Also, just now, I blocked off any remaining open days from the calendar since getting a notice from Air that theyāll be collecting a 9% occupancy tax that theyāll pay the City of Palm Desert. This is going to make my rates pretty high.
Thanks for the clarification. It didnāt occur to me (though it should have) that you were booking outside Airbnb. So, if I understand correctly, youāre not planning to rent through Airbnb in the future? And you are now not renting via a site at all? Airbnb collects tax for the Indian govt here as well. Itās annoying, but what are you going to do?
I probably wonāt rent the Palm Desert place through Airbnb any longer, partly because of this tax thing, but also because I get enough renters from putting up a sign; and most of them have been using our place for a number of years. Also, I donāt live near the desert place, so I donāt get to meet the people and check them out. Last year for the Coachella Fest/Stage Coach I had pretty good luck, but even still, I think they sneaked in extra people and they left the place in a bit of a messādoors open, clothing left behind, AC left on.
Oh, I missed the fact that you have two different rentals. I was looking at the Long Beach one. I donāt think you gave the link to the Palm Desert one. Sorry about the confusion.
You can see the Palm Desert listing on āother listingsā I think itās called. Are you in India? Would you mind sharing your listing? Iām so curious. Thanks.
Faheem, your place is amazing! I want to come stay there! Years ago I visited Mumbai when it was called Bombay. Had a great time. Juhu Beach was a highlight.
Your rate seems very low for a private room with such lovely amenities. Perhaps youāll be raising it just a little in the future as you get more guests who will, Iām sure, give you great reviews.
Thank you for your kind words. Actually, the going rate in Bombay is relatively low, as youāll see if you compare listings. There are lots of places with prices even below mine. And the area is really crowded with listings. Iāll consider raising it a tad once I get more reviews. Iām hoping to get Superhost in the next cycle, which will probably help get me more exposure.
What other platforms are recommended by those of you who are using other platforms? Iām about to start advertising on other platforms, again, too, and would appreciate knowing which perform best for you. Thank you, Amy