I have events where the guests book repeatedly year to year. I also have weddings that book ahead up to a year
Have you had a look at Airbnn Help good for the basics around managing your Airbnb listing.
Don’t use smart pricing do your own market research and see what others with local comparable places charge.
If you are going to use IB set it so you only take guests on IB with positive reviews
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Congratulations. @JohnF’s advice is really spot on. You need to get three really good reviews in QUICKLY!!! Once you have those under your belt, increase prices with every stay that you book. We made the mistake of only very slowly increasing prices so that it’s only now, after three years of hosting, that we know the true value of our listing. That’s why @JohnF’s advice of raising prices quickly is very useful: this will allow you to find your price point much quicker and will mean that you don’t lose money in the long-run. As long as your occupancy is 70% or above, you are still priced competitively. Only if you go sub 70% might you be over priced. Good luck.
I like to think of the pricing strategy for a new listing in three phases:
- Marketing Phase - set low prices, open calendar for 30 days only, allow 3-day max stay, ask the first three guests for 5-star reviews (politely) in a check out note.
- Review Gathering / Price Testing - open calendar for 3 months, allow 7 day max, do some price testing for dates 4+ weeks in advance while dropping them dramatically over the new one week, consider asking for 5-star reviews (politely) in a check out note
- Maintenance mode - employ a pricing strategy using one of the big three 3rd-party pricing companies.
That does not work in every market, if there is enough data maybe it is effective if your goal is to fill your calendar regardless of price. I am priced higher than most in my area and I make more money with fewer booked nights, fewer turnovers. I would not trust an algorithm to set my prices.
RR
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Good point. Although, I am in a similar position to you. I get a ton of weekend-only bookings for weddings. I manually go in to gap fill price even though I use a service. I use the service to roll my prices lower as the time window shrinks.
If you “asked” me for a five star review, the likelihood is that you’d be disappointed with the outcome.
JF
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I get asked to review some of the Amazon products I buy. If there is a promise of something in exchange (like recently it was a free wifi extender), and I’m happy with the product, then I do so.
I’m in the camp of opposing asking for a good review except in extraordinary circumstances. I trace my resistance to my time as a teacher and being asked for grades that weren’t fully earned.
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Setting low prices on set up is not a good marketing strategy in many locations. I would never ask a guest for a five star review - appalling. @Ourbnbexperiment
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I cannot see the logic of only allowing seven day bookings, surely it depends on your market. I also can’t see reasons to have to drop your pricing dramatically if you have done your market research and have priced correctly. No, no and no to asking for five star reviews. If you did that to me as a guest you would end up with one star.
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Most hosts don’t need to use a third party to do their pricing.
I can only think you are a fairly new host. What are you basing your thinking on around your pricing model and asking for five star reviews.
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Thanks for your feedback.
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This is an extremely useful strategy in almost all cases. Unless you are the only property in your area, this is a sure fire way to get your first few bookings fast. In fact, it is so good, AirBnB advises all new listings to offer a 20% discount at launch.
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Asking for a review from a guest that just got your home at a great discount is totally acceptable. I have no issue with a new host saying something like “Thanks so much for booking with us, we hope you enjoyed your stay! As you know, you were one of our first three guests. 5-star reviews are critical to our success on AirBnB. If you enjoyed your stay, would you mind taking three minutes and replying to the email from AirBnB to review your stay? Thanks again and travel safely!”
Absolutely nothing wrong with saying something like that. Particularly for a brand new host. People understand and like helping other people. If that message would earn a 1-star review from a guest, that is a reflection of their pride. It is not an appalling request, at all.
@JohnF The guest got a great deal on the rental. If they, as one of the first three guests don’t write the review, the host is left in a bad spot. Also, many guests don’t realize that a 4-star review is bad. Setting the expectation is perfectly acceptable.
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The 7 day strategy is to get reviews quickly and get a few bookings to test turnover processes and see if there are any issues. Again, this is common practice.
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Agreed, not all markets need to use 3rd party pricing. Some people like to look at the numbers all day and make adjustments based on seasonality, day of the week, holidays, gap fills, etc. but a new host probably doesn’t understand that and will be well served using a pricing partner. And, the customer service at most of them is great. They would probably assist a new host with deciding on how to test various price points. For the vast majority of people, using a pricing service will save them tons of time and probably earn them more in revenue. And this is certainly the case when compared with Smart Pricing.
Not a new host.
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My minimum is 3 nights during the week but if it includes weekends, there is a 4 night minimum. I make exceptions if I have a 3 or less night gap to fill. But my area is one of the top vacationing spots in America.
I do not have a maximum. I had a 23 day stay during July this year. But I doubt anyone would book mine much longer because as I said, big time vacation spot so it would be a lot to pay out.
I don’t use the smart pricing. If you want me to tell you how I do my pricing, send me a pm.
If someone wanted to book 13 months in advance, they could. The only reason they couldn’t book further is because I haven’t set my prices further yet.
I post pictures from every angle of everything I can. I don’t want any surprises when a guest gets there. If they don’t like something about it that they didn’t know about, that is a chance for them to give a lower rating.
Good luck.
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Strongly disagree. Educating guests on how ratings work on Airbnb, and alerting them to the fact that Airbnb tells them 4stars means Good, then turns around and chastises hosts for 4 star ratings is one thing, and I do that with my guests. I don’t tell them that getting 5stars is really important to me, nor encourage them in any direct way to give me a 5* rating. I simply give them the information, which they have thanked me for (guests don’t like being misled by Airbnb, making them think they’re giving a good rating the host will be pleased with if it’s not) but what they do with that information is up to them.
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Apologies I thought you must be a fairly new host because of the comments you made @Ourbnbexperiment
- Most experienced hosts know that Airbnb gives new listings a push up the ladder in the rankings for the first few weeks so they appear at the top of the listing and attract bookings, so unless you live in an area that doesn’t normally attract bookings, it would be foolhardy to discount your listing when you first start.
I have set up at least five listings in my highly saturated city - for myself and others - all have attracted multiple bookings within the first week or so.
Just because Airbnb suggests discounting your listing, use IB, or it’s appalling automated pricing, doesn’t mean hosts need to follow this advice blindly.
- Obviously you would have no issue with hosts asking for 5 star reviews as you do this yourself. For many guests this is not an acceptable practice and you risk alienating them. I get five star reviews because my home is as described and people have an enjoyable experience.
You are encouraging hosts to lose money by heavy discounting when in many cases there is no need to do so and alienate their guests by asking for five star reviews.
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If such a message results in a negative review, then the Host caused it. Clearly, the message was imprudent and caused offense.
There certainly are ways to educate a guest. Some of us have signs or messages on our guidebooks.
There are ways to make a guest feel good and increases their disposition to help you in turn. Directly asking for a great review is rather risky.
IMO, better is to be sincerely CARING to your Guest:
*"As you know, we are a new Host with Airbnb. We are grateful that you chose us, and your stay with us and our area. *
*Please let us know if there is anything that we should be aware of so that we may continue to learn and improve, to meet and exceed your needs. We want to provide all our guests with a great experience." *
Thank you so much! We hope that you would stay with us again.
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Congrats! You’ve got many great perspectives here and mine may simply echo others. It’s important to understand what type of listing you have. I have the bottom of my split ranch. Separate entrance, kitchenette, full bath, 2 BRs, laundry, patio, garden. I live upstairs.
What I learned over time is that I don’t want anyone getting too comfortable because my experience has been that they will take better care of your property if they feel likes guests, and not like they are renting. That’s just me and I have made up stories about this so I could be wrong. 
I have a min night of 2 to keep locals from requesting to book and because I dislike doing a full clean for only 1 night. Early on I had 1 night minimum and found I grew tired of cleaning so often AND I got a couple of local people who seemed fine at first, but they wanted to come to my house because they couldn’t do what they wanted at theirs. It didn’t sit well with me. Nothing illegal but disrespectful to me IMO. It’s why I also don’t rent out for parties.
I open up my calendar 2-3 months out - I had a year once and was annoyed with myself because I could have gotten a lot more money and I happened to want to go away but it was too late. The trick is to understand if you have high season in your area. I thought I didn’t until I noticed other places were charging triple for summer months. Weddings, School graduations and so on. So I tend to price higher the further out and customize for dates that mean relatives will come to stay (and don’t want to stay with family or at a hotel).
I show the front of my house because it makes it far easier for people to find it and relieves my stress of waiting for them. I don’t have to wait and don’t greet my guests. I used to but I found it made me feel I couldn’t make plans for my day and most guests had no interest in seeing/meeting me.
The pricing tool - after awhile you’ll intuitively know what your bottom price is to make it worth it for you. Mine started at $69 but ended at $99. I would rather have no one than allow it to go for less. That’s me though - I do this for side hustle and enjoyment.
Good luck!!
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Great advice, I pretty much do the same. One nighters are a chore, so I set a slightly higher price for one night and then a “discount” for stays of more than one night which then works out at the actual price I want per night.
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I’ve used the Smart Pricing tool during off season. I definitely would not use it all the time. I like to peek at other listings in my area to see how often they are booked and at what prices. That way, I can set my nightly stay competitively. Hope that helps
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Congratulations!
We have a two high minimum but did one night to get it going.
We allow 28 day stays. We have not had any issues with guests…most are repeat guests that love our location and book the next year before they leave!
We do check the local events calendar ahead and block off weekends in advance that we know we want to save for family OR do not want party people booking for that event…Super Bowl this year and Gasparilla festival! I know we loose out on great money but not work the risk.
We follow their pricing as a guideline and usually raise it a bit to be competitive in the area. I will attest we are 90% booked each month while our neighbor with a really high rate is empty!
We do not show the front of our house due to security reasons…and also guests stay in the garage apartment with access only from the back of the house. We have pictures of their view and parking spot and stairs leading to the apartment.
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