I’m trying to get a listing set up to play with on Airbnb - specifically I want to see how it interacts with changes I make on my PMS API. However the only way I can figure out how to have it live and now allow bookings is to block the calendar for the next year. This however doesn’t let me try and make a booking and see how much nightly charges, surcharges etc are all showing. Has anyone found a way to test run a listing you don’t actually want customers booking just yet?
Switch off IB and have a nightly rate triple or quadruple your normal.
JF
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appreciated - I’m also trying to demo my dynamic pricing software but I can just set the base price there at the 3x amount you mentioned and see what happens
Just remember that if you haven’t switched to host-only fees, the fees will probably be different since Airbnb’s fee structure for the split guest/host fees has a price-based component on the guest side (more expensive reservations have lower guest fees, as a percentage).
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Set base price to $9000 while you play around.
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Others will undoubtedly confirm or correct this, but I assume that you can’t make an actual reservation while you experiment. If you do, Airbnb will expect payment. I can’t think of a way for you to see all the calculations without making a reservation.
But it has been quite a while since I’ve thought about these things. We stopped hosting almost a year ago. And I haven’t been an Airbnb guest in two or three years.
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You should still be able to cancel for a full refund within 48 hours (with sufficient advance notice). However, I’m pretty sure that Airbnb shows guests the total price before the guest actually makes the reservation and payment is charged. Whether they show a fully transparent fee breakdown before or after booking, I don’t know.
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As a guest (I am a host also but used Airbnb often when travel was safer!) I always know the full price before booking. You see the breakdown of nIghtly price x number of days, cleaning fee, service fee, and taxes.
Personally, I think all hosts should be guests at some point - it is a lot easier to be patient with guests when you discover how annoying the booking process is. You look through dozens of properties, look at photos, read reviews, rules, amenities, etc. Finally make a choice. Make a reservation request. Wait for an answer. Finally get accepted, get to the unit and realize it didn’t have XYZ because you got it confused with another listing. I made a real rookie mistake with the last booking but caught it before we left home. Ended up packing a tv with an over the air antenna and using my phone as a hotspot so I could use my computer - neither wifi or tv as an amenity. I probably would have booked it anyway since it had the location and price I was looking for but I may have taken longer to make the decision.
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And when the answer is no, I’m really mad because I spent a lot of time picking that place. After that happened to me early in my Airbnb days I developed a strong preference for properties with instant book. It’s also annoying when hosts have long lists of rules and conditions, that another big turn off.
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appreciate all the help in this thread, thank you