I have honestly never understood Airs pricing tips. I am currently the least expensive host in my town, yet Air continues to suggest I drop my price by £30! It takes a second to see that B&Bs in Padstow are all a minimum of £80 a night, with some charging extra for 1 additional person after the first one something I actually find a bit cheeky, since many guests I am sure assume the price is for for 2 people if it is listed as a double. I use the actual figures of my immediate area to judge my pricing. Many hosts say they are in Padstow but are actually up to 10 miles away. 10 miles doesn’t sound a lot, but we are very rural so it actually is. Look at your close neighbours and use that to base your price, along with the your amenities and all the obvs stuff 
If i had the Air recomended prices my rooms would be booked years ahead 
And my guests would think that i am seriously insane.
Also, i can not have 100% occupancy in my house. We live here after all. I think we go 20-25% from lowest hotels prices its good enough. With summers though here in tropics it becomes tough as hotel prices drop so significantly that to go even lower than them means getting closer to Air suggested prices
The price suggestions aren´t a system glitch. They will always push you to drop your pices no matter how low you have them. I believe the main goal is to establish Airbnb as a place of accomodations that exhibits the quality of a hotel (or above) at the price of a hostel (or less).
@Yana_Agapova - they haven’t figured out that I’m in South Florida so their suggestions are that I put my prices up in the summer which is crazy and down in November when we have the boat show and international film festival. Bonkers.
o thats too funny!! that tells you:grinning:
Last year, the Travers Race in Saratoga created a HUGE market for rentals. Airbnb was suggesting I rent out my room for $37. Right. I got $100/night
This is a very interesting discussion and I have often reviewed the price tips from Airbnb but never used them for two basic reasons. One is that the area I am located in is rural and there are not a lot of properties to compare with mine therefore the price tips usually are very low but I usually have no problem receiving my asking price. Second, I think it is very confusing for guests to try and calculate the per night fee when it is different each night. I have received this complaint from guests before since the rate says one thing but I have a higher weekend fee. Imagine if it is different for each night. I know it calculates out the per night expense but it can be very confusing to guests. I also agree that it does not understand local events such as Water Fowl Festivals or the like.
I also find this thread very interesting but for the fact that among different opinions you have nobody has acknowledge that the pricing tips are indeed helpful. It is clear that most of us now how much we should charge and if we are clueless about it we could check the listings around our area to get an idea. Airbnb should let the market find their own price itself.
I use the price tips all the time and update them daily; this helps move you up the searches as well. Once a week, usually in the weekend, I check all the similar listings in my area and price bracket and set prices for certain dates in accordance to what I can offer.
I find them really helpful but I have a bottom price (£25 weekdays / £30 weekends), which I never drop below. Air tried to price tip to £16 one night - er no. This means someone in my area is pricing that night at that price. If you stick to a certain price, it brings up the prices for the area - the more you drop the more the whole area is decreased. I kept a night at £45 (event in town) and the system kept trying to decreased it to £30 but within two weeks it came up to £45 + as other hosts realised the event was on.
I don’t think having different nights at different prices is an issue. When you book as a guest it combines them all and says an average of $/£ x a night.
There is quite a bit of competition in my area with more hosts joining each week. We offer our spare room + simple breakfast.
I’m considering activating Price Tips for the month of August as I have no bookings for Aug yet and wonder if activating Price Tips would help.
If I do it, the lowest Price Tip is a lot lower than my base price. As a lot of people search propertys based on Base Price would it be reasonable to lower the base price to match the lowest Price Tip price?
I see some propertys have a much lower Base Price listed than any of their days actually cost.
I don’t want to mislead people because I have an advertised Base Price that was only ever applicaple to 1 night in August.
And what about the guests that are here in July, won’t they get peeved if they see August is a lot cheaper than what they paid?
Get what I mean??
It’s possible, but of course, hotels do it all the time. So if I’m absolutely desperate to fill dates I take off $6 (from the base price of $125 to $119). When there are important events locally I go over $200.
But I’m sure that July’s guests won’t look to see what your August prices are anyway 
I’m in Nob Hill & never had any of these experiences w/ guests.
Granted I rent out a room so I am on premise every day
99% of guests are in town for a conference or tech event.
I made a few friends who work at hotels in ( concierge) and they provide me a copy of all events for that month.
E.g. Oracle & Salesforce conf …Super Bowl etc.
I don’t trust the Airbnb pricing no matter how “smart” it may be.
You can also check the Moscone Center calendar, its very useful.
Not sure what ‘experiences’ you are referring to. We have been doing this since 2009, so we have too may expereinces to count!
I don’t know either… 
Short term memory loss
Tell them to come when it’s cheaper! It costs me more to run my house in the winter, but that’s when I have lower demand. I can charge more in the summer. That’s the free market economy.