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I got another 5-star overall review (yay!), but I had another guest only give me 4-stars for value. I only have 76% of my ratings as 5-stars for value. My guest’s comment - “Including all the mark-ups, this was fairly expensive for a night.”
From what I can see, she paid me $110 per night plus a $30 cleaning fee for Sunday night, New Year’s Eve. I have a private 2-bedroom suite with their own private entrance, a living room with fireplace and two bedrooms plus a private bath. They are also right above the Pacific Ocean with their own deck. I have a private room since I have no kitchen and they are in the bottom floor of my home.
I keep checking my pricing and I seem to be competitive but there are not a lot of private rooms in my area. It is mostly entire houses. I cannot see what she ended up paying but I would assume it was another 10% lodging tax plus the Airbnb fees, so it could have been $20 on top of that for a total of $160.
The hard part for me is I can lower my price so she pays less, but I am not getting all the extra fees obviously. She pays less but I get less.
I would love some feedback on this. Here is my listing, if you want to see it as well. I really want to have consistent 5-stars on value some how.
I wouldn’t worry about it. Unless it’s some kind of insane bargain you’ll be docked the occasional star. I’m not going to compare to other properties in your area, I’ll take your word that it’s competitive. $160 in a remote, scenic location for a place with no kitchen seems a little high to me.
$86 is my normal daily rate, but if you put in an actual date then it will adjust to what the Airbnb suggested price is. I don’t do smart pricing really, but will adjust my price to what they suggest for certain dates.
If you put in the dates for January 31-February 1, with taxes and fees I am $145 and this place is $160. But they are not on the ocean and do not have a full ocean view, which is a premium in my mind. Or do you think having a full kitchen outweighs the view?
Ah, sorry, I didn’t put in any dates. Full kitchen might be really important to some people. If it’s kind of remote, especially in the winter, and the view might not even be visible due to storms or fog or staying only at night, restaurants are a drive away, you have kids…
Sorry I don’t have time to research your area. As I said, the occasional one star deduction here and there is nothing to worry about.
Last time I stayed in an Airbnb it was this place so I guess that’s what I have in mind for $160 ish a night
I see what you are saying, but with taxes and fees that place is $192 per night and they have a 3-night minimum. They also have no cleaning fee though.
What I am saying is that I do not charge $160 per night. I only charged $110 to her (it’s $86 during the week), but she noticed that with all the xtra charges, she ended up paying $160 and that’s what she complained about. So I am not getting $160 per night. I’m only getting $140 minus the Airbnb fees (so $135), where she is paying $160 due to taxes and Airbnb fees.
It’s hard to low ball my price because I know my guests have been of a higher quality and caliber as well. Airbnb has wanted me to charge $55 with their suggested pricing and I have balked at it. I’m afraid I will end up with people that don’t respect my space.
But I did want feedback so I appreciate it your suggestions!
FWIW, minimum stay at that property varies. When I stayed there the mid-week after the Balloon Fiesta it was a two night minimum and that helped sway me to make it a two night trip.
I agree with @KKC, every now and then you’re going to get docked a star for at least one of the categories and often it doesn’t seem to make sense. You only have 27 reviews so give it time - if you find there’s a consistent pattern for low value, then maybe think about adjusting the price.
I adore poppies, particularly those wild ones. They are q difficult to manage, though, because although they are extremely hardy and can flourish just about anywhere they are actually quite fragile in other ways - you can’t transplant them or easily dead-head them.
Google El Paso poppies images to see our local ones. Most springs the eastern lower slopes of our mountains are blanketed with them. There was apparently scatterings of wild ones but then seeds were planted in the 1930s as part of a purposeful campaign.
Faints in ecstasy !! Gorgeous. Over here, yellow and orange poppies are often viewed as weeds and known as Welsh poppies. I love them, though, and never pull them up. The wild red poppy is unbeatable, though.
Are you booked as much as you want? Somebody has to be the most expensive and cater to the discerning guest.
If all is well…march forward. I would like the Ritz to be cheaper too. Oh well. …the Ritz may not be a “value” but I prefer to go there if I have the money.
We have two airbnb’s both (i’d say) equally as nice in equally as good locations. One is one bedroom and the other is two bedrooms, and as such, our pricing reflects this. The one bedroom apartment receives way more 4 star reviews for value compared to the 2 bedroom despite being substantially cheaper- my theory is cheap apartments attract cheap people who will never think anything is value
It’s not high at all. After all she paid it didn’t she?
I rented my room in my house for 150$ for New Year’s Eve.
I had a woman who booked once the room for 90$. There was boat show in town and motel 6 was sold at 150$ a night. So she books a room with private bath and half an hour later she is at the house. We are not home but my long term guests is there and he is the nicest guy on earth. He shows her the room, she seemed happy and then she gives me 2* claiming that the room was incredibly overpriced and listen to this: I should have “hotel quality towels”. I should be home and personally greeted her, and room was “simple”.
I could take anything but DO NOT call my room simple.
It’s 400 sq.feet master bedroom with Insuit marble and granite bathroom. 47" TV in a room . All the toiletries one can imagine. Not mentioning nice paintings on a wall, king size bed with high end matress. If my room is simple , then I don’t know from what universe that person came from.
Some people are very spiteful because they feel bad paying more than they want. In this case I suggest staying home
We have like a 4.5 average on ‘Value’ across all 4 properties. Here’s my advice, MOVE ON. I was really upset at first but then realized ‘who cares’ we are still booked, at the same rate, we are getting 5 stars overall, and the world continues to turn. Air BNB has set the unreal expectations that we should be cheaper than hotels and compete against each other for guests. Well, I’m in 4 very expensive markets, and renting 2-4 hotel rooms to accommodate the guests my houses accommodate would easily cost 3-4x what I charge. As for competing with my other local hosts, if guests want to save a buck or two and sleep on a sofa/air mattress/ dining room/etc, by all means, please book elsewhere.
Typically the offenders are last-minute bookers looking for a discount and assume I will lower my price because I am not booked. Well, I would prefer to uphold my value then give away dates at a low rate.
We just had someone request to book (we are on IB and they could have IB’d) last night for check in today, and moan about our cleaning fee and that it didn’t seem reasonable compared to other listings. My response, ‘Our cleaning fee is in line with outher 4bd/2ba 120 sq meter flats in the area. If you would prefer a lower cleaning, you may want to book a smaller apartment’. They ended up IB after I didn’t approve or decline.
